For the Mets, it was the final off-day of the regular season. For me, it was a preview of some enforced downtime.
On Saturday afternoon I'm doing something utterly ridiculous from the perspective of faithful and fearful alike. I'm getting on a plane and going to London. From there, Vienna. And Milan. And Lausanne. And Geneva. (And then home for 50-odd hours before a day and a half in Utah, of all places.) When I'm done traversing these baseball-free cities, it'll be Sept. 29, just four days from the opening of the division series. (Why would I do something so foolish? It's for work. I'm not totally insane.)
I don't have anything against Europe. If the timing were different, I'd be intrigued by all these places, none of which I've ever seen, with the exception of a seven-hour layover in London 15-odd years ago. (I took the tube, cars drove the wrong way, and they tell you which way to look crossing the street so you don't get killed. Seven hours wasn't enough time to make it stop feeling like trying to do something in the mirror.) But my goodness, there's a pennant race going on, and I'm going to miss it.
And I am going to miss it. Seeing how 7:10 starts will turn into 12:10 and 1:10 a.m. affairs, I seriously doubt there are expat bars where satellite dishes pull in Gary and Keith and Ron. (And let's not kid ourselves — if there are such bars, they'll be showing the fucking Yankees. Why should Milan be any different than, say, 14th Street?) So it's MLB.tv to the rescue. Or maybe Gameday Audio. Do European hotels have Internet access by now? Is it free? I suppose I'm about to find out. Even if all's well technologically, can I possibly stay up until 3 a.m. every night?
I've calculated scenarios and tried to figure out if there's some way I might yet see the clincher — perhaps during the Europe/Utah interregnum? But after some fretful attempts at math, I gave up. The important thing is that the champagne get sprayed and the cigars get lit, not whether or not I see it. I can peer at it on the Internet later or try to relive it on TiVo. (And of course there will be 10,000 opportunities to see it as a Met Classic.) In the meantime, I'll be relying on my co-blogger and our wise commentors to paint the word picture. Sigh.
But since this is the Internet and a global audience and all, I'll throw it out there — if any of you know the places I'm going, drop me a line. Any and all wisdom greatly appreciated. Who knows, maybe that mythical overseas Mets bar really does exist.
P.S. Anybody get good news from mets.com? Yours truly was 0-for-2. They throw ungodly breaking shit in the NLDS lottery.
I can't believe you're allowing your JOB to interfere with your following of the Mets. Tell me, which have you been doing longer…hmmm. Which means more to you…I see. Which keeps you bouncing around happily in the Spring, off the streets in the Summer, on the edge of your seat in the Fall and warm in the Winter? Which pays you a salary?
Aha, that's it, it's about money. How low…and selfish. From what I read, you have a wife and a child to support with your filthy money. But you have dozens of readers who rely on you here. Have you given them proper weight? Or are you just thinking about the monthly bills, your kid's future education needs, electricity and pop tarts? For shame. You are letting your personal life battle with your Mets life. A Jason divided against himself cannot stand.
You must stand up to those people who would have you miss these last few weeks of the regular season and announce “I AM NOT AN ANIMAL, I AM A METS FAN!!”. And request they change your trip from all those old European cities to San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago (or Milwaukee), Cleveland, Anaheim and Boston. For research purposes, of course. Then, my son, you can truly be the man you'd always hoped you'd be.
Vaya Con Dios,
Joel
Catch Phils/Mets 6pm in London on Sunday night. Its on channel NASN which is shown in quite
a few bars. Most will show NFL though, so it's best to call ahead and check.
http://www.nasn.com/content/nasn/portal.nsf/systemcontent/nasnbars#london
Give my love to London, my old hometown… *sniff* If you make it Islington (N1, Angel Tube), throw it a huge kiss from me.
I'm too jealous to even continue.
Have a great trip.
Give my regards to Broad Street, remember me to Leicester Square…
London is my 2nd favorite city in the world.
I'm 0-fer in the lottery,too….
Jace – I'm going to send you my vacation recap from the trip to Switzerland that we took this summer (the trip where The Shirt was photographed in the Alps).
My husband and I were also shut out of the lottery :(
Jason, if you do get Net access in your hotel and you have an MLB.com subscription, remember: Condensed games are your friend. You can also skip around on the archived games and see a particular inning in its entirety, if you want.
I just wish their Mac interface didn't suck giant space geodes.