Like all good-hearted people, I hate the Yankees.
When you break down that statement a bit, though, things get more complicated. The only members of the current roster whom I actually loathe are Satan and Miguel Cairo, and Miguel Cairo isn't worth more than passing bile. What I really hate is the franchise as a collective entity. And most of what I hate about it is the front-running, gimme-gimme fans with their sense of entitlement and their love of rooting for the overdog.
But only most of it. I also hate their cheap propagandists, Michael Kay and John Sterling and Paul O'Neill and Suzyn Waldman. A list to which we may as well add Joe Morgan and Jon Miller. Who, really, deserve our derision even more than the pitiable Lord Haw-Haws of YES and WCBS. Because Morgan and Miller are supposed to be neutral observers. They're supposed to be pros.
Watching tonight's game, you'd never guess who was in first place and who'd only just closed within double digits. You'd have no idea which team played an all-or-nothing game to go to the World Series and which was sent packing in the first round of the playoffs. If it wasn't Jeter's radiance it was Clemens' heroic journey back to the bank or Ron Guidry's ancient glory days. Those guys in the other dugout? Um, there was Jose Reyes, discussed mostly as Jeter's foil. And a couple of mentions of David Wright. El Duque got a retrospective of sorts — of his days as a Yankee.
Seriously, let's review some of the things I saw before I got so disgusted that I retreated to Howie and Tom:
* An “acrobatic play” by Derek Jeter that sure looked like a routine assist on a groundout to me.
* Did you know Jeter has cute little nicknames for his teammates? Like he calls Robinson Cano Canoe? That's why they call him Captain Intangibles. Championship stuff there.
* Later, Morgan went out of his way to praise Jeter for a tag play. The way he put his glove in front of the baserunner's hand was gritty and gutty and showed all the kids out there the way the game's supposed to be played, I guess. Only it was Canoe who did that. I mean Cano.
* A lame softball interview with Satan by Peter Gammons, who's so much better than this. Miller almost got in a mild dig at Clemens, noting that he was in fact with the team despite not pitching tonight, but then the Yankee chip in his head started beeping and he made Clemens' attendance sound like a tour of duty in the Peace Corps. And how did Clemens do against the Mets Friday night? Apparently he was beaten by Jose Reyes. No mention of who'd opposed him and thrown a shutout. None whatsoever.
* A while later, Morgan did recall (in chatting with Willie Randolph, who looked like he'd just been force-fed an entire lemon tree) that there'd been a Met pitcher in that game who'd done OK in the shadow of the Great God Clemens. And so he asked Willie about Odalis Perez. (I know they talked about Oliver a couple of innings later. Too little too late. And then Morgan came up with some tortured musing about the Yankees would have won if they hadn't had baserunners on at unlucky times. Or something. I got dizzy trying to follow it.)
Look, 8-2 is a beating. Chien-Ming Wang was masterful. A-Rod hit a ball to Montauk. Our various problems — crappy hitting, bad relief, dopey plays, whatever the hell's wrong with Beltran — weren't exactly erased by one good game by Odalis Oliver. But the bowing and scraping in the direction of Monument Park started long before the game cratered.
I've given up on respect in the tabloids and on talk radio — the circus is always going to be run by hucksters and suck in its share of rubes. But is it too much to ask that the self-appointed world-wide leader in sports do a little better than three hours of mash notes to one side of the room? The only saving grace of last night's loss was if you watched it on ESPN, you barely knew the Mets were there in the first place.
It's getting so you can't tell the difference between Wright and Wang.
What got me was when they said how great Clemons pitched Friday night and how Perez (Odalis or Oliver) pitched pretty good.
Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I say…
WE'RE BACK!
I can't put my finger on what it is. Something in the eyes, maybe, but I think something clicked in the late innings last night, and the Good Guys are gonna run off a skein of series-wins for the next month or so.
I don't know if it was Delgado's double or Beltran's RBI basehit, the excitement Reyes provides or Wright's general, all-around Wright-ness, but I can taste the turnaround.
Ok then.
You're a cockeyed optimist.
Thank you.
Who had 12 minutes in the pool?
I actually felt that after Saturday's game and their fight against Rivera, and then El Duque demoralized them and took them out of the game.
I'm still being Optimistic, and I can't help but laugh when I think about the Mets spot in the standings two weeks ago compared to today, and how badly they've played during it. Basically one week of horrendous ball only equates to one game in the standing. If we'd played .500 we'd be running away with it already.
I listened to most of the game on the radio. I'd heard one of the announcers struggle to figure out who was playing second base and how to say his name, and I thought “typical espn, I won't hurry back from the radio”
Not that it's all that significant, but you left out all the praise they saved for Willie Randolph. Chiefly how influenced he was by…
[drumroll]
Joe Torre and the Yankee Way.
The whole thing was like an infomercial for the Yankees. Less fair than, I dare say, a YES broadcast.
What got me was the whole “Clemens vs. Mets” crap. Excuse me? Where was “Clemens vs. Perez”? What a diss.
Or how Willie has a whole team of youngsters who grew up worshipping Derek Jeter and the way he plays, and you can see it in how they play now.
BARF
no, wait
PROJECTILE VOMITING
I'm not sure if it occurs universally, or if varies with your location and TV provider, but as much as I'd rather listen to Howie and Tom than those two blundering Yankee lovers, the FAN seems somehow to be a few seconds ahead of the TV broadcast…unless our friends on the Mets Radio Network are just psychic.
It's amusing at first, but eventually it gets annoying, especially when they foretell disaster. Now, one could simply shut off the worldwide runner-up in Sports (mistakes, that is, second only to Tim McCarver by himself) which I should've done, but I wish you could put the FAN to the picture and just shut up Joe-Jon.
no, it was there. clemens, miller said, pitched a great ballgame, while perez, despite going longer and pitching a shutout, only pitched well.
it was after that pronouncement that i put the game on mute.
All right, this is just adding insult to injury here. In the Mets.com Top Plays archive, for June 8th, Hideki Matsui's two-run homer mysteriously appears. I appreciated when a Jacobs homer against us last year ended up in there, in a game we comfortably won anyway, but this, this is ridiculous.
We had nothing to do with that game, what's wrong with these people?
You're both right. They didn't mention Ollie at all. Then they called him Odalis. Then they gave him left-handed compliments. My anger remained a steady pulse throughout.
ESPN? Awful. Wish they'd buy some media guides. Morgan's still peeved over the 1973 upset in the NLCS vs. the Mets. Fascism is a big sell in baseball media; the Yankees are a FOX News, Giuliani-rimming corporate team that per David Zirin, locks people in the stands during the GOD BLESS AMERICA 7th inning hustle (hey! why doesn't Jeter enlist?)
I don't know if you've got pingbacks enabled, Jason, since I don't see one here, but I've referenced this post today on Metsie! Metsie!.
You're right, this has to be the most “invisible” first-place team I've ever seen in my life. Especially a New York team.
And thank you for sitting through that crap so I wouldn't have to. I owe you micro brewski (or micro root brewski, if you don't drink).
My non-Mets obsession in high school was a UHF program that aired daily called The Uncle Floyd Show, a kiddie show for adults. I would urge everybody I knew to watch it (it wasn't easy, appearing as it did on West Orange, NJ's Channel 68 in those pre-cable days). Inevitably on the afternoons somebody took me up on my invitation, The Uncle Floyd Show would be lame and unfunny and those people I badgered gave me strange looks the next day.
That's why I wish ESPN would stop showing the first-place Mets on Sunday nights against the Yankees.
Thanks Andee. Oh, I drink. Since June 1, quite heavily….
“Like all good-hearted people, I hate the Yankees” This deserves a t-shirt.
Morgan and Miller stopped just short of suggesting that Jeter be inducted into the Hall of Fame immediately after the conclusion of the ballgame (4 rings!!!) I've even noticed Darling and Hernandez being overly effusive with praise for the 3rd best SS in NY lately. It drives me fookin' nuts!
I hate Miguel Cairo, too.
My never satisfied, yankee fan co-worker complained to me about Torre pulling Wang last night. I laughed like a 7th grader about Torre pulling wang.
Small consolation prize, but I'm so glad we beat Clemens.
OhmyGOD, Greg! You're a Floydian as well?
You really are my brutha-from-anotha-mutha…
I'm so glad we beat Clemens.
i'm not sure we're ALLOWED to take note of that fact.
after all, the rah-jah is making this whole superhuman effort out of the goodness of his heart, and only signed a contract because, you know, you can't do business just on a handshake any more, the way we all did in the rah-jah's first go 'round.
since he HAS a contract, though, one codicil requires that all his starts be wins, and superlative ones at that. so no fair pointing out that he's 1-1 with an e.r.a. of 3.65.
the skanks: defining greatness down.
Ohmygood…goodnessgracious!
I thought I noted a family resemblance.
But it pissed me off that Floyd and Looney Skip Rooney made fun of the Mets as much as they did.
They were/are huge Yankee fans, that's why.
Remember when Ken Do tried to make a Yankee bobble-head doll? (Though he called it a “bop-head” doll…)
Oh for the days of Charlie Chin & Son. If they tried that today, they'd get Imused…
Floyd did a pretty good Luis Tiant, though.
Say, the ESPN slant couldn't have anything to do with that eight-part serialization of The Bronx is Burning, could it? Synergy, anyone?
first time commenting on this blog, and i gotta say, its one of the best mets blogs i've read…moving forward
i lived in san francisco for a year until this past february, so i didn't get to see much mets baseball…but when they played the giants in SF, i got to catch a couple games, and then the third on tv. the SF announcers basically just made fun of mr. met for a whole inning. have you SEEN the giants mascot?
i said to myself, its joe miller and morgan all over again…then again, they're better than joe buck and mccarver… right?
Its real easy to not watch a game on ESPN. In fact , it comes quite naturally to me. I think your point on “the Bronx is burning” is right on target. What else would you expect from the self proclaimed leader in sports broadcasting? Lets face it ESPN sucks. Its poured its money into the NFL( its image problems just seem to be getting worse) the NBA( that is , LeBron James and the shitty league its become that NOBODY is watching) NASCAR(?) and now the PGA( For Tiger and Tiger alone)..I hate what they have done to the sports scene in this country. I hope they continue to fail. And believe me I only watch for the scores and some highlights. The rest is pure crap.
I forgive them for what the Vivino brothers brought to this world from a musical perspective.
But, you're right. I'd make my out of town friends sit down to watch it with me, and the episode would suck. And to tell you the truth, I have a bunch on VHS, and sat down to watch them with TBF…
they sucked.
But I'll keep them because one of them is Joey Ramone himself walking onto the set.
REHAB THE CRAB!
Joe Torre looks like Oogie.
There are couple Uncle Floyd Show clips on the Ramones DVD that came out a while back.
I'd walk in from law school, unplug the cable and plug in the rabbit ears. Cable box in those days went 2-13, A-N
I don't know about Newman but Morgan has had a Mets problem for for quite sometime.
Morgan is a good friend of George Foster from their days in Cincy. It's rumored that Foster didn't like how he was dumped by the Mets in '86 (Straw, Nails, Mook – no contest).
Then there's Morgan and the '73 Reds, you know – the NLCS.
You KNOW Clemens only showed up at the game–in the dugout, no less–for the face time. A Tuesday night against the Devil Rays, ESPN cameras nowhere in sight, and he's home with his feet up. Or deep-frying babies and kittens for dinner. Or whatever he does.
Never mind the gimme-gimme fans and their sense of entitlement, how about the staff? A friggin BEER VENDOR of all people decided to tell me “to take off my hat so he could step on it.” When I didn't even give him a second glance, he went on and on for a few more seconds. I was absolutely disgusted by his rudeness.
If he had a real job where he didn't hawk overpriced (8 bucks?!) beers…I still wouldn't have listened. Effing Yankees fans.
I was at the 1985 game where Carlton Fisk made the double play at the plate.
1985, right? So the Yankees weren't worth a plug nickel at that point…
My friend (Met fan) was going on and on about how much better the Mets were (which they were and are!).
Hot dog guy comes by, my friend asks for a dog and the vendor goes “Oh. You want a hot dog? Go to Shea Stadium and get one.”