An article on Mets Fever caught my eye for two reasons. Â One, in mentions Lee Mazzilli. Â Second, it explains the importance of letting people “sneak down.”
Remember back at Shea, and I mean way back, that late in a game you could move closer to the field? Â Here’s what happens when you let a boy do that:
Why am I talking about a game in 1979; because it was the first game I ever attended and based on that experience as a ten year old, I became a Mets fan. I don’t rem. the errors, who scored what runs, what relievers looked bad or even who was on the field other then Mazz.
As the article explains, that experience created a lifelong connection. Â I’m sure the Mets have been in back in spades by the author.
The article suggests that maybe the Mets could be less draconian about enforcing the sneak down on rainy nights in a half empty stadium.
I know the argument about the phantom irate fan who is going to show up (for the first time) at 10:15 and go nuts that another fannie is in “his” seat. Â On Tuesday I found someone in “my” seat in the uppers (oops, Promenade). Â You know what I did? Â I sat in one of the 8 other empty seats in that row, and I bet if I had bothered with “excuse me, I think that’s my seat” the nice man would have moved.
I’m going to borrow two more paragraphs from Mets Fever in the interest of spreading the message.  As part of my Honor Among Bloggers creed, please do the right thing and head over to Mets Fever and read the entire article and give  that site the web traffic it deserves.
Around the 7-8th inning with nobody in the stadium, I watched a kid I’d guess was 13-15 y/o, ask an usher if he could go down to watch the rest of the game and the usher said sorry not without a ticket, with a supervisor within earshot. The Dad turned to the kid and said come on, lets go, they’re gonna lose and I don’t want to stand around anymore.
I hope someone from the club reads this and realizes the importance of those types of experiences and realizes they’re going about things on too much of a corporate management style. Just think about how much money this team has earned from me, based on the ushers finding the kids on a slow day and allowing them down near the dugout. When many are saying we’re on the brink of irrelevance in NY the organization has to foster and develop the fanbase not ostracize it and/or allow it to deteriorate even more…
Well said, and again I grabbed the paragraphs in the hope that someone from the club reads it.
Everyone else, click here and read about Mazzilli.
No Mets game for me today, Mrs. Mets Police is making me operate Daddy’s Taxi Service – someone got a nice bargain on Stubhub. Â Catch y’all later.
