I had the opportunity to catch all three games at Citi Field this weekend. It’s a lost season with so little to see, but I love the Mets and couldn’t resist. Turned out to be a good choice, because the Mets took two out three. Cory Sullivan hit two home runs* and Mike Pelfrey had a nice bounce back outing (and didn’t even have to take a lap around the Citi parking lot).
*Posterisk: And he stole a catch from Angel Pagan. Literally. It was a deep fly ball to left center that should’ve resulted in a routine out, but Angel didn’t call it definitively for the second time in three games. Put your arm up! It’s a disturbing trend for an otherwise capable fourth outfielder…not a good sign. But I digress…
Citi Field was thick with Cubs fans. Now, as a Mets fan, I feel like I can’t throw too many stones. It’s been a long season, and it’s been 23 years since the Mets have won the World Series. So I’m very leary of calling out a group of fans that have sufferred far longer. But it has to be said, for a group that’s waited 102 years for a championship, they are awful annoying.
I can’t tell you how many times I had to hear them screaming at routine plays, cheering for unproductive outs, and generally making an ass of themselves. I get it, they’re still technically in the playoff race and the Mets have been dead in the water for weeks. But really, Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright, and the rest of the Cardinals are walking off with that division. Please don’t come into Citi Field as if you’re just passing through on your way to the playoffs.
Really, I mean it. You’re not doing yourself any favors by “Root, root, rooting for the CUB-BIES!” at every seventh inning stretch. Yes, Derek Lee hit some monster home runs, but it was on a day when you finished 11.5 games out of first place. I’m not asking you to shut up, I’m DEMANDING that you look at the standings and get a grip on reality!
It just got to be too much. When Cory Sullivan made a nice sliding catch against the wall, and the hipster-douche Cubs fan behind me stood up and yelled that he dropped it, I waited. I paused for a moment, calmly turned around, and waited until for eye contact. I asked him, with a straight face and a loud voice, “Where’s Steve Bartman when you need him?”
I really didn’t want to go there but I couldn’t stand it anymore. And I tell you this: the look on his face was priceless. Sputtering and flustering, the embarrassment written large on his face, he started jawing about how terrible the Mets have been this year, how Citi Field isn’t “Mets-enough” (Why wouldn’t we want to honor the first African-American to break the color barrier), and how Bernie Madoff has turned the team into a joke.
My reply? “101. It’s been 101 years since your team won a World Series. Let it go, man. Let it go.” And that was that.
When it comes down to it, please know your role. I understand that you love your team, but when you’re the symbol of organizational futility, and you’re in the process of dropping two out of three to a team that’s been decimated by injuries, please don’t overstep your boundaries. Just don’t do it…because I don’t mind calling you on it. Thankfully, that’s the last we’ll hear for them for another year.
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