Word of the Day: Collapse

So what exactly did happen to the 2008 New York Mets? Here’s how I see things, and how some journalists are just looking to get readers to their columns by tagging this Mets season with some misleading terms.

Ted Keith and Jon Heyman over at SI.com both referred to this season as another “Collapse”. Why a collapse? Because for the second straight season, the Mets were beat out in the east by the Phillies after holding a lead in the division with (that magical number) 17 games to go, and were also beat out in the wildcard race. But the finishing touch on why they would call it another collapse is that the final blow, once again, came at the hands of the Florida Marlins. Touching Drama, yes? Wrong.

The 2008 season can be summed up in 2 words, which all Mets fans will understand divided the season into to “mini-seasons”. Those words are Willie and Manuel.

While I don’t completely blame Willie Randolph for his post-2006 failures, there was no doubt that his time as Mets manager was fading fast after the 2007 season. The first half of the season (until Willie’s firing) created not only a 34-35 record, but a large amount of angst and disappointment among the fans. This was supposed to be the year of ‘revenge’ or ‘payback’. After 69 games, that was not the case. But for the final 93 games, hope was restored. Despite missing the playoffs by a slim margin for the second straight season, Jerry Manuel took over Willie’s job and the first half of the season seemed like a meaningless faded memory. Under Manuel, the Mets finished the season going 55-38 the rest of the way. Carlos Delgado finally got his swing back, David Wright and Jose Reyes finally showed some life, Starting Pitching got better under Dan Warthen, and young faces like Murphy, Parnell and Niese began to display what the future may hold. I wouldn’t call the season a collapse by any means, but more of a rebirth of where the success started for this Franchise as far back as 1969: The Farm.

Back to the word of the day: “Collapse”. Why don’t we analyze that a little more, in relations to the world of Professional Sports. If I’m not mistaken, this article pretty much sums it up. If you’re at work or can’t view the link, the article (written by Bryan Armen Graham over at SI.com) is titles “100 Seasons… 100 Heartbreaks”, referring to Philadelphia’s (current and longest) championshipless drought of it’s 4 major sports franchises. The Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers have combined for a total of 100 Championshipless seasons since 1983. That’s 25 years without a major sports championship. I would gamble to call that a “Collapse” of an entire city, let alone 4 major sports franchises. But, this is New York City, and the media hovers to New York City like a fly to a zapper.

So while the ruling media continues to misinform for its own pleasure, I’ll sit back and smile as I think about the bright future this franchise could have as it enters it’s new home (even though I’m not completely happy about Citifield).

Lets Go Mets (add ridiculously “Hooo” exhale).

Look Out Below!

I hope this poor anchor-girl was okay after…. wait, I don’t wanna spoil it. Anyway, like the title of the post says, look out below!

Inside The Mind of a Mets Fan

[ This post can also be found on the Global New York Mets Fan Blog ]

I’m sure this post will bring in a lot of flack from Phillies fans and fans of other NL East teams, but I’m not concerned. I’m confident there are “decent typing” fans out there who can tell the difference between a direct insult and a generalization (which is what I’m doing here). So what might be on the mind of Mets fans going into the 2008 Season? After a conversation with a friend, and fellow Mets fan, I thought I would share his mindset in the form of a picture show. Each one of these photos speak thousands of words into how my friend felt about the events of last season, the events of the offseason, and what he wishes for the upcoming season. Please enjoy: Inside the Mind of a Mets fan: A Picture Show!

“What I wanted was a repeat of…”

“But then there was…”

“And I felt like…”

“But then I saw…”

“And then we got…”

“And it would awesome if he could…”

“Because what I really want now is…”

The End

Willie and Omar Have Answers

Exactly…

The Ideal Business Meeting

Damn You Gigantic Turkey Sub!

The Reincarnation of Mr. Met

And somehow, he’ll be back for 2008. Imagine that!

As you’ve probably figured out by looking at the various pages here on the blog, I’m a Mets fan. I’m not going to “measure” my fandom, or brag about the amount of games I’ve been to, or try to convince anybody that I’m a bigger fan than the next guy. I’m a Mets fan, plain and simple.

I’m writing this post to tell you (the reader) that I don’t find the recent Mets “collapse” as devastating as a lot of people find it. If anything, I find the recent season-ending struggle to be humbling. Being in that Sunday crowd this past weekend for the incredible demise of this team was enough to realize that there isn’t much a fan can do at a time like this, other than “boo” louder than the planes can rattle Shea Stadium. As for the lessons we can all learn from this kind of collapse, I’ll be saving those for my future kin when old man J Soul can tell his offspring of the terrible fall of the 2007 New York Mets.

– “But dad, what could have been done to stop the Mets from playing so bad?”

– “Nothing, son… there was nothing we could do…”

I, a Mets fan, am humbled by the Phillies and the current progress of the 2007 Baseball season.

*cough… Go Rockies… cough*