Hello again my friends, and welcome on back to another edition of New York Mets Stir-Up Sunday! Well as you know, the Mets are currently in the middle of another repugnant road trip, going 1-5 through the first 6 games with 4 more still to come. I’ve tried and tried to believe that the Mets would still be able to climb back into the National League’s Wild Card race – after all what’s a baseball season if you don’t believe in your club? – but I think this last stretch has finally made me acknowledge it’s just not going to happen, and the thought of another baseball season coming to a close without any sort of happy, exciting ending makes me feel pretty sad.
The thing is however, is my sadness justified? I mean, earlier in the year when spring training was still going on, I remember predicting that the team wouldn’t be much more than a .500 ballclub, and probably didn’t have the guns to make it to the postseason. My expectations were low, so when the Mets didn’t meet my low expectations, I figured the pain wouldn’t be too hard to endure. But it is.
Why is this? I think it stems from two things. One, the team had a run in the first half of the season that I don’t think anybody saw coming. Two separate 8 game win streaks, first place for a little while in April, 11 games over the .500 marker at the end of June…this team for a period of time, exceeded expectations in ways that nobody thought they would! I remember sports-talk personalities even commending manager Jerry Manuel on how well he had the Mets playing, and that he was worthy of a contract extension. But then, things did taper off. The Mets win percentage took a nosedive, the woes we had on the road never wound up going away, and today, the Mets find themselves back to meeting my preseason expectations, as a .500 ballclub. The fact they got my hopes up, and made me dream that my team might actually wind up contending this season was like someone putting me on a circus tightrope, happy, higher and more exhilarated than everyone else. And then all of a sudden they take that pleasure away from me by cutting the wire, and I fall back down to earth, where the Mets were never expected to contend in the first place.
The second reason this season hurts so much, stems from personal feelings and experiences. Receiving my bachelor’s degree last May closed a chapter in my life. My undergraduate level studies are done forever. I had a lot of fond memories with the kids at my college, and I will never ever be able to live them again. I got to thinking that everything in life is exactly like that. We take things for granted, and never truly savor and appreciate them until they’re over for good. Life is too short, and everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy what they have, because when it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Life isn’t an H.G. Wells novel. There is no way to relive the past. We only get a certain amount of baseball seasons to enjoy in our lifetime, and to waste one on a mediocre season such as this one, hurts a lot. We may not be on the same level as the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs are on – God bless those fans, they really are true to the core – but living in the same city as the New York Yankees, who are basically unstoppable, and win every single year, and have a fanbase that has a fetish about rubbing it in the faces of us Mets fans, is plenty of agony to put up with. And I’m jealous. I want what the Yankee fans get to enjoy year in, year out. I want my team to be as successful as often! I don’t want to experience these disappointing seasons as often as we do! Life is too short, and I want to see my baseball team compete in exciting playoff series on a routine basis, like our cross-town neighbors.
But life is also too short to stay mad at something you love so much. I’ve loved the Mets for so long, I know I’ll never do them part. That’s why I anytime I hear someone saying that the Mets don’t deserve to be watched, and that everyone should just abandon the team so that ownership maybe gets a clue, while I can understand why they’d feel that way, I still have to roll my eyes just a tiny bit since they just don’t fully understand. The passion true Mets fans have for their team goes way beyond that. We love the team too much to just suddenly stop watching them altogether. Life is short my friends, and though the team is frustrating beyond belief, we must outweigh those angry feelings with ones of love and passion for our team. Otherwise we’re mere bandwagon fans. And we all know that the Yankees have carloads of them. Isn’t it comedic how more and more Yankee fans come out of the clear blue sky once they’re riding high and cruising through their postseason schedule? Makes me sick. I’ll always stand right by my team, through not only the thick times, but the thin ones as well, unlike the other New York baseball organization. Love and stand by your team my friends, life is too short!
