What Mets fans talk about when not talking about the actual games.
I was thinking about the 2009 Mets and here’s what we know:
1B Delgado
SS OverReyes
3B Wright
CF Beltran
P Â Santana
P Â Maine
A nice enough “core” (new cool baseball term that showed up in 2008, brought to you by the people that invented “walk-off”).
So all Omar has to do is go out and get someone to play C, 2B, LF, RF, 3/5 of the starting rotation and a closer. Â The Mets are only seven players away from contending!
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the “Greatest Game Ever Played” ESPN will show the 1958 NFL Championship Game on Saturday December 13th at 9pm. In color!
I won’t spoil it for those of you who don’t know who won.
What’s cool is that this will show the Giants before they sold their soul and started charging their long term fans $20,000 for the right to buy tickets.
I know one family who has had tickets since way back when. Although the father has passed on, the son wrote this Open Letter To The Mara & Tisch Families. You may even see the dad in the stands that day rooting on his team. Check it out, should be a good show.
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Since the Mets Police blog is getting more RSS pickup then when this first ran, below is the original Open Letter post.
An open letter to the Mara & Tisch Families
My family have been season ticket holders for over 40 years. I grew up reading all the old programs my dad saved for me and knew about almost every player from Frank Gifford and Sam Huff down to Les Shy and Eldridge Small.
First game I went to was actually in 1975 in Shea, vs. the Cardinals, the year before Giants stadium opened. I would say at least since 1989, I have rarely missed a game other than for Weddings (one of them my own!) or some other engagement that kept me out of time. During that time, I have been there for the team for the good days and the bad days. Whether it was Phil Simms or Dave Brown, QBing. I was there.
Despite this, you now add insult to injury.
First: The insult. Actually several insults. Even after the years my father was a season ticket holder, particularly through the awful late 60s and most of the 70s, we were denied seats to Superbowl 21. At the time we understood. There was a lottery and you can only allot a few since there was only enough space for fans of both teams.
But then Superbowl 25 came along. Same thing. Denied. Again somewhat understandable. It happens.
Then Superbowl 35. Again. Okay maybe I am glad I missed going to that one.
Now Superbowl 45 comes along. Nothing again!!! By this time all of the people who must have won the lottery should have been out of it to give those a chance who didn’t go. But no, that’s not the only case. Your organization feels fit to allot tickets to so-called “VIP”s, celebrities and all sorts of other corporate bigwigs who never had any loyalty to your organization during its up and down period.
And now the injury.
Somewhere around $40K I hear for “personal seat licenses” For what? I already own my seat. Yes, I know what you are going to say “everyone does it now”
But I thought the Mara/Tisch families were the “class” of the league? You woudn’t do anything underhanded to your loyal fans like that, many of us who were not entitled to see at least one of the four superbowls?
And don’t tell me its money. From what I know the Mara and Tisch families combined are pretty damn wealthy through your various holdings. I find it hard to believe you really need to scrape up the dough to build this stadium (which you will find the majority of fans dont find necessary anyway. Again, just because “everyone else is doing it” doesn’t make it right). No one is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to do this.
Ive always disliked front-runner fans. How about front-runner owners who only care about their fans when it is convenient to them? How about returning the loyalty to us that we have given to you for so long?
And where is the league office on this? The same league that comes down so hard on players using banned substances or exhibiting bad behavior, why not come down on the owners who commit a different form of bad behavior that is detrimental to the reason the league is in existence — the fans?
Ever since I heard the news of this PSL scam (which is what it is) I have been in somewhat in a state of denial. Many of us have been taking this sort of abuse for years on being rejected for the big game, but this is the ultimate insult.
It would be a shame to give up these tickets after so many enjoyable Fall & Winter Sundays (well maybe not all) over most of my 40 years on this earth.
To the Mara and Tisch families, you are supposed to be above the likes of the Jerry Joneses and Al Davises of the league. Now prove it.
Sincerely yours,
Alex Swingle
New York City
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And since I like looking out for the little guy – here’s a link to a blog that asks if retired players are being screwed by not being paid for the ESPN cast.
As much as I hope Jerry & The Gangstas win 15 straight championships, I kinda like the idea of the Corporate Bailout Stadium Name being a hex on this team. Not that I want them to lose, but the Wilpons sort of deserve a hex.
Click the link for the hex.
Admit it, deep down don’t you wish we could blame 2007 & 2008 on a bank? Wouldn’t it kind of be awesome if the Mets kept meeting horrible endings until this stadium gets a new non-bailout name and then they win it all?
The Daily News is doing a great job keeping an eye on what’s happening in the Bronx.
First, the jobs. The Yankees are moving across the street. Does anyone really believe that 1,000 new permanent jobs will be created?
Darn, I wish I had written that.
There wouldn’t be a need to spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars to build new parks if elected officials hadn’t secretly given Macombs Dam Park and part of Mullaly Park away to the baseball team. Contrary to the city’s claim that the project expands park space, the community is losing four acres.
During troubled economic times such as these, news that a project will bring in new tax revenue is positive. But Pinsky failed to explain the other side of the balance sheet: $180 million in breaks on property tax and other taxes; nearly $300 million in capital costs to replace the parks and demolish the old Yankee Stadium, and nearly $1 billion in tax-free financing.
All together, city taxpayers are chipping in nearly $500 million for the project, and costs are growing.
