Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

This is truly an amazing year in New York.

Never before in any city have two ballparks the size and scope of what we are seeing in the Bronx and Flushing opened at the same time.

Never before has over $2 BILLION been spent on sports facilities in one city opening at the same time.

Six and a half years ago a nightmare descended upon this city. At the time both the Mets and Yankees had been discussing new stadia with the city. Following 9/11 those discussions were put on hold so that the city could recover and rebuild.

Recover we did – rebuild we have not.

Six and a half years later, two structures designed for a game have been designed, constructed, and now opened. Several hundred million dollars in city and state “assistance” has helped in getting these structures built.

Yet just over 9 miles away from each site there remains a big hole in the ground where two office towers once stood.

Think about that for a moment.

6 1/2 years
$2+ Billion
2 new, state-of-the-art ballparks
0 towers

I’m not trying to be holier-than-though. I have been to Citi Field and will go to the new Yankee Stadium.

But something in our collective make-up just seems a bit screwed up when more importance and a higher priority is placed on making sure that our teams have the best stadiums they can have, while even a simple memorial to those who were killed on 9/11 remains unbuilt.

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Finally, after the longest spring ever, Opening Day has arrived.   Hopefully the weather won’t be too bad and I can sneak some SNY time in at the office today.

Opening Day is always a good one – here’s a walk down memory lane…some from season openers and some from home openers.  In no particular order.

1985.  Wow 1984 was great.  Now that we’ve added Gary Carter we are sure to beat out the Cubs for the division title this year!  Gary became an immediate fan favorite when he homered off Neil Allen (ha we got Keith Hernandez for you!) in the 10th inning.   Welcome to New York Gary!

1988 – Strawberry hits the most massive home run you’ll ever see.  It was still going up when it hit the top of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.   Give the man some steroids.

1987:   My first day working at Shea Stadium, I get to see the Mets raise the World Series flag.   Something I would be sure to see many times over the next few years.

1983:  My favorite Opening Day and my favorite Mets memory of them all.  Tom Seaver returns home.   He walks down the right field line from the bullpen and gets a massive ovation from the home crowd.  I can still picture my field level seats over by third base (I was about 13, how did I get those?).   Amazing.  Seaver was great for six before Doug Sisk taught us to hate him.

1994:  Tuffy Rhodes (who?) hits not one, not two, but three home runs off Doc Gooden (he’s Sheffield’s uncle kids and Uncle Doc was a pretty good pitcher.  Coulda been one of the greats….)

Nothing else from the 90’s strikes me, and I was too young for anything before.   I imagine 1962 was fun, and 1970 was a good one.  I bet losing the opener to the expansion 1969 Expos stunk.

I can’t quite remember if Gooden pitching in the cold in Chicago was an opener…I think so.  Maybe Tim Leary too.  I’m writing this on Sunday and have been blogging for hours, I’ll leave that research to someone else…

Any other suggestions?

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