Tuesday, February 05, 2008
NO, SERIOUSLY.
You didn’t believe me, did you?
I was delighted to learn on MetsBlog yesterday that the Mets were telling people that shirts would be available today. Given their past successes in making merchandise available to people who want to buy it, I was not optimistic that the mental giants in the merch department would step on it any time before Opening Day.
But the MetsBlog post made it abundantly clear that shirts were available - they were even available yesterday! - and so at lunchtime, I sent TBF a text:
LUNCH PLANS? WANT TO GO TO CHIPOTLE* + METS STORE?
He met me on the corner of 5th and 42nd. With great excitement, we walked down the block and entered the Team Store, where, with uncharacteristic common sense, the SANTANA 57 shirts were hung just inside the doorway - what was left of them, anyway. There were four hangers empty and two still full.
I pounce. I rejoice. We once again burble how happy we are. While I am paying for my purchase, the phone rings. “We have black in XL and XXL. Jerseys will be in later this week.”
Of course, since THE GUYS WHO WORK AT THE METS TEAM STORE ON 42ND STREET ARE YANKEES FANS, the entire process, which should have been a joy and a delight, was somewhat muted.
(On that note, I have heard these guys telling tourists that they couldn’t tell them anything about Shea Stadium because they were Yankees fans. One of them even had his Yankees-themed iPod barely out of sight under the counter today. No, seriously, they couldn’t get a job at the *Yankees* team store? These were the most qualified individuals to hold these particular jobs? At the major presence the Mets have in Midtown, we have YANKEES fans representing? WTF?)
It is silly, I know, to buy a shirt I can’t even wear yet, except around the house, or maybe to the gym. Opening Day is two months away. And I could have waited, I could have saved my $20 and put it towards a jersey, or something.
But I wanted to buy the shirt today. At the Team Store. It’s like running around the arena to find the place that’s selling the event-specific shirt or the event-specific poster. It’s like waiting in line at 11:59pm on a Monday night so you can get the record coming out THE NEXT DAY at 12:01 sharp.
It is my ritual, my way of doing things from other lives that fits here, makes sense here, makes sense to me. I don’t know what you’re ‘supposed’ to do but this, this felt dead right. I want to be able to say in years to come, Remember when we signed Santana? Man, I cut out of work on a busy day to run and buy a shirt so I could have it right away.
It may not be “Where were you when you heard we traded Seaver” or “Where were you when you heard we signed Piazza?” but it’s what I got. You have to start somewhere.
*(For those not denizens of Midtown Manhattan, they are, conveniently, adjacent to each other.)
i just started working in midtown. that’s very good to know. perhaps a trip to the team store is in order.