What Mets fans talk about when not talking about the actual games.
Friday, September 3rd at Chicago – NL
16 Angel Pagan CF
21 Lucas Duda LF
23 Chris Carter RF
5 David Wright 3B
29 Ike Davis 1B
12 Joaquin Arias 2B
30 Josh Thole C
11 Ruben Tejada SS
43 R.A. Dickey RHP
I’ve closed out the “2011 Slogan” Contest and “Man Up And Play Better” has taken the prize with 48% of the vote.
I think it’s exactly what this team needs to do and it is simply stated. Man Up. Play Better.
Who better to lead such folks than Wally Backman (and bench coach Carlos Pena)?
Now…can I get any of you photoshoppers to make an image with Wally and the new slogan so we can plaster it all over the internet?
OK Mets fans…it will be really easy to sit here at the end of the 2014 season and play “I told you so.”
Today I am asking you a very simple question.
Do you want Wally Backman to be the next manager of the Mets?
Decide right now, much like ownership will have to. If Wally gets hired and wins it will be really easy to root for this guy…and if not, it will be really easy to complain that they should have hired Bobby Valentine.
Decide now. There’s a poll up on the main page.
I want Wally. September 3, 2010 I declare I want Wally. Bookmark the post and rub it in my face if they finish 30 back.
Backman was arrested in 2001 after a fight at his home involving his wife and one of her friends in Prineville, Ore. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was sentenced to 12 months’ probation, ordered to undergo an anger management evaluation and donate $1,000 to the local Boys and Girls Club.
He was arrested, and later convicted, on a driving under the influence charge in Kennewick, Wash., in 2000…… Backman has also had financial problems, filing for bankruptcy several years ago.
We know Backman is fiery. The entire organization could use a kick in the pants. Maybe yelling at people and kicking dirt doesn’t actually win games but it sure would tickle my brain.
He’s a connection to 1986. He has a ring. There’s an awful lot of Mets current and alumni without a championship. Talk to the hand, it has a ring on it.
He’s been in Brooklyn all year. For what I can tell he has kept out of trouble.
He will be a media lightning-rod. Don’t underestimate that part of the equation. If the Mets throw “Bob Melvin” in there, all eyes are upstairs. If they throw Wally out there all eyes are on the field and unless he hands in a 57 win season 2011 is a free pass. Imagine if “Bob Melvin” goes 70-92 how the fans would react.
This is like the scene late in the Battlestar Galactica series. Adama drew a line down the middle of the hangar deck and asked everyone to take a stand.
If you want Wally join me over here on this side. So say we all.
It was just two days ago when I told you about the Curse of the Player’s Choice Jerseys.
What is The Curse?
In a nutshell if you dare design a Player’s Choice jersey you will wind up not playing baseball for the Mets. Frenchy, Bay, Beltran, Reyes, Maine, Sheffield and yes Santana have all taken on this curse.
So far the only survivor is Bobby Parnell. Be careful Bobby, be careful.
Good morning Mets fans,
I had been on a real nice rhythm with the blog all year – usually writing ahead on weekends – until about a month ago when back to back trips tripped me up. Since then I have been swinging from day to day, which is not how I like to work. Even right now this is the “last” post, whereas usually the blog would outlive me by a week or so (and maybe longer if Media Goon figures out the admin password after my death).
Yesterday was going to be “get ahead” day – and then Media Goon hit me up around 11am to tell me the site was FUBAR.
I logged in and saw that all 7,000 or so posts, pages, photos – basically everything from the last 3 years was GONE. D’oh motherlovin’ D’oh.
I threw some money at the problem (and I must say GoDaddy’s customer support is excellent) and they were able to pull the super backup (why didn’t I have my own backup you ask – because my computer required a new Windows install two weeks ago and I hadn’t thought to run my regular backup yet. Triple D’oh.)
Anyway we’re back – lost a week’s worth of posts but that’s better than three years worth.
Last night I went to Unnecessary Football Stadium and sat in some $500 seats. The seats were nice but “$500 nice” is another thing entirely where I grew up. These are NOT “$500 nice.” I will post some pictures later today and early next week.
One thing I have learned from blogging is that traffic falls off a cliff on holiday weekends, so although I will continue to post news items I think I will rerun some greatest hits in between rather than use up some ammo that will be more well-read next week. Since many of you are newer to the site you won’t be annoyed – and if you have been around for a year maybe re-reading things like Dan’s letter exchange with the Mets will be a good read.
I have several programs that can estimate traffic to the site, all of which give me crazy swing numbers. On the low end Mets Police has had a half million page views or so, on the higher end the other program shows 1.5 million. Somewhere in the middle the truth probably lies but even if it’s half a million – WOW and thanks. This isn’t the biggest blog and definitely not the best written but I do enjoy doing it.
We are still doing podcast Sunday at 6:30pm.
And with that – here’s today’s must-read from the Brooklyn Paper. Jeff Wilpon was hanging with Wally yesterday in Brooklyn. Now before we go off the deep end let’s remember that Jeff runs the Brooklyn Cyclones…however it’s interesting. I will have more to say about Wally in an hour.
“Did you talk to Jeff about the Mets managing job?” (the reporter) asked.
Backman spat out an answer so quickly that it must have been rehearsed — but he stuttered just enough to make it seem that even he couldn’t swallow what he was saying.
“No. No. He came in for some, uh (pause), um, they had to look at some structural stuff, I guess, for the stadium,” he said.