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We’ve got some conflicts next week, so we are offering the MG discount:
7/8 Mets v Giants - Mezz 12 row F - face is $35 each, $60 for the pair
7/12 Mets v Rockies - Upper Deck Section 8 row H, face is $25, $40 for the pair
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“I like baseball, but the world knows I’m a football guy,” Jon Bon Jovi said at a City Hall announcement Monday. “I own an arena team. I live and love football.”
“Major League Baseball wants All-Star Summer to be the ultimate celebration for baseball fans in New York City,” said Tim Brosnan, the executive vice president for business for Major League Baseball.
Okay, who woke up and decided that Jon Bon Jovi was going to become the official rock band of Major League Baseball? Has Bud Selig ever *listened* to Bon Jovi? I know I have bitched in the past about the various country bands getting in on the act, but at least I feel like they were genuine choices that represented a majority of MLB fans, not to mention their players. I am trying very hard to figure out how this decision was made, except for the one that’s most obvious to me: it’s the one most likely to appeal to the white frat boy type, at least in the minds of someone at MLB. However, the only people I know that still care about Bon Jovi are women, not that coveted 21-35 male demographic that MLB slavishly worships in a manner not suitable to describe to a family audience.
Why doesn’t this “honor” get to go to an artist who is legitimately a huge baseball fan - or even just a fan? I realize it’s tough to find someone who the world actually knows and cares about, but - the Hold Steady? Pearl Jam? I realize that six people in the world care about The Baseball Project but half that band are in or perform with R.E.M., who are still capable of selling out Madison Square Garden.
Finally, this concert offends me not just because I fucking HATE Jon Bon Jovi more than I hate most bands on this planet, but because it’s such a obvious pander to the white male 21-35 demographic. It’s not representative of the baseball audience in New York City, which is where the All-Star Game is being held. Of course, Mayor Bloomberg would have never ever approved a concert in Central Park with Daddy Yankee or any reggaeton act on the bill (just like he wouldn’t allow the protestors against the RNC in 2005 to use the park, but was a-ok with Dave Matthews being there), which is of course an incredibly popular musical genre amongst the Latino players in the MLB. (He wouldn’t have approved Metallica or any heavy metal band, either, for what it’s worth.)
Finally, for the highest of high comedy, I present to you the New York Times’ City Room blog (written by the awesome Sewell Chan) discussing the concert. Please be sure to read the comment thread. Do not consume liquids while doing so.
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*Bonus points and some kind of prize if you can tell me where this reference is from.
I’ve been trying to gear up any enthusiasm to post, when I read this post by Mike Steffanos over at Mike’s Mets. The post, entitled “Dreariness,” made me feel 100% times better, because if a long-time fan like Mike can’t muster up the enthusiasm to write anything about the Mets, then I’m in good company.
I’m even tired of writing about my issues. For example, I have become incredibly leery of Carlos Delgado. I think he’s acted like a complete and total dick, or at least that’s what the media has made him seen (a distinction I completely recognize). I really, really like Carlos Delgado. I even really, really liked his refusal to stand up for “God Bless America,” because truth be told, if I could get away with it I would too (given our household’s belief that God blesses Bangladesh just as much as s/he blesses America). But the feeling I get is that he doesn’t give a damn any more. I think fans have been racist, and quick to boo, but the booing is because of the situation that Omar and the Wilpons put him in: Omar for keeping him and others around too long, the Wilpons for jacking ticket prices and the eternal specter of Citi Field, a place most of us will not be able to afford, looming over every game they play at home.
...and now I’m running out of steam. Again.
I think it’s time to do some book reviews.
Mets v. Yankees
This was probably the most unpleasant evening I have yet to experience at Shea. I realize that’s not saying a lot, but it is what it is.
Tonight was absolutely brutal. Truly, truly brutal. We would have been able to deal with the pathetic on-field performance were it not for the arrival of Yankee fan friends of the folks in Row F, who proceeded to fulfill every stereotype of the preening, obnoxious, ignorant, classless Yankee fan....emphasis on ignorant. As TBF finally said to one of them, “Don’t let facts get in the way of your argument there, buddy,” and then dropped it.
(This was the same guy trying to snidely make fun of TBF keeping score… although part of me really thinks that he just didn’t understand what TBF was doing, so he figured he’d just make fun of it.)
“I’m being a fan, just like you are” is an argument that doesn’t cut it. Their behavior wasn’t “being a fan.” That was being an obxnoxious, overbearing asshole… in someone else’s house. Shea didn’t feel like home tonight. There was a tinge of violence hanging over the ballpark. There were fights EVERYWHERE, constantly. There was no good natured gamesmanship, it was harsh and jagged and there was no feeling of goodwill or fun or enjoyment. It was fierce, and unpleasant.
I will admit that I am not quiet, and am not afraid to be outspoken. But I am not violent. However, the sisters next to me were seriously concerned the female in the crowd behind us that arrived in the 5th inning was going to hit me, and we exchanged maybe a dozen words. Even after we went back to ignoring her, she could not let it go, and did everything she could to re-engage us. I realized the threat, but was not worried: I was bigger than she was, and she would have hurt herself. I am not quite sure why she felt she could waltz into our section and have her bullshit not be challenged, but let’s go back to the definition in the first paragraph.
I know this sounds dramatic but it was like that at Shea tonight. A little bit unhinged, a little potential for things to get out of hand quickly. This was one night that I was glad to see the NYPD command post out in the parking lot and didn’t think, “Overkill.”
I know… not all Yankees fans are like this. The folks we sat next to up in the Bronx in May were not like that, but they were real baseball people, people who had stood by their team when they were terrible. There wasn’t the sense of vicious entitlement that these people had. Unfortunately, they’re a minority.
As TBF said when we were leaving, “Even at our worst, our very very worst, the most obnoxious Mets fan doesn’t even come close.” I might not know… but he would.
Thank god we already sold our tickets for tomorrow’s game.
I’m so disgusted I can’t even be bothered to edit my photos from tonight. Tomorrow is another day, but I’m taking the rest of the weekend off from baseball, or at least watching baseball. These games don’t matter and I need some breathing room already. There’s a horrid, bad taste in my mouth from tonight. It’s behavior I cannot even begin to pretend to understand, nor do I want to even remotely ever be a part of it.
So the Mets sent out a survey about next year, and while I didn’t get it, TBF did. However, there’s nothing to prevent anyone from clicking on the link and taking the survey. Let’s make sure the male demographic is not over-represented.
Compare these two stories:
Ed Vedder dedicated “Rats” at MSG last night to Shea (well, partially, while talking about Seattle history and oh, I was out at Shea Stadium the other night and they have big rats there. It gave me an excuse to yell LET’S GO METS).
And to the guy wearing the VEDDER 10 custom Mets t-shirt at the back of the floor… um, well, the jury is still out whether that is cool or not, just like it’s out on the guy with the custom Mariners jersey that said PEARL JAM 10. And of course, anything is better than someone with a Yankees jersey reading AMENT 10.
(We vaguely discussed approaching every person at MSG last night wearing Cubs gear and asking them to tell us who the backup catcher for the Cubs was… but then thought better of it. We’re mean, we know it.)
I wasn’t going to post anything tonight. But the 7 year old in me started giggling earlier in the game, when discussing the unfortunate surnames of two of the Mariners pitching staff, Mr. Putz and Mr. Dickey. You know what? There wasn’t a lot to be happy about tonight, at all, so yeah, we were going for humor in anything we could find - including the renaming of Mr. Dickey (whose name, unfortunately, is not Richard) around the third inning. I felt that was deserving of its own post, so, here it is.
A POST IN TEXT MESSAGING:
Shirley in Seattle, 6:03pm: Soooo, you know that Vedder is at Shea? He apparently took BP with the M’s.
MG:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
He apparently didn’t do very well… but better than most of our guys.
AUGHGHGH
[I start dialing TBF and thinking, how quickly can we get to Shea? and Why the hell do I not have my camera with me?]
is that a good AUGH or a bad one
Bad
That’s what pregame radio girl said - the source of all this
WE WERE GOING TO GO TONIGHT...but we have Mets tomorrow and PJ on Wed and Mets-Yankees Fri
Me: “We didn’t even think about it.”
TBF: “Why would he be there?”
Me: “Because he is a Baseball Guy and it’s the last year of Shea.”
TBF: “No, because he knows someone in the Mariners. If the Mariners were at Yankee Stadium and Ed was in town, he’d be there.”
Me: “He wouldn’t do that. He’s not like Springsteen.”
TBF: “I would have thought about it if the Cubs were in town.”
Me: “The cat would have thought about it if the Cubs were in town.”
TBF: “I didn’t know Ed was a baseball bigamist.”
Me: “I’m going to use that.”
TBF: “Feel free.”
I’m going to blame Vedder for Felix’s Grand Slam, because it is easier than blaming Johan.
