Hi folks. I’m back from my weird Saturday routine of Unnamed Donuts Chain and then Lots of Exercise. I could argue that I’d be better off sleeping until noon and then doing neither, but I enjoyed my morning.
There’s lots on the Metsternet about the blogger call with Sandy.
I need you to support Honor Among Bloggers. That’s where I take an excerpt of someone else’s hard work and then ask you to make sure you visit their site. The folks at Amazin’ Avenue transcribed the entire call. Have you ever transcribed anything? It takes FOREVER.
Please go visit Amazin’ Avenue….everybody click and do the right thing and then come back. I’ll wait.
No I’m not kidding….go visit Amazin Avenue it’s the right thing to do and I will feel guilty if you don’t. More after this picture of…whoever this is.
I think that’s good ol’ #13 Rick Cerone of the 1991 Mets. I think.
Now that you’ve supported Honor Among Bloggers and visited AA’s transcript here’s my question and Sandy’s answer. As you’ve noticed from my writing I can barely form a sentence:
Shannon Shark, Mets Police: Hey there, again, thank you so much for giving us your time of day. I guess that leads into my question. How are you finding dealing with this particular passionate fanbase and even to the point of having to deal with blogs. I can’t believe you’re listening to me ask you a question. Does that go through your head, why do I have to talk to this guy from the upper deck?
Sandy Alderson: Actually, I’m very familiar with the blogosphere and understand how it makes connections with fans. The various platforms for communication these days are different, more varied. People are going to form their own opinions, you all will form your own opinions, but at least if you’ve heard from me you’ll be able to do it on the basis of direct communication rather than something indirect or secondhand.
I don’t mind spending the time. I think that’s part of what one buys into here in New York. In a sense, you guys probably reflect the most passionate elements of the fanbase. If I’m right about that, it’s probably as important, or more important, to be in contact with you all than it is with any of the rest of the media.
That’s a cool slick neato answer.
I found myself wishing the bloggers could have had a crack at Omar. I suspect that would have been wildly entertaining.
For more about the call check out Matthew Artus on NJ.com who took a different fun take on it:
With the rare exception of a Matt Cerrone, none of us get any significant reimbursement to write these posts, see our words be challenged (and often discredited) by readers and commenters and other blogs, and clear our schedule on a Friday night during the Holiday season to ask a few questions to cover details that go beyond the immediate concerns of the day’s headlines. We do this because we enjoy baseball and the Mets. And we write this because we want to share this with fellow fans and figure out how to best express our experiences, feelings, and sentiments in a clear, coherent way.
And as always Faith & Fear are better writers than I am:
I’ll add that as this wasn’t a call driven by a single news event, the questions from we telephonically assembled bloggers varied in specifics, but were of essentially two natures:
1) The construction of this Mets team/organization.
2) Us.
Can you blame us for the second? Nobody else asks about us — and by us, I mean the spectrum that includes Sandy’s thoughts on and reactions to New York fans, New York media, New York pressures and, yes, New York Mets bloggers. When we’re on our tenth conference call with the general manager of the New York Mets, I’ll bet we don’t ask Sandy Alderson, “So…whaddaya think about us?”
That’s all for now…I have to go back to being Super Daddy. I bet most of the blogs have something about this…I didn’t have time to make the rounds so my apologies in advance if I’m dissing/forgetting anyone. Happy to link to everyone – just send me a note at [email protected]
Readers..please check out every link in this article, there’s some good reading there!
Honor Among Bloggers – I like it!
Seriously though, 99% of bloggers link and provide citation, it’s the very small minority who choose to pass off others’ work as their own. So it’s appreciated.
It’s cool to know that the Mets are reading.
It’s forward thinking of Sandy to go to the bloggers. Indeed, like most of you, I get my Mets information from Blogs.
Here’s a point of contention. Sandy says the Mets will always be in the top 4 or 5 in terms of budget. Isn’t this an example of the Mets ownership being cheap? Look at the population of NYC’s metro area versus Philadelphia or Boston, or Chicago, or Los Angeles.
NYC 8.3mm
LA 3.8mm
Chi 2.8mm
Hou 2.3mm
Phil 1.5 mm
then jumping down the list a bit..
SF 0.8mm
Bos 0.6mm
So, with NY sharing 8.3 MILLION potential fans with the Yankees, lets say the Mets only have 1.3 of that. Naturally this would be because they’ve been so cheap all along, but that’s another matter. The Yankees have 1 cap. The Mets have 3. The Mets are pushing the merch. And yet for all that, they have to spend less than the Red Sox?
Can anyone please explain this to me? Maybe it’s because it’s more fun to be an underdog. I can buy into that. But maybe it’s because, like the Madoff who made off with their money (and this is a very tragic day for that family if you’ve seen the news), the Mets are making off with their fans’ money?
Boston draws fans from the entire New England area – they are a regional team with fans from Connecticut to Maine.
The Mets draw fans from New York City, Long Island, Westchester County and northern New Jersey… and they have to share that pool with a team that has 28 World Series trophies and a legacy that goes back to Babe Ruth.
Besides, the real problem isn’t how much money the Mets spend – it’s *how* they spend it.
The Mets had no problem getting fans in the 80s. The Mets have extended their fandom into CT during their heydey.
I think the Mets have been uncreative. In talking w some people representing the team or other blogs, I sense complacency, dug-in-heels, and resistance to change.
* Why no elevators or ramps from the subway station? How are you supposed to get a wheel chair or stroller down? The Mets will tell you that’s the city’s responsibility/fault. What a load of cwap. A lazy business, not having to compete, driving away customers.
* The Mets were supposed to partially replace the Brooklyn Dodgers. Check out the subway times from Brooklyn. Here we have people living in the city, not the burbs, and they have to travel over an hour to a game, with YS being closer. And yet this is the ‘Ebbets Field’ team? Brooklyn is one of the largest cities in the USA. Load of cwap. There should be outreach for kids: buses to and from the neighborhoods to bring them to games, taking the BQE. How can you send a high school kid to a game if they get home at 12.30am on public transportation? This isn’t the safe LIRR, it’s the subway: noisy, slow, uncomfortable.
Truth is, they’ve parlayed themselves as a LI team.
After 50 years I don’t think anyone gives even a moments thought about trying to draw Brooklyn Dodgers fans.
That’s the problem. You’ve got a borough which would be solidly in the Mets pocket. This is the provincial borough of ‘The Island’, which is, as you say, ignored.
If the Mets never caught on in the public imagination the way the Dodgers did, the way the Dodgers still DO, what does that say? Brooklyn is in the world’s public consciousness the way Queens or LI never will be. Maybe you don’t appreciate that, but when you want to know why no one cares about the Mets, ask yourself what they’re doing in Flushing.
To me it says the fanbase has been marginalized by urban planning.