Were you around the last time the Mets won a championship? Were you a child, young or old? Do you enjoy baseball history? Do you like listening to broads talk about baseball?
Then tonight’s Mets Lounge podcast is for YOU!!!
Please join me in the lounge at a different time (9:30 pm ET) with special Heather Quinlan, the filmmaker behind the 1986 Mets Movie kickstarter campaign.
Join us in the chat room, or be sure to send us questions on Twitter beforehand!
I visited PNC Park for the first time in 2010. I had just gotten married; hubby and I went on five baseball road trips that year. This was the only stadium I hadn’t been to at least one other time. The game was a rain shortened yet official game; the Mets won. It was also a Jonathon Niese start (this Saturday I was there, it was also a JJN start). The series this year was a four game variety. Mets lost three of them.
I didn’t get the full effect that year. Since 2011, though, it’s been tough for us to do a trip, whether the series fell during the week or a time that we already had a conflict. We were both eager to get out there for this weekend. However, what we didn’t expect was life to get in the way. My husband’s family sold their house that’s been in the family for over 40 years. As a result, he had been taking some time off from work to deal with moving things out of the house. Before he knew it, it was month end. When your job function has to deal with closing out books for month end and year end, chances are a quick getaway only ends up with more work involved.
Before I knew it, it was decided that I’d be going solo. I had some friends who were going, so it was like I was alone. I had a lot of stuff to do.
I found that Pittsburgh is a very underrated city. Clean, pretty. You definitely feel Americana at its best when you’re there. PNC Park is also easily my favorite stadium thus far out of the 20 I have seen. I’m guessing Target Field, from people have told me, will give it a run for its money. Food, ambience, fan involvement, views. All the little things they got right in Pittsburgh’s park.
What I really took away from my weekend in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park was the attention to the little things to make the fan experience better. Friday and Saturday (perhaps Sunday, too, but I wasn’t there for it) featured a block party down Sixth Street, which is where the Roberto Clemente Bridge runs through, where partygoers could go to bars that lined the streets with drink and food specials, if you didn’t want to be beholden to the ballpark for food. Prior to these Block Parties, they featured some Pirates alumni (in this case, Omar Moreno of the famed We Are Family 1979 Pirates team), and $4 beers.
Just let that one sink in. I got a Leinenkugel summer shandy for $4. Prices went up, slightly, in the park. I know there’s a lot of pricing to the area (I know New York City has a higher cost of living…but it’s still not “cheap” to go to a ballgame, I just make it a priority).
But I got to thinking, how could the Mets do something like this to entice fans? All the energy from outside of the park did translate inside the park.
I realize that a lot of New York laws might not allow open containers. ‘Tis true, due to the many tailgates I’ve attended and have had to “cop” my beers in red Solo cups. We’ve never had to toss anything, or have had any troubles with the law
I’m sure if it came to a rowdy game (like a playoff game), I could see some crack downs. But if you can be served on a sidewalk, chances are, CitiField premises could apply for some sort of area as a drinking establishment, where you are permitted to drink outdoors. Maybe by McFadden’s.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Like I said, I left PNC with a sense of Pirates history, pride and fun. It’s been awhile since we’ve had collective fun at CitiField. There have been some moments. And the Mets **do** try, by having alumni there from time to time. It’s great to see guys like Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco, hell even Matt Franco. But these Block Parties really make me see that the fan experience is something else that’s sorely missing from Mets home games. They try. It just falls off the mark. Whether it’s the actual “buzz,” whether it’s fan disenchantment (could very well be that), I’m not sure. All I know is that if there were parties like this, I could be enticed to show up earlier to the ballpark to do some cheap drinking and partying.
There was also an emphasis on history. Not just Pirates history, which is rich and unique in and of itself. But Negro Leagues were included too.
I’ve never been one of those folks who subscribed to the idea that the Mets needed statues outside of CitiField, or even inside. I never felt strongly about it either way. I felt like the Museum and Hall of Fame was well-done, although I felt that the Rotunda could use some other acknowledgement of New York baseball history, not just Jackie Robinson.
After seeing the statues at PNC Park, of Honus Wagner, Bill Mazeroski and Ralph Kiner’s hand cast, I had a strong reaction. I wanted our own shit in CitiField.
A Jesse Orosco statue, doing his YES pose after striking out Marty Barrett to win the World Series. Cleon Jones with his catch to end the 1969 World Series. Mike Piazza hitting a home run. Whatever. There are so many great things that could make the fan experience better at CitiField. I’m not sure if they’re doing as much as they could.
They say that when the Brooklyn Dodgers finally won a World Series in 1955, beating the hated Yankees, fans had a party down Flatbush Avenue that rivaled Mardi Gras.
I was 10 years old when the Mets last won a World Series. I got drenched in a beer and champagne waterfall. I also remember that in 1988, when the Mets simply clinched the NL East, there was a dude who was a passenger in a passing vehicle waving his pants around out the window as his friend drove by Shea Stadium, in celebration.
I was 18 years old when the Rangers won a Stanley Cup after a 54 year drought. People were climbing up on lamp posts whilst naked.
Although I’ve been rooting for them for two years, and we were not in their home city when they won a championship, Seahawks fans took the Times Square to celebrate their Super Bowl victory last February.
Sometimes, summer doesn’t have to be right for dancin’ in the streets. Or maybe when you’re in Pittsburgh, it warrants a party each weekend. A block party, if you will.
The gentleman you see dancing in the video to old school R&B was someone who quite frankly danced like no one was watching. But plenty of people were. What surprised me though was just in a few years time, the Pirates, who always had tickets available, many comments were made about how the Pirates had such a nice park, but no one went to see them play.
It just shows that after a few years, some exciting play, and even a playoff run, can change a fan base around. It may take time, but Mets fans, we can only wish to be dancing in the streets at some point.
“Don’t boo your own team.”
I hear this mantra repeated over and over for the fans in Flushing. This is hardly unique to the area; it’s a New York thing, for sure. But I think even St. Louis Cardinals fans, you know the “Best Fans in Baseball,” have booed their own players, contrary to popular belief.
Look at hockey. I am a Rangers fan, and the fans are BRUTAL. I challenge any baseball player who has butthurt feelings to play hockey in an intense town like New York City. They’ll be running home to their mommies, crying and sucking their thumbs.
So to boo or not to boo, that is the question. I think when I was a kid, I used to think it was funny that players would get booed. But when I was eight or nine years old, I thought the players were superhuman. They could handle the cheers, the boos, any distractions. Even the airplanes that flew consistently overhead.
It wasn’t until I was much older (probably older than I care to admit) that I realized that these were people who were coming up to bat. People who were pitching, throwing the ball. What other industry or job can one have that you can have a 70% failure rate and be GOOD at it?
Yet, here we are, with the age old question: “To boo or not to boo?”
According to former Mets hitting coach, Dave Hudgens, booing is a BIG problem at home. (Mind you, I’m sure the team hears boos on the road…and they play just fine there).
“I really just think guys tried too hard at home,” Hudgens told MLB.com after his firing. “I think the fans are really tough on the guys at home. How can you boo Curtis Granderson? They have no idea how hard this guy works and how he goes about doing his business, doing his job. He gets off to a slow start and they’re booing him? Come on. It’s tougher at home to play than it is on the road, there’s no doubt about it. And they’re trying really hard at home.”
Wow. I mean. Just WOW.
Of all the things I’ve heard my team blame their poor play on…the fans are all of a sudden “the problem.”
From not going to enough games, to voicing displeasure, to not being loud enough. I’m just at a loss. I have no idea how to even broach this topic anymore.
I’ve been a Mets fan for 30 years. I’ve been through more down years than up. Never have I felt more condescended to by the ownership, front office and team in my life. And this is after two ginormous collapses in 2007 and 2008, then sub-.500 years in CitiField. All of a sudden…it’s the fans who are the problem. Yes, that’s the one constant.
In the parlance of my time…#SMH.
And then, I have to hear the self-righteousness of the people who claim to never “boo” their own team. And I mean, I might applaud fans booing, and yell a sarcastic, “Lets go METS” every now and then. The only people I suppose I’m hurting, would be the players themselves. Players, by the way, that get paid a shitload of money to listen to a few people boo IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO. Because at this point, I’m sorry to admit, the laundry is going to get the brunt of the discontent here. I mean, the ownership doesn’t take the field. (And if they did, I’d probably cheer Saul Katz for the sheer news that he’d sell his shares of the Mets). There is a larger picture here.
But over the years, I’ve thought of players who have been loathed by their own fans. And I mean, I can think of at least a dozen players that Mets fans CANNOT STAND. Two pop into my head, actually.
@Coopz22 I think Ollie reached a point where I almost cheered the boos.
— Jason Bornstein (@DyHrdMET) May 27, 2014
“Hey look! Luis Castillo dropped a routine pop-up that caused #mets to lose the game! Let’s applaud his effort before then though” #stfu
— The Coop (@Coopz22) May 27, 2014
And I got to thinking…if everyone is claiming, “I don’t boo my own players.” Then those players are subsequently booed…who’s doing it?
It’s like the rhetorical question (that was literally translated) by Sally Albright, when she told Harry Burns most women fake orgasms at one point in their lifetime.
If most women have done it, chances are, they’ve done it with him.
And chances are, you’ve done it too.
I admit, I’ve been particularly harsh with Curtis Granderson. I heckle him in the appropriate fashion: via social media. But here’s the kicker: I want him to do well. But I can’t fathom why anyone would think a guy who hit home runs at Yankee Stadium is all of a sudden “surprised” that this same guy hits long fly ball outs at CitiField.
Here’s a thought. And it’s always been this.
It’s not CitiField.
It’s never been about the fucking walls, despite numerous attempts to make it about that.
It’s not about the coaches.
And it’s certainly not about the fucking fans and whether they voice displeasure every now and then.
GET BETTER PLAYERS.
Maybe they need to talk to guys like Troy Tulowitzki or Chase Utley (Utley’s corner, anyone?) and see why they manage to hit well at CitiField.
You know why?
They don’t make excuses. And excuses, if you remember, are like assholes. Everyone has one…and they ALL stink.
@Coopz22 also our name has “LA” in it
— LA Kings (@LAKings) May 22, 2014
…till you sign it on the dotted line?
I vowed that I wouldn’t comment on the Mets open letter “True New Yorker” marketing campaign.
But when it’s been basically a week since and people are STILL bitching about it (or joking about it), I finally had enough ammo to write something about it.
I was telling someone earlier today that when I first got the letter, I was kind of like, “Whatever,” for me. I knew, once again, that it was a misguided attempt at trying to “connect” with the fans. And of course, I cringed at the thought of what the reaction would be like on Twitter. Because I knew that a shitstorm would be a-brewin’ before I knew it.
I didn’t sign it. I guess I’m taking the route of Randall “Pink” Floyd in not signing the oath of not drinking or drugging while training for football. I wasn’t angry about it…I was apathetic.
I’m a season ticket holder. I not only go to a lot of home games, I go to many road games. I’m a fan. I don’t need to sign it on the dotted line.
The open letter, as Richard Marx once eloquently said, “don’t mean nothin’.”
(And please, spare me the grammar double-negative police…if you grew up in the ’80s, you knew exactly what Dick Marx was saying.)
And you’ll be surprised at what riles me up about the whole thing.
That goddamn “True New Yorker” business.
Yes. I do realize it’s mostly metaphoric. You’re talking to the broad who was told by The Naked Cowboy (who wears a cowboy hat, boots and tighty whiteys in Times Square) that just because he’s not truly naked, doesn’t mean that he’s not. “Naked is just a metaphor, honey.” Those were his words.
But again, the whole letter and idea of it shows how disconnected the team’s marketing department is from their fan base.
1) You don’t have to be “from” New York to be a Mets fan.
Try telling that whole New Yorker business to my friends in San Antonio, Texas; San Marcos, California; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (to name a few…) that they couldn’t possibly be “true Mets fans” because they are not “true New Yorkers.” I realize this is kind of a solidarity oath. Think when the Boston Marathon bombings occurred. Lots of memes about “We are all from Boston.” But that was in the name of humanity overcoming the worst of disasters to show support for a city grieving.
We are not grieving. We are Mets fans — we suffer enough without being condescended to.
2) If you are from New York, root for whoever you goddamn feel like it.
My husband is from the Bronx. You couldn’t pay him enough money to root for the Yankees (unless he could do it for enough money to reinvest as partial owner of the Mets…actually that’s why I would ever root for the Yankees, if I could make enough money for that…moving right along…). He is also a Seattle Seahawks fan since 1983 and a Utah Jazz fan since 1988. He’d never rooted for a local team in either sport. He became a Rangers fan in hockey simply because I was.
And hey, because I am from New Jersey (and believe you me…I am JerZ TO THE BONE), I get asked all the time about why I am not a Devils fan. Easy…my dad was a Broadway Blues fan, and the NJ Scums didn’t exist until much later.
But if fandom dictated several things, there would be no Mets fan who was a New York Giants fan, or a fan from the Philadelphia metro area who was not an Eagles nor Phillies fan.
Sure, sometimes I don’t get why there would be someone who grew up mere doors away from Flushing, and was not a Mets fan. But being a sports fan is a deeply personal thing. Curtis Granderson in saying true New Yorkers are Mets fans. (and by the way, I’m pretty sure the reason why people made such a big deal about it is because he played for the Yankees too.)
I guess to some extent Granderson is right. I mean, most Yankees fans are tourists. As Metstradamus once said, “You do not love the Yankees…you love SOUVENIRS!”
I know a fellow from New England who is a Buffalo Bills fan (he knew a coach when he was a kid). Just goes to show that geography doesn’t necessarily dictate your fandom. But trust me, plenty of New Yorkers either don’t give a shit about local professional sports, or root for family interests.
3) Yet another disingenuous attempt at connecting with fans.
“The Magic Is Back.”
And who can forget this gem from the 2007 collapse?
From Mets COO Jeff Wilpon:
To Mets Fans:“All of us at the Mets are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year’s success. We did not meet our organization’s expectations – or yours. Everyone at Shea feels the same range of emotions as you – our loyal fans – and we know we have let you down. We wanted to thank you for your record-breaking support of our team this year…
“Equally important, Ownership will continue its commitment in providing the resources necessary to field a championship team. Omar will be meeting with Ownership shortly to present his plan on addressing our shortcomings so that we can achieve our goal of winning championships in 2008 and beyond…
“You deserve better results…
“Many thanks again for your record-breaking support.
Remember the marketing campaign from that year? “Your Season Has Come?”
Oy.
Prior to the 2007 season, the Mets capitalized on a marketing campaign, spending $2mm with celebrity talent. Though I will admit, at the time, it made sense: they were within their reach of the World Series the year before. And within two years, they’d need to fatten their populace in a brand new shiny field.
Fans WANTED to spend their money, though. The economy was also better.
Now? Apples to oranges. Sure, 15 wins on a monthly average would net 90 wins total for the season. And that’s how they started April. But can you help it if fans are WARY of any performance in April? I was Suzy Sunshine in my last post, channeling my inner Russell Wilson. But I think was just feeling good because the Rangers had won. It might have clouded my inner skeptic.
But just like 2007, and with this sad open letter, it misses the mark completely, and does what the Mets marketing department has always done best, no matter who is in charge, and that’s putting the cart before the horse.
Look at baseball as a business. Let’s say I am Joe Schmoe business owner, and I sell widgets. And my widgets suck. Quality isn’t good, service is questionable. My clients are not going to do business with me out of loyalty. They’re going to want to see results. And in the real business world, signing a letter is basically what Richard Marx says – once you sign on the dotted line, it’s official.
Where in the world can you get a gullible consumer to sign basically what amounts to a purity pledge to stand by our men?
Mets fans are loyal, but also remember that in the middle of 2006, a person who identified himself as a Yankee fan told me that “He liked the Mets now because they were winning.”
No. Really. SOMEONE SAID THIS TO ME.
Winning brings out the best and worst in all fanbases. Losing loses the real fans. You put a product we believe in out there, trust me, they will come.
Boom.
4) Why the FUCK would I sign a petition anyway?
Photo Credit to Michael Baron of Metsblog
I was named the Season Ticket Holder of the game on a Monday night game in April. In Queens. In the cold.
Trust me, guys. I don’t need no stinkin’ petition. Nor any badgers.
5) In the end, this is all just more overblown LOLMets stuff.
There was a shitload more stuff we could have paid attention to last week. A faux controversy, if you will.
At first, I couldn’t care less. I still don’t, though I managed to write a 1,000 word post on how much I don’t care.
Signing a petition, going to games, owning every single Mets shirt, rattling stats of Mets history. It doesn’t mean shit. Everyone is a fan in their own way.
Whether you go to 162 games a year. Whether you go to zero. Whether you listen to every game on the radio while you live in the North Pole. It doesn’t fucking matter. If you’re a “true fan,” it shows.
Now get the FUCK OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!
This meme always cracks me up.
I’m relatively new to the whole Seattle Seahawks #12thMan thing, but I did happen to note that Russell Wilson had become America’s sweetheart within a few short weeks late last year and early this year. His guts and positivity got the Hawks to the big game, and subsequently won it.
See, I’m not used to that shit. I’m so used to my teams getting my hopes up to the very last possible point, then the shoe dropping and that’s it. #WipesHands
This year was strange. A team I adopted, and genuinely *liked* (trust me – I’ve hated MANY of my teams a lot of the time…a little too much, actually) went the distance. But it was the big heart of the small quarterback Russell Carrington Wilson who said, “Why not us?”
It was no secret that Wilson’s dad passed away several years ago. And it was his dad’s advice that he claims got him to go to the distance, by asking his team, “Why not us?”
So it got me thinking – why not us?
And by “us,” I mean my other teams, the Mets and New York Rangers.
Let’s take a look at April.
Sandy Alderson — and not facetiously, mind you — said that there was a chance the Mets could win 90 games this year.
Once we all stopped rolling our eyes and chuckling — and we did, don’t be that fan that is all self-righteous about loving your team more and supporting them through or think other fans suck if they don’t 100% believe in the team — the Mets started the season 0-3. And lost their closer on Opening Day. And didn’t have their star young stud pitcher at all. Seemed like more of the same. When they won a game, myself and many others joked and said, “89 more to go!” (That was facetious, by the way)
Till they started to win. And started to get good and quality starts from their pitchers. Except for the guy they kinda expected to be consistent. But whatever. The ways they won, and how many games they won (15) in April made us sit up and pay attention. To the tune of tweets like this.
Have this month five more times and, bam, you’ve got your 90 wins. #Mets
— Greg Prince (@greg_prince) April 30, 2014
What if the @mets are…. Good?
— Sully Baseball (@sullybaseball) April 30, 2014
Why not us?
If you look at that pace, it could theoretically be a 90 win season, if they continue on average winning 15 games a month.
We’ve seen weirder. Of course, that might not be enough to win the NL East.
And trust me, I don’t like getting ahead of myself. I even told my husband the other night the famous, “It’s only APRIL” excuse. Doesn’t mean anything. The only April or the averaging 15 wins a month to get to a 90 total win season.
Why not us, Russ?
As I sit here writing, I’m watching the Rangers play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. It’s very rare that I actually have a good feeling with ANYTHING remotely regarding the Rangers in the playoffs. I spend most of my time tweeting about how much the team tortures me, makes me want to poop on MSG center ice or how much I hate them.
Listen you fucking assholes if you don’t shut the fucking door tonight, I will take a shit in the middle of Garden ice #NYR
— The Coop (@Coopz22) April 30, 2014
I just prayed to @RangersJesus – shit just got real #NYR
— The Coop (@Coopz22) May 1, 2014
studies have shown that being a #NYR fan during a game 7 playoff game is hazardous to ones health.
— jenaissocool (@jenaissocool) May 1, 2014
EVERY RANGERS FAN IS ABOUT TO SHIT THEIR PANTS. PEOPLE USE YOUR TOILETS
— Jill Carcillo (@IWantStanleyCup) May 1, 2014
#NYR BEAT THE FLYERS AND MOVE ON!!!!!! #NYRPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/9DdhVC7gW6
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 1, 2014
The number 1 star goes to Rangers fans for surviving the last 5 minutes of that game
— Jill Carcillo (@IWantStanleyCup) May 1, 2014
But I love them. I really don’t know what I’d do without the Rangers. Or if they weren’t in the playoffs.
Two years ago, I was having a rough year, and the one thing that kept me riding high was the fact that the Rangers were playing so well. Then they lost, but the Los Angeles Kings brought me out of hell, and I got over that Quick (see what I did there?).
I said that unless you live in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, or are a bitter Devils fan, chances are most of America is rooting for the Rangers in this series. NO ONE likes the Penguins. They’re almost as dirty as Philly, and there are more crybabies than the Capitals.
So it’s good to like to good guys for once…but play better, for fuck’s sake.
It’s been a weird year, what with teams I’ve wanted to win are actually, you know, WINNING. Or have won. Whatever.
The Rangers beat the Penguins in OT, 3-2. We know that OT isn’t exactly ideal, and especially in Pittsburgh.
So why not them? Or us?
Those who say, “Wait Till Next Year,” will ultimately say, “It IS next year?”
And that’s probably going to be the first and last remotely positive thing you’ll EVER see me posting on this site.
Shhhh…don’t tell anyone.
You know what? I’m just gonna come right out and say it: I like Matt Harvey.
I like his attitude. I like his arrogance. You know why? Because he has the goods to back it up.
And I have to laugh when I hear other fans complain about how other players aren’t “fun” and are “boring.” Because they revere alumni like Tom Seaver, who is universally known as a douchebag.
(But he’s our douche, so it’s all good)
But what’s more is that ever since 1986, the Mets front office has been intent on dismantling any team that has any semblance of a personality. Anyone who is not milquetoast, the more boring and “family friendly” you are, the better.
Forget if they’re actually, you know, *good* and help the team win. If they stray from the party line (which is: be bland, always), they’re automatically trouble.
Take the 1986 Mets. They won a world championship, for crying out loud. They drank, they did drugs, some even got arrested. Let me reiterate: THEY WON A CHAMPIONSHIP. No one micromanaged them. They did what they had to do.
When Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz wormed their way into Nelson Doubleday’s majority stake in the team after the World Series, all of a sudden, the bad ass personality was a “problem,” and let’s get bland boring “Jay-oh-bee” treating baseball players like Kevin McReynolds.
Perhaps if the PR and image people were less concerned with OMG WHAT WILL WE TELL THE CHILDREN, instead they let players be themselves. I saw the Matt Harvey instagram where he posted about his surgery, which happened six months ago. He’s a young guy. His skyrocketing career came to a screeching halt because (and this is just my opinion), his conditioning by the team of Dr. Death Rey Ramirez led to him getting Tommy John Surgery. I thought the photo was funny. My next thought was….Oh, Jay Horwitz isn’t gonna like THIS one.
And what happens? Harvey is asked to delete his post, and he just deletes his Twitter account instead.
Harvey didn’t apologize for potentially “offending” anyone.
Matt Harvey: “I’m not going to apologize for being myself and having a good laugh at a funny little picture.”
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 22, 2014
Breaking News: Dick Young is STILL dead, Mets fans
I mean, seriously, what’s next? Are the Mets going to exhume Dick Young to write a scandalous slam piece on how Matt Harvey’s girlfriend is jealous of Zack Wheeler’s girlfriend, and Harvey demands a trade before a weekday day game start, which will forever be known in Mets lexicon as “The Daytime Dilemma?”
#PTMD
The fact is, this team hasn’t had anyone with a goddamn personality for YEARS. You want Wonder Bread David Wright? You got him! Any flashy players who show an iota of a personality are kicked the curb and chased out of town.
Look at Ike Davis, and he started his career with a bang in Pittsburgh. Yes, I know it’s a small sample set. But a change of scenery looks to be helping his Valley Fever or whatever the hell was ailing him.
The truth is, perhaps Davis was suffering what a lot of former Mets players who are kicked the curb or given the slam treatment after leaving town: Walter Mittyitis. And if we’re not careful, that’s exactly what’s gonna happen to Matt Harvey. The Mets are intent on driving away the only talented guy they have on the team, for fear that OMG WHAT WILL WE TELL THE CHILDREN actually matters.
Look at other teams. Ryan Braun returned to the Brewers with little to no fanfare after a suspension.
His teammate instigated a bench clearing BRAWL, and no one gives a shit. Except for maybe the “purity of the game” sanctimonious pricks.
And soon, I think Alex Rodriguez will finish his career and people will quiet down about him too.
Harvey says when you can’t have fun on social media, “it becomes time to get rid of it.” So he deleted his account.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) April 22, 2014
Can’t have it both ways: players to be accessible/personable via social media but also to be milquetoast. Doesn’t work, good for MH33 #mets — The Coop (@Coopz22) April 22, 2014
When you stop having fun, it’s time to quit. And good for Harvey for recognizing it. Yet, the same people who forced him into a corner are also the same folks who are trying to make players more accessible and personable to fans. Something that has been missing for years, decades even. You can’t have it both ways. Otherwise, I’m gonna see David Wright and Daniel Murphy sharing cookies and milk and playing checkers instead of the players having fun.
I’ll be talking about this and a lot more on the Mets Lounge podcast tonight at 4 pm ET. I had to bump the start time a bit earlier, so I could drink at the cocktail hour at the Mets game social hour I’m attending. I definitely want to be sober for my rants.
A Gal For All Seasons 