I cannot even talk about last night’s game. I am glad that Carlos at work (one of the few token Mets fans in a space filled with Yankees die-hards) was in another office today, because I could not have had anything to say to match his sad, Eeyore-like gaze upon me as I got off the elevator this morning.
I am not sure at what point last night it was, exactly, when I looked up, realized that it hadn’t gotten any better and wasn’t going to get any better and OMG WAS THAT ANOTHER HR and I picked up the remote and said, “If you don’t mind--”
“No, this is about the time you turn it off,” TBF added, grimly.
“I feel like a bad fan.”
“You don’t leave the game if you’re there, but there’s no point in continuing to watch this.”
Thanks to the fine folks at A&E Home Video, I have TWO copies of the DVD boxset you see right here: THE NEW YORK METS: ESSENTIAL GAMES OF SHEA STADIUM. You’ve seen everyone else giving this one away, now it’s my turn. However, unlike, say, Adam Rubin, I’m not going to ask you trivia questions that the likes of TBF would be proud of. No, I want some creativity.
I want to hear about your WORST game at Shea. Was it snowing? Were you on a bad date and it went into extra innings? Did your mother choose to embarrass you in front of the entire section at age 13? Did the Mets just plain old suck in ridiculous fashion? Or was it some combination of all of the above? Write and tell me about it.
I have TWO sets to give away, courtesy Suzanne at A&E, and I will give them away to the person who sends in the story that both TBF and I (since he’s sat through some horrible, horrible games) will judge.
Please send your entry to metsgrrl at gmail dot com. Entries must be received by Midnight Brooklyn time, Monday, May 26, 2008. If you have been to a game with me, bought me a beer, met my parents or know the names of my siblings, you are disqualified. I will publish (anonymously if you wish) the best entries here.
Congratulations are in order to my friends and compatriots in Red Sox Nation this morning. We were sort of, kind of watching Cubs-Astros, and then turned it off, and then I hear the TV go back on again, and walk back into the living room.
“You’re going to keep watching the game?” I ask TBF.
“Lester’s apparently throwing a no hitter in Boston,” he answered.
So much for productivity. I sat down on the couch.
After the final out, as we sat there watching the festivities, both of us probably thinking the same thing (some variation of OMG, we will never see this at Shea, will we), TBF turns to me and says, “Why doesn’t he go get a hug from Wally?”
“He’s busy.”
“If I just threw a no-hitter, I would climb on top of the dugout and demand a hug from Wally… that is, if I was a pitcher for the Red Sox. If I was a pitcher for the Mets I would demand a hug from Mr. Met.”
“Maybe Wally’s not a huggy kind of guy.”
“What do you mean?! He’s a big, green furry thing! That’s the very definition of ‘huggy’!”
It is a very good thing that this is the last year of Yankee Stadium, because we hadn’t been there for more than 15 minutes before I declared tonight was the last time I was ever going to put myself through the hassle of going there again. We know the rules, we know we can’t bring a bag and everything is in our hands or in clear plastic, and yet we had to pull everything out of my purse and our pockets and take off our hats and then after that I get hassled again over my LEGAL BY THE RULES purse… and then my ticket had trouble scanning.
By the time we made it upstairs, to the wonderful right-behind-home-plate seats that TBF grabbed off of eBay, neither of us were in the mood to be there. At all.
“Cheer up,” said the Yankees fans in front of us. “Don’t look so glum!”
“We’re plenty cheery,” TBF said. “Our team isn’t losing.”
I hate the free morning papers they hand out at the subway entrances (because I feel they are responsible for bringing down our national literacy rate even further), but couldn’t resist picking up copies this morning once I saw the SNY promotional cover (front and back above).
I realize that I’ve taken a few photos of the SNY creative but haven’t posted it or talked about it. I have to take this opportunity to say, hats off to SNY for this beautiful, elegant, inspiring creative. There’s nothing fancy or elaborate about it, but the entire campaign (which you see in subways, phone booths, and on buses all over NYC) makes the channel look like a class act. I’m definitely going to go hunt for some frameable images in the collector’s market.
If you go to the AMNY website, you can download today’s issue, including the cover, as a full-color PDF.
Someone at TBF’s office just gave him two free tickets to tonight’s game. Provided we don’t get rained out, I’m going to head up there - late, but I’ll get there. I will be That Annoying Person showing up at the third inning. At least it’s only 15 minutes from Grand Central to 161st St. on the express.
I thought today’s Gary-Keith-Ron and sometimes Howie in the Upper Deck was a great idea.
I just wish it had been a more enjoyable game to have done that for.
I suppose i could manage to add something to the pile of grumbling, to the disgruntled hordes phoning WFAN, to cranky co-workers sending me instant messages throughout the afternoon demanding FIRE WILLIE!!!!!!!!!!
But what, I ask, what?
I am nervous about the weekend, glad we are going to see Mr. J. Maine, anxious about Mr. O. Perez, and hoping that Mr. J. Santana shows all those ‘We already KNOW Santana’ Yankees fans that they, um, well, don’t. And then I look at a lacklusterstruggling ambivalentinconsistent undiscernable, unfathomable Mets and realize that I just don’t know.
But no one does. I just don’t have to figure out how to file a thousand words of copy a day about it.
We are going to the House of Evil on Sunday night, section 601. Right behind home plate, carefully chosen by TBF and purchased from a Yankees season ticket holder living in Florida, as having excellent photo potential for yours truly. I like the idea of the Subway Series, I like the potential of the crosstown rivalry, but I don’t like Yankee Stadium, think it is overrated, and going into enemy territory is more unpleasant than it should be. I know, gone are the days of dueling, and women once had to wear crinolines and stockings to the ballpark. I’d just like to think that it was once more civilized. I realize the rivalry was probably stronger once upon a time, but I’d just want to know it was done with more style.
I just don’t want to walk out of there embarrassed at the way they played. Which seems to be a 50-50 shot these days.
I will miss some of Saturday and hope to catch as much of tomorrow as I can, but I have huge enormous plans with a friend having once-in-a-lifetime events and those take precedence. I am okay with this but I imagine TBF is planning how he can sneak a radio into Maxwell’s without being completely rude. (Yes, I know you are, and I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.)
Thanks to the fine folks at 
