In many ways, the first weekend of March Metness [1] ran true to bracketology form, with each of the four 1-seeds still alive. Then again, did anybody see two 7-seeds advancing to the Rick Sweet 16? Did you think you would hear Jane Jarvis playing on? Was there a lot of money put down on Pete Rose hustling to two victories?
And how do your brackets [2] look after the first 48 games? Home Run Apple’s stunning loss to 15-seed Bill Shea’s Floral Horseshoe may have upset more than a few, well, apple carts.
The big question is who and/or what’s left to compete for the title of Quintessential Mets Thing. Right off the bat, it’s a noticeably broadcast-heavy tournament now, with Bob Murphy (The Happy Recap), Ralph Kiner (Kiner’s Korner) and Gary Cohen (Outta Here!) all represented, to say nothing of television’s Seinfeld. Two chants — Let’s Go Mets and Jose! Jose! Jose! Jose! — both have their chance, too.
The field also includes one promotion (Banner Day), one sponsor (Rheingold The Dry Beer), one conveyance (The 7 Train), one mascot (Mr. Met) and one favorable miscue (Buckner) to go along with one villain (Rose), one organist (Jarvis), one slogan (Baseball Like It Oughta Be) and a pair of entries best described as hybrids. The Franchise nickname and the Terrific pitcher who inspired it are inseparable, while Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game? stands both for Casey Stengel’s extraordinarily Original Mets and the Jimmy Breslin book that helped immortalize them.
However these indelible components of signature Metsiana arrived at this next level, they’ve survived, they’ve advanced and they figure to make Rick Sweet 16 weekend an exciting one. The Miracle and Magic regional semis will tip off Thursday, to be followed by the quartet of Believe and Amazin’ games on Friday. As ever, Faith and Fear will be on hand to report and analyze all the action.
The tourney as it’s been reset:
THE MIRACLE REGIONAL
1 LET’S GO METS
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5 JANE JARVIS
—
3 BANNER DAY
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2 RHEINGOLD THE DRY BEER
THE MAGIC REGIONAL
1 THE 7 TRAIN
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5 OUTTA HERE!
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3 CAN’T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME?
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7 JOSE! JOSE! JOSE! JOSE!
THE BELIEVE REGIONAL
1 THE HAPPY RECAP
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4 SEINFELD
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3 THE FRANCHISE
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7 BASEBALL LIKE IT OUGHTA BE
THE AMAZIN’ REGIONAL
1 MR. MET
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5 PETE ROSE
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3 KINER’S KORNER
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2 BUCKNER
If you missed any of the Don Aase round matchups, you can come from behind and catch up here:
Thursday [3]
Friday [4]
Saturday [5]
Sunday [6]