Friday, June 12th, 2009: The Mets and Yankees play a hard fought ballgame in the Bronx.
With 2 on and 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Mets Closer Francisco Rodriguez throws to Yankees 3rd Baseman Alx Rodriguez, who promptly pops the ball towards Mets 2nd Baseman Luis Castillo.
Chaos ensues in Mets country:
Thanks to Ray Dice Chan over in the Global New York Mets Fan Group over on Facebook for the intense drawing.
I’ve been to Citifield twice this year, for the pre-season college game and one Mets game. The first time, I couldn’t find the championship banners or the homerun apple from Shea. But the second time, I found them. I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did manage to find this shot online.
Why hide the banners? The apple, I understand. There’s a brand new one in centerfield. But the banners? Why aren’t these on the outfield wall? Is this what the organization sees as “turning the page” or “putting the past behind us” by hiding the banners behind bridge?
Embarrassed, much?
Thanks to Gary Dunaier and his photostream from Flickr for the photo.
Top o' the mornin' to ya, Gov'na!
Browsing around CNN.com this morning, I found a particular story that further proved how ridiculous we’ve become in America. John Coleman, the drum major for Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes & Drums, quit after some hard to handle and (what I call) unnecessary publicity.
At the Inauguration of President Obama, the CFMP&D (try pronouncing that 10 times fast) marched in the parade. Obama reportedly smiled directly at John, and then waved at the band. Doing what any polite person would do, John nodded in acknowledgement and gave the President-to-be a slight wave in return. Sounds like a non-issue, right? Think again… According to Ken Rybka, the band’s Manager and Web Page Editor, the band rehearsed over and over, and knew it was a military parade. “Protocol and proper decorum had to be followed”, he said, according to CNN.com. For breaking “protocol”, John Coleman was suspended for… count it… six months. What I can’t grasp is the idea that a nod of the head, a smile, or a wave would be gestures that warrant any kind of suspension, regardless of the “protocol”. Sure, the band has rules, I get that. It’s definitely not my place to say someone was wrong here, but I can only imagine the amount of excitement, pride, and joy that Mr. Coleman felt when Obama looked right at him. What’s even better, is that Rybka is quoted to say that Coleman’s resignation “comes as a shock and surprise.”
Seriously?… Shock?… Surprise?… Would you like your name to be thrown all over national airwaves for something as minor as a wave, smile, and a nod of the head? Give me a break! Nobody needs this kind of attention for something so unimportant. To Mr. Coleman (and this is just my opinion here), he had a chance to connect with the oncoming President of the United States for just a moment, and that’s excitement that many would be foolish to pass up. It’s unfortunate that this country’s media, yet again, doesn’t fail to impress with the amount of non-stories out there, making Mr. Coleman an “innocent victim” (I put that in quotations because George Carlin, RIP, had a lot to say about the term ‘Innocent Victim’).
In review: Obama looked at Coleman. Coleman was excited. Coleman nodded, smiled, and waved at Obama. Coleman was suspended for breaking “protocol”. Coleman’s suspension became a national story. Coleman quits due to the publicity becoming a bit much to handle.
What have we accomplished?: Nothing positive. My thanks go out to the national media, who never fail to impress me with their lack of important stories, making me blog about this when I could be blogging about the Mets!… wait… nevermind… as long as Citibank has their name plastered all over the Mets franchise, I’ll pass.
I always love finding videos on YouTube of shows I used to watch as a kid. Being a big Mets fan, and a fan of Sesame Street, I was extra excited to find this video of Ron Darling paying a visit to Telly Monster and his vast collection of baseball cards. Enjoy!
Holy Crap! You’re Telly Monster!
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).
Tay Zonday has got nothing on Richie Rich, The Kangol Kid and Mixmaster Ice. Say who? Say what? That’s right, I said it. Forget Chocolate Rain! Like it was stated over at MetsBlog, I too was upset with myself for not knowing that this song was in existence. Ignore the random images in the video and keep your ears tuned to the 1987 smash hit, known as “Chocolate Strawberry”.
He took 3rd base while you wasn’t lookin’ (God bless grammar!)
[ Thanks to “What Would Keith Do” for this video ]
I always love finding videos that take me back to my childhood, but finding this video brought together two things I loved when I was growing up: Sesame Street and the New York Mets!
You’d better listen to the ‘stache!
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