One thing I realized while I was away is that there sure is an awful lot of content about this team.
I rarely find myself struggling to find things to talk about, and that’s even more Amazin’ when you figure that for the most part I leave things like “What will happen to Maine?” or “Oliver Perez Anything” to other sites that do a great job and a better job than I’d ever do.
Around these parts I’m interested in the fan aspect of things…the view from behind the plexiglass….and the bad and good of the actual team and organization. Â I liked posting that communuty servive stuff this morning. Â In the old days that would be maybe one line in the bullet-points stuff in the newspaper. Â Maybe an off-day story. Â So I’m happy to give voice to the good, and plan to share more as the week heads forward (I’m guessing and anticipating that the Mets will take photographs of these events).
I have several ways I track the popularity of the blog – and one of the counters I use shows over 1 million page views for the year….over 1.1 actually, and technically since the site redesign in January or February whenever that was.
Now it’s the counter I find the least accurate and I don’t really believe the number but holy cow just to see a 7 digit number associated with this stuff is really really cool.
Back to the content – it’s almost too much. Â Not in a work-load way, I enjoy it thoroughly…but in a “is it too much that nobody sees it?” way. Â That’s one of the reasons I push the free email subscriptions and the free Google reader subscriptions. That way I know the stuff is getting read (and will give me a hard number in case Dunkin’ Donuts ever takes the hint – by the way the Yankees promotion is over. Â I did some first-hand research this morning).
Man that was a really really long-winded way to say that so much of the content comes from you and to set up this email from Chris:
Hey Shannon,
As much as I loathe Mushnick and rarely agree with him, he is right in his story about Mets’ players ignoring the Mets fans in Baltimore last weekend. It was one of those things that you notice but doesn’t really register right away. I was standing in the 10th row behind the dugout screaming and cheering with everyone and I too was a bit annoyed at the time but was too happy with the 5-1 win to really care. But as you can see in the attached picture I took at the end of the game, there is a large group of fans waiting at the dugout and almost all of the players’ heads are down – out of 11 coaches/players in the picture, only 3 are even looking up – they walked off the field looking dejected, almost as if they lost the game. It is wrong and disrespectful to ignore fans who were so dedicated that they traveled 200+ miles to watch them play. I’m not asking for them to throw us the jerseys off their backs, but a simple smile or wave would have been nice. Poor job by a bunch of millionaires to forget that a likely whopping .35 cents of their salary comes from each of those fans!
1. Â I love Mushnick. Â He’s been ripping black uniforms since before even the Mets had black uniforms. Â Between Mushnick and Paul Lukas at Uni Watch I’m just some black uniform complainer wanna-be. Â I’m the Black Crowes to their Rolling Stones. Â My music ain’t bad, but I know my place in the pantheon of complaining about black uniforms.
2. Â I’d love to hear another side to the Baltimore story. Â Are there any ex-players out there? Â Is it “dude, three hours in the heat, all I am thinking of is that I want a shower and a glass of water.” Â Is it “I’m so excited we won I just wanna high-five the guys?” Â Is it “Jerry told us to be in front of our lockers in three minutes?” Â I can’t believe there is a conscious thought to ignore the dude in the blue hat. Â Maybe you guys were wearing black caps and the Mets thought you were Orioles fans? Â Wear blue next time.
Seriously, there’s gotta be a reason.
However, Player X how about you look a kid in the eye and give a thumbs up while you trot down the stairs for that glass of water and Jerry’s hypothetical meeting.
B-Palm sent the below in as a comment:
I was at the game on Friday night in Baltimore, got there early during BP. Shouted Happy Birthday to Jose Reyes and got a big smile on his face and pointed at me to kind of say thank you. Made my freaking night.
After the game the team seemed to acknowledge the crowd with Barajas conversing with fans in the stands for a minute or 2.
One fans perspective sent in….and the Mets get a bad rap
Anyone got any theories or alternate versions of the post-game story?
I wasn’t in Baltimore to see the Mets last weekend. But I do see the Mets up close like that in Spring Training, and have since 2004. Spring Training is like a small scale version of the regular season. Fans are closer to the action during BP and after the game. There’s much greater access to autographs before the game and even sometimes after the game. That’s where my opinions come from…
The Mets absolutely SUCK at that type of fan relations. They really have since Willie Randolph brought in his Yankee ways in 2005. Seeing this report doesn’t surprise me one bit. I don’t know what it is (money, arrogance, or what). Maybe they do it because they can get away with it. I don’t know. But I don’t expect even a wave to the crowd from them anymore.