I’ve lived long enough to see the Metsmove to their new ballpark. As I get excited to head out to CitiField (the brain almost typed “Shea†for not the first and lasttime) on Friday night, the word that keeps popping into my head is“karma.â€
Here’s to hoping the new buildingbrings a new start for this franchise.
We’re all Mets fans, we all bleedorange and blue (and some of us unfortunately, black.) We love theMets, but if we’re being honest about our beloved Metsies, thisfranchise has boiled down to two types of teams:
Last place andsecond place.
Last place andsecond place.
Yes there have been 4 trips to theWorld Series, if you’ve read this far you don’t need me torecap….but for the most part, what is Mets history?
It starts with the worst, and then someof the worst teams of all-time. If you think finishing fifth stinks,try finishing twelfth.
Then Seaver shows up and works somemagic for five years.
Next, the franchise sells The Franchiseand everyone else, and Shea was miserable. Back to last place (orsecond last depending on how horrible the Cubs were).
Some young pitching showed up and wethought we had a dynasty on our hands. Some bad luck, some drugs,some injuries, some bad karmaand Davey’s boys spent more time in second place than they did intickertape parades. Does 1988 mean anything to you now? To me,it’s another underperforming team.
The1990’s made me miss the 1970’s. I’d rather lose 100 with LeeMazzilli than Bobby Bonilla.
ThenBobby Valentine showed up. Bobby has some mystique over Metsdom. His teams were always under-prepared, got off to horrible starts, andfinished second. Fortunately for Bobby (not so much for Davey) Seligchanged the rules so the Mets could pretend they were winners. Theyreally weren’t.
Thensome more losing, and now this horrible new culture of choking. (2006 has also become meaningless thanks to 2007 and 2008).
That’sthe franchise in a nutshell – glimmers of hope surrounded bydreadfulness.
I’mhoping this new building changes things. I’d like to see a managerstay ten years. I’d like to see Wright, Reyes and maybe even DanMurphy all play 10+ years together. Wouldn’t it be nice if someonegood actually played their entire career in Flushing? We have yet tohave one of those. Our one Hall of Famer left us, the other’s anExpo, and the future one is really a Dodger.
I’d like to see “the Mets†meansomething. Unfortunately the building already has Dodger blood init and a tarnished name, original sin that a few championships canhide. Championships, not wild cards, not second place, not divisiontitles, not losing in Game 5 at home to the Yankees. Championships.
Here’s to a new beginning. I wishthem well. See ya in the Promenade (that sounds weird) Friday night.
(Originally published yesterday as my weekly column for Flushing University )
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