Sunday, December 30, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I know, things have been quiet around here. That isn’t a sign that I’m giving up, or even a sign that the new job is hellish. The truth is that it’s a symptom of me learning how to deal with the aftermath of the 2007 season, and the fact that with the 30 million people writing about the offseason, there was very little added value I could possibly offer you.

The whole point of this blog is that it’s a chronicle of me growing into being a baseball fan. And although while in many ways my evolution has and continues to be rapid, there are still some lessons that are only learned through time. Even with seeing 13 games in 2005 (which is a lot for a non-fan), it was all one big blur and I had enough trouble learning about things like how the schedule is put together and why do they play the teams they play and learning some very basic rules I’m almost embarrassed to admit I didn’t understand. I remember the day TBF mentioned that he was a little sad because that was the day the Mets were officially eliminated from any hope of post-season play, but it didn’t register, or rather, it registered as - post-season? This is the Mets we’re talking about, right?

It was almost unfair in a way that 2006 was my first “real” season. Even being there for Game 7 and having my heart broken - well, at least there was a Game 7 for me to be at. I keep telling TBF that in some ways, 2007 was worse for me than 2006, because it was so utterly devastating to watch them go from the top to the bottom. It wasn’t like other years where they were nowhere near the top - they had it within their grasp and they just not only lost it, they lost it because they didn’t give a rat’s patootie.

It’s that last bit that’s been the hardest for me to deal with. I could deal with them being outplayed (which, I realize, they were), but they were outplayed because they didn’t even bother.

TBF is starting to be excited about baseball again, even with his white hot anger at the Mets ticketing department. I’ve omitted recounting those details here, because it is his fight, not mine; what are they going to do, lower prices because we called and complained? They don’t care about people like us. I mean, it would be like me telling the Rolling Stones, “Hey, guys - you know I love you to death but those $450 prices for floor seats are out of control. I am one of your most loyal fans, if you don’t lower the prices I won’t go to the shows.” It doesn’t matter because if I don’t buy them, someone else will. It may be some investment broker asshole who can’t name more than 10 songs, and who will spend the entire show talking on his iPhone and going out for a hot pretzel during Keith’s solo set. But the seat will be filled, the ticket funds will be in Mick and Keith’s offshore bank accounts, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. The Wilpons don’t care who’s buying the tickets in Citi Field, they only care that they’re bought. Cold hard reality? Welcome to 2007.

So much for me saying that it isn’t my fight. I guess a more accurate statement would be that while it causes me pain, I have no energy to tilt at windmills.

Anyway, the invoice has been received (not that we will pay it one second before it is due) and we are back in Section 12, and as far as I know, the regulars will be back there, too. The redheads in Row F attempted to stage some kind of mutiny by trying to convince the sisters next to us that we should all move to the loge - the LOGE? - in some misguided thought that if they moved to the loge and sat in what would effectively be the bullpen, they would somehow have some kind of added priority in Citi Field that our lowly mezzanine seats would not grant us. TBF made some half-hearted tries to have a discussion about trying to upgrade our seats, but I see no point. I picked out those seats and I love them. I would buy them from the Mets at the end of the season and put them in the living room if I could. I like my view of David Wright leaning in, my vantage point into the Mets dugout, my ability to peek in at Ron and Keith and Howie Rose down on the press level, the fact that we are sheltered from the elements and that I have a ladies’ room right outside the tunnel, close enough to run there and back between sides. It is my view, and I will miss it at Citi Field, so I am going to enjoy it now. And, despite the price increase, I am happy to pay it.

What is also different about this year is that last year we spent December planning for Spring Training. There was a household decision that because of the debacle of 2007, the Mets were not getting any additional money from us this year. No Spring Training, no out-of-town roadtrips, not even Philly. That may change, but it is not likely, given that they are also competing with the continual Springsteen tour, it is likely our additional dollars will go there (where there are also outrageous ticket prices but it’s rare that the people we pay to see ever phone it in the way the Mets did last year). And there may be a trip to Cooperstown (my first, TBF’s second) this winter. It may seem childish, and it’s not like the Mets would really suffer from our absence in Port St. Lucie or Citizens Bank Park or Chase Field or Petco Park or any of the other stadiums that have been on our list of Places To See The Mets Someday.

But, dammit, it’s a matter of principle.

Anyway, happy new year. I promise that the frequency of posts will start picking up.