The Mets once had a mule as their mascot.
Silly? Maybe. Embarrassing? Perhaps. But it’s ours.
They had a beagle too.
And swoosh uniforms.
And Mr. Met 1.5
And even Mr. Met 1.5 in a swoosh uniform.
But this is us. This is the Mets.
I am watching Disney+’s show about Imagineering and what is striking to me about it, and what makes it great, is that it is NOT propaganda. It’s not “and Walt said let their be light and then everything was awesome forever.”
They talk about the busts and the mistakes and the times they lost their way because they were cheap. Sound familiar?
Then I think of Steve Cohen having fun with the idea of Bobby Bonilla Day, and having Bobby drive around the park with a giant check, and fans getting t-shirts that say something like “Bobby Bonilla got $1 million and all I got with this lousy t-shirt.”
You know what? That’s fun.
We all know life in Queens has been rarely perfect, and when it is perfect it doesn’t last. There’s a soul-getting trade. Or the next guy doesn’t show up at a parade because he’s doing drugs. Or the next guy goes diva and flames out in like 18 months.
But that’s us. That’s the Mets.
Steve seems to get it. Instead of explaining to us that “Well actually, the Bonilla deal made sense because…” the way a friend of mine did the other night, Steve just went with the fun. he tweeted about Bonilla Day.
So, Uncle Steve – be inspired by the Imagineers. Some things suck. Embrace them.
Have that Bonilla Day. What are people gonna do, LOLMets us? They do that anyway.
Show up with a mule some day just to see how the media reacts.
Bring back the swooshes for a weekend and talk about how terrible they look. Then you can go back to looking normal on Monday.
The whole idea is to have FUN – and sometimes the fun is in being able to make fun of ourselves.
So Bobby Bonilla gets a million dollars. I’ll be happy to get a t-shirt out of the deal. And maybe I can take a picture with a mule out by the Apple. That sounds like a lot more fun than trying to convince me to come watch 15 relief pitchers and a four hour baseball game comprised of HRs and Ks.
