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New York Mets

From One Fan to Another

I am out of the country, but I have been reading about how at New York Met games fans are chanting, “Yankees Suck” during late innings of Met victories. First let me say that I am a proud Mets fan, but this needs to stop.

The Mets are off to an 8-1 start. Eight and one people! Their best start since the 1985 season when Dwight Gooden won the Cy Young Award. Why not celebrate that? Why do Mets fans even care about the Yankees?  To me it slightly taints the victory because we are not celebrating the players on the field
 I will admit that since inter-league play there has been a growing animosity between the cross-town teams. I think most of this came about during the Piazza-Clemens incidents and that has just carried over for the last 5 years. Before that I can’t remember any hatred between the two teams and their fans. Met fans occasionally rooted for the Yankees and vice versa.

Mets fans seem to have “Big Brother Syndrome” where we look for any excuse to outshine our older more successful brother. In other words the Yankees are the 30 year old Investment Banker who drives a Maserati, while the Mets are the 25 year olds who still live at home and drive their parent’s cars. We are a little jealous and envious of our older brother’s success, but we do have our pride and the motivation to be just as successful.

We should stop bring up the fact that the Yankees have the highest payroll. I hate hearing this point. You can’t fault Steinbrenner for using truckloads of money on the best players in baseball. If you were a billionaire would you by the “cheap” Mercedes or the best one on the market? Of course you would go with the best, because you can afford those luxuries. We all know from Oakland and Minnesota, that you can be a successful franchise without spending $182 million. We also know that $182 million doesn’t win you a championship because the Yankees have failed to win it in the last 5 years. If you have a problem with the fact that there is no salary cap, that’s fine. Keep in mind that the Yankees are breaking no rules and if they want to pay the “luxury tax” that is their choice just as it is the Mets choice.

Let’s talk about the Mets. Let’s focus on the Mets 8-1 start. Why not let the players know that we are supporting them not by saying their cross-town “rivals” suck, but by saying how good they are. Applaud them as loud as you can (as I am sure people have) late in the game so they know we appreciate their play so far this season. If the Yankee’s are at the bottom of the AL and the Mets miss the playoffs does that make us feel better? It doesn’t make me feel better–it makes me think, “WHO DO YOU HAVE TO KILL TO WIN THE NL EAST?”

To me it is not a bad thing to look at the Yankee’s success and envy it. What baseball team doesn’t besides the Red Sox? They have won 26 championships. Do I like it when they buy all the best players on the market? Absolutely not, but like I said that still doesn’t mean they are going to win the World Series. It gives them a better chance, but nothing in baseball is a lock.

In 2001 when the Patriots won the Super Bowl fans at their parade were chanting “Yankees Suck.” I remember me and my friends (all Mets fans) laughing and just thinking how stupid Boston fans were. This was a celebration of a team winning a championship in a completely different sport yet the fans were concerned with the Yankees. I know there is a heated rivalry between Red Sox and the Yankees, but this was just stupid. I would never equate Mets fans to Red Sox fans, but when you chant “Yankee’s suck” at a game versus the Nationals it makes us all look silly.

Yes, I desperately want the Mets to be the best team in New York. I want them to beat the Yankees when we play them in inter-league play or if they should meet again in the World Series. THAT is where it ends. I don’t care about the Yankees; they are not in our division or in our league. Why don’t we hate the Braves and the Phillies more? I hate Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, John Smoltz, and Bobby “Fill in the middle name here” Cox. To me that is who we should be directing all our hatred towards.  

When the Mets play the Yankees in inter-league play I will be there side by side with my fellow Met fans chanting “Yankees suck.” Until then lets just enjoy the good baseball all us Met fans have been waiting so long for. It has been a long time since the organization, the players, and the fans have had reason to be so hopeful. Let’s not waste that energy on a team in another league.  

One reply on “From One Fan to Another”

haha — as a yankees fan, i have to admit, it does crack me up when yankee haters waste more time trashing the yankees than talking about their own team.  You do have a point though.

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