Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

I am really enjoying the updated edition of 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die (available on Triumph books – you know where to buy books, and probably don’t care about the publisher, but everyone always mentions the publisher so I will too.)

The author Matthew Silverman was kind enough to answer my silly questions, and I think we may be kindred spirits.   Enjoy…

1. I really love the book but why isn’t Lee Mazzilli #1?   Bill Buckner isn’t even a Met…

Maz defies numerology. And a good friend who’s a Red Sox fan never forgave me for Bill Buckner’s name going in the top spot…but we’re Mets fans, we’re all about pessimism, even when it comes to our greatest moment it’s about someone else messing up. I’ll take it.

2. I love #79 “what’s with all the different uniforms?” Which is your favorite and least favorite?

I’m Mr. Old Fashioned when it comes to the Mets, so I’d say the flannel unis they wore in 1969 and for Frequency Night in 2000. Robin Ventura’s pants ripped twice in that game. I’ll also admit I also kind of like the white unis (with blue hat). I can live without pinstripes, but the only black on a Mets uni should be smudged eye black.

3.  Any idea who is picking what the team wears on a day to day?

I always believed it was Charlie Samuels. I did a survey in the original version of 100 Things that I cut to put in the bit about the new uniforms for the paperback version. Here’s my 2007 survey on the randomness of Mets unis. Because you or a reader might care:
Day Opponent Uniform/color of hats and sleeves Result

Tuesday, June 19    Minnesota White/black and blue hat (black sleeves) W
Wednesday, June 20    Minnesota Black/black hat (white pants) L
Thursday, June 21    Minnesota Black/black hat (white pants) L
Friday, June 22    Oakland White/black and blue hat (black sleeves) W
Saturday, June 23    Oakland Pinstripe/blue hat and sleeves W
Sunday, June 24     Oakland Pinstripe/blue hat and sleeves W
Monday, June 25 St. Louis White/blue hat and sleeves W
Tuesday, June 26 St. Louis White/blue hat and sleeves L
Wednesday, June 27 St. Louis White/blue hat and sleeves W

So what will the Mets wear tonight?   Anything goes. Will you remember which outfit it was the next day? Magic 8-Ball says “doubtful.”

4. Did you ever bring a banner to Banner Day (#98)?

I attended Banner Day several times as a spectator when it was a doubleheader. By the time someone convinced me to enter a banner myself it was a single game admission and you had to get there at 10:30 a.m. or something stupid. Sounded like work so I skipped it. That turned out to be the last Banner Day they had. Being the only team in the major league to schedule a doubleheader was the Mets’ chance to be cool and cheese off opponents.

5. Since this is a revised list, what got dropped from the original 100?

Because you’ll find out anyway–we know how thorough the police can be–most of the numbers killed were about how to get around Shea Stadium; info on each level, the Diamond Club, and the Picnic Area.

“The New Mets” at number 50 just sounded dumb two years later, so it morphed into a Beltran piece since he now had enough time as a Met to crack the top 50. Although every time he cracks something it’s two months on the DL.

6. Your all-time favorite Mets moment?

Historically: Capturing the 1969 World Series.

Personally: Watching Game 7 from my friend’s dorm room in college. He and I went to the Ike-Barajas Game just last week.

In Person: Lenny Dykstra’s ninth-inning HR in my first postseason game as a fan. I flew up the night before from the aforementioned dorm in Virginia. I’d buy that plane ticket again if it could conjure a moment like that, or any postseason game at this point.

7. Your favorite thing on the list?

I kind of jumped the gun on the previous question, but one piece that I often find myself reading when I look something up in the book is “#24 Mora Touches Down”–the Mets actually won a do-or-die season finale.

8. What should I tell my wife when she asks why I’m on the computer again?

That you’re trying to earn $10,000 per month working from home! It’s that easy!

An email from Jeff:

Every time I think they’re starting to figure it out, the folks at SNY drop a Derek Jeter regional Ford Ad on the fanbase.  I caught this for the first time this season last night.  (It may have happened sooner, I had to watch the SF feed over the weekend).  As an influential website charged with the task of protecting the Mets from themselves, I would assume you have strong feelings on the matter.

Hmmm.  I really don’t.  If I am SNY I am in the business of making money.  At a personal level I don’t worry about the Yankees too much.   I will root against them for 6 games this season (and maybe even 10 to 13 if we are all so lucky) but in a random game against the Tigers, I hope they win.   Yankee games in October are programming for me.  I loved 2000 when there was playoff baseball on TV every night for a month.

I can’t even remember what product Jeter is selling.  Cars Something I think.   If the Car Company offered me money to have a Jeter ad on Mets Police…wow that’s tough….I probably wouldn’t do it for little bucks, but for a decent amount I bet I would.

Back to being a viewer – I’d rather Jeter than some of the very annoying car commercials I hear in my travels (the LOUD SCREAMING ONE and the other one where the man thinks his dirty jokes are funny).

What does everyone else think?

You may have picked up that I’m fascinated by the whole newspapers/blogs dynamic – and this morning I find myself writing about something I feel like has been well covered over here…but since the Times published an article about it today it will be “news” (and that’s not meant to be a diss at Times, it’s just the nature of the beast)…so I feel compelled to comment.

First the story…

Mets Lead the Majors in Declining Attendance
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: May 13, 2010
After 22 home games, attendance at Citi Field is down 6,852 fans a game, which translates to 31,892 fans at games this season.

The article talks about the bad 2009, the weather, stadium fatigue and even some analysis from David Howard that I agree with.

My take:  yep.  2009 was a disaster, “new stadium” isn’t that exciting after all (whether this one or the one in the Bronx or the unnecessary one in the Meadowlands, and I am LMAO at the Jets.  Good luck selling 10,000 PSLs.  Coming up at 1pm, Bills vs Dolphins!), people don’t have disposable income, and May has been wintry.

Solution:  win.  You know when there were lots of Mets fans?  1970, 1987, 2007 (strangely 2001 dipped from 2000).

You kids won’t believe how many “Mets fans” there were in the second half of 1986.   If you are looking for them now, they are the folks with the Jeter jerseys with the name on the back.

Follow folks like @ericfishersbj or @bizballmaury on twitter and you would have read about this a week ago.   Again I don’t mean to dump on the newspapers, it’s just a different medium.    It takes time for stories to bubble up to the mainstream – and here at Mets Police I assume most readers are superfans or you wouldn’t come back day after day to read about a fat guy’s man-crush on Lee Mazzilli.   Similarly, it’s not like I don’t read interesting things in the papers or the beat reporters don’t break news.  Read matthewcerrone.com for more on this type of discussion.

I’m @metspolice by the way, I hope you’ll follow.

The weird week in the world of Keith Hernandez continues:  A former Red Sox player threatened to have…well just watch this video.

“I knew some people, and I had $2,000, and I asked them to break his arms. He said, ‘We’ll do it in two or three years if you want it done, but we’re not going to do it today, Bernie. If we went and broke his legs today, or broke his arms, you don’t think they would understand that you are the one that had it done?’” — Bernie Carbo, on his actions after former teammate Keith Hernandez testified Carbo had introduced him to cocaine