Post Vacation Recap

You know it's going to be a rough week when you just get back from vacation and you feel like you need another week off.

The O'Jays were on to something when they sang "Living For The Weekend".

I liked the way that the Yankees bounced back from that tough loss Saturday. Wang had his first quality start of the year and the Bomber bats came back to life against Radke. But I wish we were able to string together back to back quality performances on the mound and the plate. I know it will come but I'd like to see that sort of consistency.

Now we get our first look at the new look Jays at SkyDome Tuesday. Johnson vs Chacin. I don't believe in barometer games in April. But it would be nice to punch one of our division rivals in the mouth early. I think Toronto is going to be competitive until the end, but every division series is important. Tampa showed us that last year. So taking this series early could have ramifications later in the summer.

I've held my tongue/pen long enough....

Here's why I think Mets fans are total phonies. I have to hear from idiots like Brooklyn Mets Fan and the Metsmaster that Yankee fans are mostly tourists or pimply faced girls from the Midwest with pink hats who love Jeter and A-Rod. That this is a National League town and that the Mets are the direct descendants of the proud traditions of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.

I admit there have been a lot of bandwagon jumpers added to the Death Star passenger manifest. But that happens with all teams that have been successful over a long period of time. We know who the true believers are and who are the pretenders. I've written ad-nauseum on the subject.

My question is this...where are all these Mets fans who are ready to take back the city? The ones who are going to make this town safe for Senior Circuit lovers again? A place where the double switch is sacred and a DH doll is hung and burned in effigy in every Mets bar in the city?

Case in point: The hated Atlanta Braves are in town and Pedro Martinez is on the mound going for his 200th career win. Now you'd think that there would be standing room only at Shea as the Faithful in Flushing would form a line around the corner for tickets.

You would have thought wrong.

The Mets drew just under 37 thousand in a park that seats about 55 thousand.

37 thousand people to see the Mets beat the Braves 4-3. 37 thousand to see "Sandman" Wagner nail it down for Pedro.

37,000!!!!!

I'm supposed to take fans of a franchise that can't sell out a game where their main attraction is pitching against its chief rival? Its principal torturer over the last decade? A game where he has a chance to win his 200th game?

I'm supposed to take these fans seriously? Almost 20,000 empty seats and I'm supposed to take them seriously. I'm supposed to concede that this is a "National League Town?"

Do you think that there would have been 20,000 empty seats if the Red Sox were at the stadium? Or the White Sox? The Angels? Hell, do you think there would have been 20,000 empty seats if we were playing the Devil Rays?

Hell no.

This is a franchise that can only sell out when they play the Yankees. And they were so concerned that Yankee fans were taking over Shea during inter-league that they made it more difficult to buy tickets for fans to buy individual games. If you wanted Yankee-Mets tickets, you had to buy one of their mini-ticket packages. So while you got the Yankee game, you also got five other games you could care less about.

Meanwhile, the Yankees had to stop selling season ticket packages so they would have individual games to sell to fans who wanted to buy tickets the day of the game.

I'm supposed to take the fans of a franchise that owns part of a certain regional cable network that shows their games. But they show Derek Jeter Ford commercials!

Can you imagine how Mets fans must feel...Pedro strikes out the side...Gary Cohen throws to a commercial...and who do you see?



That's right. Captain America swinging his mighty bat!!!

Even your network isn't yours. What's ours is ours. What's yours is ours.

Even the teams whose traditions you're trying to hawk are damaged goods. I give the Dodgers all the credit in the world in being the first to integrate and their various innovations that advanced the game. But the fact of the matter is that the attendance every year dropped. They had this maginficent team in Kings County but every year attendance dwindled. They win the World Series in 1955, but they drew less fans in 1956. Where were all these great National League fans? The Sym-phoney? The Knot-Hole gang?

And don't even get me started on the Giants and the Polo Grounds. There were 20,000 empty seats in the 1951 "Shot Heard Round The World" game. I don't care if it was a day game. You think there would have 20,000 empty seats in St. Louis, Chicago or Boston if their teams were playing for the pennant? After they won the World Series in 1954, they were an afterthought in this town. They were awful and barely drew anybody.

Some National League town. You managed to lose two teams in a year and the third can't sell out unless they play the Yankees.

I could go on and on about how this is a Yankee town, but what would be the point? To state the obvious to the converted? It's like I've said in the past, there are very few real Mets fans. There are posers who wear blue and orange that hate the Yankees more than they love their team.

So you can sell as many Yankee hater hats as you want. It just goes to show that you know whose house this is. If you were more excited about that fact your team is 10-2 than the fact that Yankees are 6-6, you might be worthy of respect.

You might be worthy of the team you allegedly root for. It's a shame that teams can't trade their fans.

37 thousand. Pathetic.