By: Jon Morrill
When heading into writing anything as a journalist, you’re supposed to remain objective; to write the piece without bias or slant. But also in writing, especially in sports writing, you should have some passion about your subject. In this particular case, the latter is keeping me from maintaining the former–I have such great passion, or at least emotion, about the subject that I am about to talk about that its hindering me from keeping a balanced perspective. I’ll do my best to adhere to the strict rules of journalistic writing, but I’m not making any promises.
With that being said, I hate New York sports. When I was a kid, I would say that I hated something, and my mom or dad would say something to effect of, “Hate’s an awfully strong word. How about using `strongly dislike’ instead?” And there I’d be, a sobbing 9 year old Phillies fan saying, “I strongly dislike Joe Carter.” But now, 12 years later and out from under the verbal oppression of my pacifist parental units, I can say that this is no strong dislike–I h a t e New York sports teams. I loathe them. They irritate me more than waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep, and the only thing on television are reruns of The World Series of Poker and women’s billiards. Why? I have my reasons–some semi-logical, some sophomoric–but they’re my reasons nonetheless; and are no doubt too long and pointless to detail within the confines of this column.
The main reason why I hate sports teams from the Empire State has been epitomized by the events which have taken place over the past week–none of which, surprisingly, have anything to do whatsoever with the New York Yankees. It has to do with their cross-town little brothers, the New York Metropolitans. With a new television station in place for 2006 and the extra spending money that comes with it, Mets GM Omar Minaya is working hard for the second straight off-season to do his best George Steinbrenner/Brian Cashman impersonation and fill an all-star at every position in the Mets’ 2006 Opening Day lineup. Whether it be Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran from last year or the recent acquisitions of slugger Carlos Delgado and premier closer Billy Wagner this year, the Mets are working hard at buying a championship in 2006–and overpaying for one at that.
But haven’t we seen this before? Haven’t we seen clubs try and buy their way to the post-World Series interview with Jeannie Zelasko or Joe Buck; drenched with champagne and grinning ear-to-ear, but to no avail? We have; most recently it was the 2002-2005 New York Yankees. Now with their re-dedication to cultivating the Yankee farm system, it’s Minaya and the Mets with the deep pockets and the fat wallets. One would hope that in a time when even George Steinbrenner has (finally) acknowledged that the best way to become and stay competitive is to grow from within and use players from your farm system–as opposed to “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as former Mets GM turned ESPN analyst Steve Phillips always so eloquently puts it–that everyone would take the hint. But the Mets sure haven’t. New York City sure hasn’t–the city with two other teams in other sports who boast the largest payroll in their respective leagues–the New York Knicks of the NBA, and the New York Rangers of the revamped NHL–who coincidentally are both considered the worst teams in their sport.
Don’t get me wrong, the Mets are looking fantastic in 2006. So fantastic, in fact, that I think that if Opening Day were tomorrow, all the baseball analysts and writers would have a legitimate reason to not pick the Braves to take the NL East this year. But I see dark financial storm clouds ahead for Mr. Met & Co. thanks to all of the overpaying of players they’re currently doing. Both Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner signed with New York primarily because Minaya was willing to give them the guaranteed extra year at the end of their contracts that their former teams wouldn’t give them. Should these pitchers start to give out towards the end of their contracts, as both the Red Sox and Phillies respectively anticipated, look for the Metropolitans to start cutting payroll and for these names to be back on the trading block, if not the retirement list.
4 replies on “Haven’t We Seen This Before?”
wow You write amazingly well. Great article. It’s nice to read something that flows so well and has such good vocabulary in it. I agree too, these championships can’t just be bought, they have to be earned, and team chemistry is a part of that. Down with the Yanks! Down with the Mets! But hey, ya never know, maybe the Mets will surprise us and find a way to get all their players to bond and play together for a championship…this all remains to be seen…anyway great article I really enjoyed reading it
down with the… west coast! Had to do that J.D. Anyway I don’t think that this is like the yankees situation. Getting quality players and spending their money wisely is what the Mets are doing which is unlike the Yankees. The Bankeees would spend their money on old, risky players and spend a lot of money. Don’t be sore that the Mets got Wagner, be mad at the Phillies oraganization.
thanks First off, much thanks for the compliments, JD!
Second, IUfan, i disagree with you only in the fact that you said, “spending their money wisely”. Thats not what these Mets are doing–they’re overpaying for aging talent. That part is what reminds me of the Yankees, and other NY clubs for that matter. I may not have articluated it well enough in the column, but I believe the Mets are really well poised for ’06. And that’s fine–that may be all they’re looking for is instant success. But if they don’t win this year, they could be potentially stuck in a real tough spot being committed to all these huge contracts and aging arms.
I think baseball is the real problem I happen to have spent the majority of my life in the empire state before making the move to the west coast. I myself don’t like the Yanks, and anyone who does can still see why it is so easy to hate them. The Mets currently are showing some of their behavior in terms of spending. You can also put Boston in the same category for the past few years. The main problem is that baseball doesn’t have a salary cap. If they did I believe a lot of people would stop hating on the Yanks as much. Other than baseball I can’t think of any clear cut reason that a majority of people from various parts of the country would hate on the bill, giant, jets, and knicks. I know I left out hockey and that’s cause I don’t care about it.