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ABOUT US

Greg Prince and Jason Fry
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.

Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.

Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here.

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Address to Reluctant Mets Fans

My fellow Mets fans,

Tonight we gather neither in triumph nor in joy. Rather, we have assembled out of necessity, driven by the need to oppose a deep-seated evil. Tonight we must make choices that will not sit well with any of us. Tonight we must make choices between unpalatable courses of action. Tonight we must do what many of us, in all honor, once swore we would not.

These are not easy times. We have been bested on the field of battle and outmaneuvered in the arena of ideas. Our fires have been banked, damped by misfortune and miscalculation. For now, our yesterdays are brighter than our tomorrows. We may mourn that we have come to this pass, yet we stand here nonetheless.

And here, stand we must. We have proven unfit to play a role in the combat about to unfold before us. Yet this grim judgment, however impartial its verdict, must not lead us to reject our larger calling, or to turn aside from our unhappy duty. We are bystanders, yet our voices must be heard. We are reluctant, yet we must commit.

We have profound differences with our league-mates to the south. It would be the stuff of childish fantasy not to acknowledge this. We abhor their Hawaiian braggadocio. We reject their penchant for domestic violence. We disdain the partisan yowling of their maroon rabble. To offer them fellowship runs counter to all we profess and everything we hold dear. We are neither friends nor allies. It is only wisdom to state this clearly, calmly and without apology.

Yet wisdom is nothing without a sense of proportion. We must not profess blindness citing the mote in our eye, while ignoring the beam that would blot out the light for all. Our neighborly disagreements are profound and the canyon between us is deep. Yet deeper still lies the chasm into which we now both stare.

My friends, there is another evil loose in our nation, one that makes the misdeeds of our league-mates in maroon look small. We have a greater enemy, and a higher calling. This greater enemy gilds all that it touches in gold, then scorns those who can afford only brass. This greater enemy gathers mercenaries and reprobates and evildoers to its banner, and declares them paragons. This greater enemy declares that pitchers shall not hit. This greater enemy conflates arrogance with tradition, and bequeathed wealth with hard-earned success. This greater enemy is attended by a howling mob that knows neither reason nor humility nor decency.

This greater enemy cares not for our disagreements and disputes, real though they are. Twenty-six times has this foe bred a vile plague, one that reduced our nation to lifelessness and blighted all that we hold dear. Though we are not allowed to fight, neither are we required to adjourn in silence. We must lift our voices against tyranny, though we would have chosen most any other champion. We must shout down injustice, though our voices cannot conjure fairness. We must oppose a great evil even if it means supporting a paltry good. We have been called, and however reluctantly, we must answer. It has fallen to us to do what must be done, and to heed a summons we would pretend not to hear.

My friends, this too will pass, and the banner of the blue and orange will fly once again in triumph. I eagerly await that day, and the restoration of all that is just and proper. As do all of you. But for now, we must serve a more difficult cause, and we must do so with all we can wring from our reluctant hearts. This is necessity. This is obligation. This is duty.

My friends, the conflict we wish had never come to pass is upon us now. Join with me. Say the words we would rather bite back. Say them firmly, and clearly, with loud voices, though none of us possesses a glad heart. Say them with me now, and we will face these difficult days together.

ICH BIN EIN PHILLIE.

102 comments to Address to Reluctant Mets Fans

  • Anonymous

    Think of it this way, Jason (and anyone else ready to Ichbin themselves to the Phillies):
    Would the baseball compartment of your soul really have felt warmer these past dozen years if the Braves had won the '96 and '99 Series?
    -Z

  • Anonymous

    I think this is essentially right.
    Except, semantically, even we South/Central Jerseyite Met fan Philliephobes would object to even the temporary designation “Yankee fans.”

  • Anonymous

    Speaking for myself, yes.
    Which isn't to say the baseball compartment of my soul would have been warm — just warmer. As in a few degrees warmer than the absolute zero of Yankee hegemony.

  • Anonymous

    Yep, that feels right to me as well. And very nicely put.

  • Anonymous

    I'm with ya, we've been hating the yanks a lot longer than hating the phils…its the lesser of the two evils….
    http://www.pessimets.com

  • Anonymous

    It's definitely about the fans. I live in the heart of Philadelphia, guess who I'm cheering for.
    The Red Sox had a great idea, to cheer for two teams, so I will adopt a similar look: the Mets, and whoever plays the Phillies. My pride will accept nothing less. The Yankees simply don't piss me off like the Phils and the Dodgers do. I was already pulling for the AL, no matter the match-up.

  • Anonymous

    Think about the Phillies fans invading Citi Field next year wearing “Back to Back” T-shirts and hats. I cannot and will not root for that. Let's go Yankees (I just died on the inside a little

  • Anonymous

    It's simple – I look at the Phillies as a team I would love to root for if they wore the Blue and Orange.
    The MFY's always have and always will represent all that is wrong and evil with baseball. it's fitting that the first DH on record was a Yankee…

  • Anonymous

    I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Flushing, Queens home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of all real New York Mets fans-every man and woman of them. That is the will of Mookie and the entire Met’s nation. The National League and the American League save but one Evil Empire, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their World Series Championship, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of the AL and many old and famous NL teams have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo….aka The New York Yankees Baseball Club and all the odious apparatus of Steinbrenner rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in New York, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight in Philadelphia, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our honor, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall fight in Citizens Bank Park, we shall fight in the unholy blight that is The Bronx; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Championship were subjugated and stolen, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the ghosts of Hernandez, Jessie and The Kid would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New York Metropolitans, with all their power and might, step forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

  • Anonymous

    Hawaiian braggadocio?
    I admire the Phillies, they remind me a bit of our '86 team. This is a franchise long in the wilderness and even few years ago every sports page called for the manager's head. But hey have put it together, slowly and without giving up. I wish we were the Phillies.

  • Anonymous

    I live in NY. And I've hated the Yankees for as long as I can remember. But I can't understand any Mets fan who is rooting for Philly. The Yankee fans will taunt us all winter long anyway; the only difference will be the number attached to the taunt. Meanwhile, should Philly win, they will have 3 WCs and a repeat — neither of which our Mets can boast of.
    Also, I think someone already mentioned this above, but look at the actual players this season. These are not the 1996-2000 Yankees. There are way more douchebags on the Phillies.
    Anything less than a humiliating four-game sweep by the Bronx Bummers will be too good for our “friends” to the south.
    Of course, I wouldn't mind it if Cano drops a potentially game-ending pop-up in the process.
    This is so much worse than ATL-NYY was.

  • Anonymous

    who cares if the yankees throw another trophy on the pile?
    this is our hated rivals. for them to win another world series, back to back is the worst thing that could happen to us mets fans. if you can't see that, you are not a mets fan. you are a yankee hater.
    i will root for the yanks to beat the phils, and beat them badly. embarass them. bash their pitching, bllow up citizens bank park.
    i got news for you, the yankee fans are going to make fun of us mets fans until we win 27 championships, even if they lose this one to the phillies.

  • Anonymous

    Or, just “Ich.”

  • Anonymous

    I understand all the bile directed at both organizations very well. But, for me, and, I think, for a lot us us, rooting is not a “decision.” It is an organic process. I don't know who I'll be rooting against more until the games actually start and my emotions–not my decisions–take over.
    Isn't that how we became Met fans in the first place? It wasn't a decision. Yankee fans may have decided to become Yankee fans, but for most Met fans, this is who we are, not a decision we made.

  • Anonymous

    A friend at work pointed out how funny it is to see how upset and flabbergasted a Yankee fan gets when you say you're rooting for the Phillies.
    And their cry for affection is always, “but I'd root for the Mets against the Red Sox!” Of course they would, but Yanks/Phils is not like Mets/Sox. It's more like Mets/Rays. And if it were Mets/Rays, the some Yankee fans will be split, but most would say, “World Series? Without the Yankees, why would should I watch? They should just cancel it.”

  • Anonymous

    Seconded.
    – Z

  • Anonymous

    I'm a Mets fan and a Yankee hater.
    Besides, the Phillies have been our hated rivals for, what, about three years? Before that it was the Braves. Before that it was (briefly) the Pirates, and before that the Cardinals, and before that the Cubs. Now I don't really hate any of those teams, though of course I want them to lose when we play them. When the Phillies return to their usual surly mediocrity (please let it be soon), I'll stop hating them and hate the Marlins or the Nats or whoever else is threatening us. This is transitory, you're-in-my-way hate.
    But the Yankees? I've hated them for every single day of my baseball-fan life. They are the opposite of what we are. Where they're concerned, the hate is existential.

  • Anonymous

    yes but st. louis' fans are genteel and grandfatherly, chicago is a million miles away, pittsburgh… come on. there's even 500 miles between us and the braves (with their 60% capacity playoff-run attendance figures).
    but philadelphia… my god.
    there is nothing on the face of the earth worse than a philadelphia sports fan. mean. smelly. dumb. nasty. insecure. smelly. violent. smelly. and CLOSE. they need only 45 minutes to ooze up 95 and take over citi field ON THE DAY WE CELEBRATE '69 (it had to be some sort of work release program).
    ive argued that this new mets/phils rivalry has the capactity to become more spirited than the yankee/sox one (minus their legions of bandwagon fans). because these fanbases genuinely do not like eachother. HATE eachother in fact. they are our rival in our backyard… in our league… in our division. they cannot be supported by anyone who claims any allegiance to the blue and orange.
    i know thats declarative and this decision is near impossible. but its got to be one of the better mets/ny sports debates of my life.
    wow i love hate baseball.

  • Anonymous

    In '86, my cousin — Yankee fan — rooted for the Red Sox.
    And was quite proud to tell me so.

  • Anonymous

    Being a Mets fan not old enough(18) to have seen my team win a world series it sickens me to hear other fans talk about the titles they have seen their teams one. So naturally there were no fans I hated more growing up in nyc then Yankee fans and had always thought I would never root for the dark side, but in attending University of Delaware for what has amounted to about 2 months I have grown to hate Phillies fans more then anything. When the Yankees boast atleast they have reasons for it with 26(soon to be 27) titles, and the Phillies don't, although are just as bad. It pains me to say it, but from now until the world series ends, hopefully in 4 games whoever wins, lets go Yankees…and hopefully I never have to utter those words again.

  • Anonymous

    i'm from new york, so yeah, im surrounded by yankee fans. but i dont see it the way you do. sure, i hate them, it kills me to think im gonna see a 5th yankees title before i ever see one of my own (i was 2 in '86) but the fact is, at least some of them are my friends. i like quite a few yankees fans. i mean, i know deep down that theyre evil, and if the world was ending and i had limited seating in my spaceship, i probably would fill it with mets fans and leave them all… but here, in this world, they ARE unfortunately my friends. and we ALL have yankee fan friends. and whether or not they win, theyre still gonna be the same douchebags, with their entitlement, and all their other bs. and we're still gonna actually like quite a few of them, as much as we may resent that deep down. on the other hand, i dont know ANYONE who roots for the phils who i wouldnt suckerpunch if nobody was looking. its different. i just hate them more.

  • Anonymous

    I will not “root” for either (is their some way that neither team can win?
    But, living 15 minutes from CBP, I am surrounded by idiot Philly fans, and cam really tired of not being able to watch the local news! SO, lesser of 2 evils, to me, is the Yankees.
    But, no matter who wins, I want it to be a sweep, and a blowout series. Get it over with sooner, and at least 1 team wil lbe embarrassed!

  • Anonymous

    i've been telling everyone “earthquake” myself

  • Anonymous

    bravo. i kno exactly what u mean. well-said.

  • Anonymous

    If we do get a Phillies – Yankees WS, the only way you'll catch my interest is if you guarantee me that instead of the 7th inning stretch the two sides have bench clearing brawls that dwarf the fight in “Anchorman: The Ron Burgundy Story”.

  • Anonymous

    I read the post this morning and have been checking the comments all day, considering the various points of view, and have decided that, for me, it comes down to one determinative factor:
    Shane MotherPhucking Pricktorino. I want to see him cry, and since we can't seem to make it happen, I am willing to hold my nose and, at least, not root against an entity that can.

  • Anonymous

    I'm a Phillies fan (sorry) who discovered this blog about a year ago. I drop by occasionally to see if anything interesting is brewing, mainly just because the writing is so good. Just wanted to say I think this might be the best article I've ever read. I read it three times today, and it got better every time. Never thought I could become so fond of a piece of writing that refers to me as a member of a yowling maroon rabble, but there it is. You win the Internet, sir.
    I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I think it's probably because it captures the evil that is the Yankees so well. Because, I mean, really. Alright. I know my opinion is less than worthless in this discussion, but c'mon. You're gonna root for the Yankees?! I would root for you!! OK, I'll show myself out.
    P.S. What's the deal with Shane Victorino? I'm honestly curious. What's so bad about him?

  • Anonymous

    Ladies and gentlemen,
    I come before you this evening as an avid Philadelphia fan. First, let me take a brief moment to earnestly compliment Jason and Greg for providing a truly literate and eminently readable blog which does credit to the Mets and baseball fandom in general. I have read well-reasoned and passionate arguments on both sides of the issue.
    There are those whose hate for whatever team (Skanks or Philthies) burns with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns and no argument will persuade them to abandon their opposition. In the realm of fandon, this is well and good. Retain your love of the Mets and cheer against us or cheer against our temporary opposition OR say “Baseball? What baseball?” until pitchers and catchers report. Just do not make the error of cheering FOR us (or for the Skanks); that will only serve to confuse you. Remember, this postseason is fleeting and transitory. In less than six months, things will revert to their natural order and we can go about the business of despising each other while secretly wishing that the best players of the opposition were wearing our home team's uniforms. (And trust me, some day you too will again have players who qualify as 'best.')
    Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. Feel free to deride me as may be be your wont. Here endeth the lesson.

  • Anonymous

    How much time have you spent in Philly? They're worse than Yankee fans. Yankee fans say things to get a rise out of people. Philly fans (not Phillies fans, mind you, but sports fans from Philadelphia) are really, trully, no kidding that angry. Trust me. I lived there. There's nothing in the world that could make me root for any sports team from that city. Nothing.

  • Anonymous

    The '86 Mets would never have complained to the press about other teams celebrating too much. They'd have taken their anger out on the other team, on the field.

  • Anonymous

    Nah, I pretty much chose to root for the Mets. My family is split down the middle. I could have gone either way. And despite the last three years, no regrets. There's something about the Yankee “mystique” and mentality that just sucks all the joy out of the game. The highs never seem high to Yankee fans, and that's no way to live.

  • Anonymous

    It's not about the team, Jason. It's about the fans. Ever been hit by a Yankee fan? My brother-in-law's 6-foot-tall buddy was all that stopped that from happening to me in Philadelphia.

  • Anonymous

    a) he's a jerk
    b) he's the prime example of the kind of player the media worships as being “gritty”, the kind of guy the Mets are supposedly lacking, when in reality he screws up just as much as any other ballplayer, and to the extent that he's good it's because he has talent, not because he possess some mystical intangibles

  • Anonymous

    If Victorino were a Met he would magically be passionate and headstrong and indomitable and lots of other things. He'd be Lenny Dykstra, in other words.
    He's the kind of guy you love on your own team and hate on everybody else's, in other words. But since he's not on ours, he's the devil.
    Phillie fan, thanks for stopping by and joining in. That was well put.

  • Anonymous

    No derision, that's good advice. Thanks for stopping by.
    Believe me, one nano-second after the Phillies defeat the Yankees, I will hate them again.
    And if the Angels somehow survive, there will be no moral quandary whatsoever.

  • Anonymous

    Also,the blatant hypocrisy. He's one of the leading whiners about alleged Met transgressions (Reyes' “overcelebrating”, etc.), while at the same time, standing on home plate for 5 seconds and pointing at the sky when he scores a run.
    So, in conclusion, fuck him.

  • Anonymous

    I visit the site regularly. In fact it's a bookmark on my firefox toolbar right between Craigslist and ESPN. It's taken me a day to write this so it (hopefully) won't come off as a screed. I don't really agree with (and maybe this is more directed at Greg) a lot of the view points on the site…The treacly hatred of the Yankees (when the Mets play the Yankees 7 times out of 15 years in the WS then we will have a real rivalry with them not the contrived rivalry that bud has “created” through interleague), the “love” of a Giants team that deserted the city, the use of 42 on your shirts (isn't it awesome that the signature section of the Mets new ballpark is dedicated to a man who never wore there uniform for even a single day. Awesome. Awesome, Awesome). I usually post anonymously, but today I won't. I feel this strongly (and regularly post at baseball fever as “MSUlaxer27”).
    Here goes: I'm not one to tell anybody how to define their fandom. You like who you like, you follow who you follow. However, if you even consider for a second rooting for the Phillies, no matter who they play in the WS…turn in your Mets hat. I can not even articulate how much I hate the Phillies…doesn't matter if they are good or bad. They are always ugly. The city they play in is a pit. Their fans are quite frankly the worst in the nation (I've worn a bears jersey to a lions/bears game and sat in the upper deck at the silverdome on Thanksgiving(just because), I've won an Islanders jersey in the blue seats and survived…I won't even consider wearing any Mets paraphernalia in the city of Philadelphia, ever).
    We were better than them in 2007 for sure (Thanks Tommy!, Glad we paid you all that money to win a big game!) We probably were better than them last year…(we beat them 11 of the 18 times we faced them. Thanks bullpen!)
    Seriously. if you consider rooting for the Phillies…it doesn't make you a bad human being. This is just sports. But I seriously will question your Met bonifides for the rest of my life, the Yankees suck to be sure but they still play in NYC (in, no matter how much bud would like us to forget it, another LEAGUE). Philadelphia is Philadelphia…a dirty, ugly city full of angry people who have a chip on their shoulders and hate (wait) HATE New York. I will never, never , NEVER ever root for Philadelphia in anything.
    I know you love the Mets. I don't doubt that for a second. Please make the right choice.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, um cause our Mets with the second highest payroll in MLB would never even think about laughing at the salary cap. The fact that we didn't even consider Texieria to replace a 37 year old rapidly aging 1st baseman still disgusts me.

  • Anonymous

    Well at least the Phillie fan was smart enough to fluff you.. That was very cordial of you to thank him.

  • Anonymous

    Really? You dislike Pedro Martinez more than Shane Victorino and Brett Myers? Really?

  • Anonymous

    I think the Mets could use a couple of guys who play the game the way Victorino does.
    Yeah, Myers is a douchebag (okay, you can add him to the Utley, Hamels list) but I don't think he's even on the roster.
    Never liked Pedro, even as a “Los Met” (but don't get me started on that one…)
    Of course, once we start watching the games, our hearts will probably dictate who we end up rooting for…
    (though the Angels aren't quite dead yet…)

  • Anonymous

    Most Yankee fans I knew rooted for the Red Sox in 1986.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely.
    In fact, my regret over rooting for the Yankees in 1999 is a key driver of my decision to root for the Phillies this year. Today, who really cares about the Braves? Likewise, this rivalry with the Phillies is a relatively new and likely short-lived phenomenon in comparison with the eternal rivalry that we will have with the devil in our own city.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, screed away. It's part of being a fan.
    I think it comes down to a point made up higher: What we really hate are other teams' fans. Given a horrible choice like this year's potential WS (though GO ANGELS!), most of us seem to root against the team whose fans offend us more.
    I find a lot of Phillie fans repulsive. (I know some wonderful ones; frankly the usual Phillie fans scare them too.) But I don't deal with Phillie fans very often. And the Phillies have been our rivals for just three years — before that we barely thought of them at all. I hope we get back to that soonest — both because it would mean the Phillies were mediocre again and because there's nothing more infuriating than having the people you hate be baffled by that hatred, because they really don't think about you much.
    Yankee fans, on the other hand, have been the bane of my existence for my entire sports life. I grew up when the Yankees had just become relevant again, Steinbrenner was in full bloom and they'd embarked on their first run of buying championships — the exact period in which the Mets committed suicide and became the North Korea of the free-agent era. Long Island was full of dirtbag front-running Yankee brats, and the idea that someone might root for the lowly Mets or think Lee Mazzilli was a good player was hilarious to them. They tormented me and the other free-thinkers daily, and all I could do was hope and pray that one day my crappy team would magically stop being crappy and the Yankees' World Series pass would be revoked and it would finally be their turn to eat shit.
    Today, living in New York, I see those braying assholes every day, all grown up but exactly the same, swaggering and woofing and boasting about rings (baby). The idea of another celebration for them fills me with absolute loathing.
    The Phillies winning again? It would suck, and so would seeing Phillie fans setting fire to more things than is typical and upping the usual level of recreational domestic violence by way of celebration and trooping into Citi Field next year in triumph. But it would be far away most of the time, and with a little luck the team will fall on bad times and go back to being the Washington Nationals North. Yankee fans?
    I gotta live with them every day, and I can't stand them and want them to suffer — at all costs.
    BTW, the 42's on the shirt because it's on the wall. I don't mind it being there, but it's a reflection of the reality, not an endorsement of Dodgermania.

  • Anonymous

    First off, let me compliment Jason on the most literate tome I have ever read from a Mets Fan.
    Although I understand that yuz guys have unwillingly arrived at Morton’s Fork there is really no other choice but to form a NL column alongside the Fightn Phils against the vilest of all. This choice should be made with the knowledge that all who have fallen victim of our pine swords have come to realize; they have been slayed by the most noble, virtuous and gallant of our time. We are heroic yet humble, competent not arrogant. We are not mercenaries who fight for treasure; we fight for our tribe and pride of place. Our hearts are compassionate and even offer homeless Pedros a chance at redemption. Join us, even reluctantly, and you will feel the power and the glory as we march together to do battle to avenge the massacre of our red pinstriped Whiz’s of ‘50, Those that make the righteous choice will be rewarded with the satisfaction that together we have slain the Devil himself.
    Fate has smiled upon us as the enemy of all enemies, the darkest of all evils is now in sight, and we are strong, we are willing, we are the World Champion Phillies.

  • Anonymous

    What is a shame is that this is a Philly team that plays the game right with many consummate professionals. Guys like Howard, Utley, Lee, Victorino, Ibanez, Lidge, Hamels, etc. It is hard to root against them as players, but as someone who lives 30 minutes away from the NY/Philly dividing rival line, it is just sickening that this team has to exist in that second fiddle, past its prime town!
    I mean is there anything more disgusting than a satisfied Philadelphia fan, the city whose greatest athletic hero is fictional? Them repeating would be even worse than the effect 2004 had for those cry baby Red Sox fans despite the fact their Celtics have won 17 championships which is third on the top list for total championships.
    If this team was in Cleveland, yeah, I would definitely root for them in this series, but uggghhh!

  • Anonymous

    I dislike the Phillies, but they're 2 hours down the turnpike so it's a case of “out of sight, out of mind” regarding any celebrations they will have if they win. But the Damned Yankees will be parading a mere two blocks from where I work, and the thought is just too unpleasant.
    Besides, as a Met fan, I remember a time when the rivalry wasn't so intense. And in the maning months of my marriage, I fondly recall driving down to now-gone Veteran's Stadium to watch the Phillies play (a good excuse to be out of the house for 12 hours at a time!). And right after the game, taking a short drive to a nearby club, where I ended up meeting my post-marital-breakup girlfriend for the first time, at Cheerleaders Cabaret!
    So while I'm not exactly sentimental about the Phillies, they were the cause of some really great memories for me that had nothing to do with baseball!!!
    So, uh, Go Phillies… kinda..

  • Anonymous

    I bring that up ..ALOT!!! and they all say “Yeah, you're right, I DID root for the Sox”. So…F..them….

  • Anonymous

    After much careful deliberation and anguished soul searching, I've decided which team behind whom I shall place my support in the World Series. It came to me suddenly while watching this first game, and realizing why I was enjoying it:
    I am rooting for the visiting team.
    In complete game shutouts.
    In under three hours for each game.
    It is simply too much fun watching the fans in Yankee Stadium grumbling restlessly as Cliff Lee rolls over the home team like they were Little League-rs. I'd like a few more games of that, please. Schadenfreude is a dish best served cold.
    I want the Phillie to dismember the Yankees again in Game Two. ESPECIALLY Game Two. I want Pedro to show the Yankees he's still their daddy. The wailing and gnashing of teeth in Yankee Universe will be epic.
    Then, when the Series shifts to Philadelphia and the locals are in their cups over a sweep at home, the Yankees return the favor and light up that bandbox called Citizens Bank Park for three games.
    So things return to The Bronx for Game Six, with all put back right, in the eyes of Yankee fans and Mike Francesa. The Yankees ready to hoist another banner, once again coming back from an 0-2 hole to sweep. But the Phillies put an end to that an easily send it to Game Seven.
    Now here is where I have my dilemma: Someone has to win Game Seven, and thus win the World Series. Keeping with my visiting team fandom, that means rooting for the Phillies. Yes, but now I add a little twist to make it more interesting for the disinterested, and harrowing for those with a dog in the fight:
    Game Seven is delayed constantly by rain delays, played over three nights and seventeen innings. Bud Selig finally moves the rest of Game Seven to Milwaukee, like that Cubs-Astros game. Pitchers for both teams get rocked, but neither team has a lead at the end of the ninth or any subsequent inning. Arms are falling off these guys, and at long last, 55 hours after the first pitch has been thrown, Joe Girardi is forced to pitch Nick Swisher, who promptly walks pinch hitter Pedro Martinez with the bases loaded. Milwaukee fans go home happy they saw a World Series game in person, Yankee fans are stunned, and even the winning Phillies are too exhausted and bewildered to celebrate.
    Now THAT is a World Series I can get behind as a Met fan.

  • Anonymous

    To the fellow who wrote:
    NOPE!” in gigantic letters and followed it with “The solution is to watch hockey.”
    If you haven't left to watch hockey, we appreciate the sentiment (as we appreciate all the sentiments here) but your NOPE! was way too big and throwing off the margins of the post and all the other comments. You're welcome to post here, but please don't overdo the character size, even if it is for emphasis.
    Also, your Photobucket image, whatever it was, didn't show up, so please just stick to text until further notice.
    Thank you.