The Mets Police

Hello Mr. Yankee Fan,

You will be a guest in Citi Field this weekend, so let me welcome you to the home of my favorite team.

Here are some tips so that you can maximize your enjoyment.

Where to meet: Look for a big red Apple.   Apple is Flushingese for “the bat.”  Tell your “boys” to meet you at the Apple.

What to wear: I understand that you want to wear your Yankees gear, and you should.  Be proud of your team,  However, if you wear a Jeter 2 shirt you had better be a hot chick.  If you wear a Chamberlain 62 jersey with a name on the back we will all know you’re a fraud.  No names on the back, of course.

Where to go first: as soon as you enter the Jackie Robinson Rotunda (um, it’s a little hard to explain why that’s there) head to your right and visit the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.   There you can find memorabilia from Casey Stengel, Lee Mazzilli and other Yankee heroes….maybe even Yogi, I can’t remember.

Then what? Take the escalator up to what you would call “the main” level.  Head left and make your way to the fun centerfield area.   Take in the views and be impressed that the Mets didn’t stick a big restaurant in center field.  You can actually see the left fielder and the right fielder.  In Flushing, we save our obstructed views for the “upper deck.”

In center field you will fins a dunk tank.   Mets fans will be lined up to dunk a cute girl in a Yankee jersey.   It’s fun.  Try it.

What to eat ?  You may have heard of the Shake Shack.  It’s quite good but the line is longer than long.  Take my advice and enjoy the taqueria.  Short line, decent bang for your buck.

Have one beer. Hit Big Apple Brews and enjoy one beer.  One beer is nice at a game.  Beyond that you run the risk of increased hooliganism.  Since I always encourage folks to support the Mets financially please be sure to spend the rest of your beer money on other items.

How are your seats? If you’re in the “main” level as you call it you’ll be fine.  If you head to “the uppers” and your seat is in one of the first three rows….I wish you well.

Bring a radio and listen to WFAN. Treat yourself to hearing a Yankee game be actually described on a radio.   Our main guy Howie Rose will tell you what is happening in the game.  When a fly ball approaches the fence he will provide a detailed account of the play.   Howie is wonderful.   He is joined by a nice man named Wayne.  It may disturb you to learn that Howie actually acknowledges Wayne’s presence and will even respond to what Wayne says.

How to cheer. Like I said, be proud of your team.  If something happens that pleases you, stand-up, yell “hooray”, high-five your “boys” and sit down.

We know the Mets suck. Believe me we know.  We understand that the Mets won’t pass the Yankees in championships until 2037.  There’s no need to remind us.

We are honoring the 2000 Mets. Yep, I know Jeter will be there with his 2000 ring.   Mets fans will be cheering for Mike Piazza.  You may remember Mike, one of your true Yankees tried to attack him with a bat,  Said true Yankee was 192-111 with Boston in the course of 13 seasons, but I don’t want to bring that up and upset the girl who does your radiocast, she could start crying.

Your pitcher will have to bat. The Mets play something called baseball, a game in which 9 players bat and field.  You probably have some dude who isn’t good at that second thing.  He gets to watch this weekend.  However, this will provide you with a convenient excuse on Monday, so embrace it.

Liars: I think Jerry did a smart thing hooking Maine.   It shows the Mets are protecting the health of their players.   Didn’t we spend the last few years accusing the Mets of risking players to chase wins?   This was the opposite.

I don’t think Warthen made the best choice of words calling Maine a “habitual liar.”  The point may be correct but that’s the type of phrase that makes people mad at you.  I don’t think that will help Dan be part of Bob Melvin’s staff come next weekend.   Also – cheer for Hojo while you still can.

Tickets: the Post suggests the Mets could be holding back the cheaper seats and pushing the pricier ones.  Also in the Post, Vaccaro reminds you kids that this was Mets-town once.

Protests: State Senator Peralta would like the Mets to boycott the 2011 All-Star Game.  I’m personally unclear why this is the Mets’ problem as opposed to say the Astros.

Good news: I’m having Mets Police HQ family room (with the big screen) redone.

Bad news: the contractor decided to start tomorrow.  I get to get home tonight (after a lonnnng week) and disconnect the big screen and move it, and move furniture.  Awesome.   DVR is set, hoping for first pitch around 8.

Before we get too far into the day please remind all fans that the cheer is a nice tight Lets Go Mets not a four syllable Lets Go Meh-ets.

Don’t let the outsiders drag you into bad cadence.

I’m not a fan of the Noise Guys at Citi Field but Noise Guys please play the Seaver version of the Lets Go Mets video often.   The celebrity ones are dumb and Mookie’s cadence is too fast.

Ok let’s practice together.  On three.

LET’S GO METS!

LET’S GO METS!

LET’S GO METS!

I know I’m a day late on this (you go tell my boss I need to blog more during the day)  but I agree that this seems like an odd time to remember the 2000 Mets.

It’s sort of weird to trot out the heroes while Jeter and friends look on.

In fact, it’s super-odd timing – why not fill the park on a different night?  I agree with Matt from Mets Blog, it may have made more sense against the Cardinals….or on Old Timer’s Day.

I’m personally not that attached to the 2000 bunch, however I understand that if you’re under say 30 it’s all you have.

I recieved a passionate email from Chris on the subject yesterday…

Hey Shannon,

I didn’t see it on your site, but I saw it on MetsBlog and heard on the FAN about the latest DUMB move by the Mets….

This Friday, the team is honoring the 10-year anniversary of the 2000 National League Champs team… before the start of the series against the 2000 WS Champions…..insert rant here.

I have to wonder, why the heck are we just hearing about this “reunion” now?! When there has been events planned for the ’69 (last year) or ’86 teams (August 2006), it has been announced before the season even starts. Do I dare wonder if this is something being done out of desperation to get fans in the seats?! Common logic would say that there is no way that could be the reason, as they have to know that the Subway Series ALWAYS sells out. No matter how bad the team may get, people will still be at Citi for these three games – even if 20,000 of the 41,000 are Yankee fans.

I have to wonder even more, for a team that is suffering at the box office this year, why not hold this event when the Cardinals come into town at the end of July? Well, that wouldn’t work for them of course, because that series is a Tuesday to Thursday series. Why not then the following weekend, against the Diamondbacks? I know they beat ARI in 1999, but at least it would have a connection to 2000 as many on that team were on the ’99 team. Or even better, why not in early July when they host a weekend series against the Braves? The Mets may not have beaten Atlanta that year, but at least one can connect the WS appearance in 2000 to all the heartache the Braves dealt us in those years.

Keep in mind, the 1969 reunion in late August last year drew over 38,000 to a Phillies game at Citi while the team was literally falling apart and out of the race. The 1986 reunion in August 2006 at Shea drew a 55,000+ sellout against the Rockies. Granted, it was during the team’s beat down of the NL, but the next day they drew only 40,000 fans and had only 47,000 in town the next Saturday vs. Philly.

Those numbers do not lie, the same way the numbers about this year’s attendance don’t lie. Wasting this event, which would draw fans to the park (including many who do not even remember 1986 but relished in the fun of the 2000 playoffs), on a weekend when they are hosting the team that we LOST TO in the W.S. that year is just another sign that the organization has absolutely no idea what they are doing and has become nothing more than a blind-leading-the-blind disaster. On Friday, we fans once again get to look like the little brother next to the Yanks (how many “You can’t beat us” chants do you think there will be from the NYY fans that day) and the team loses out on guaranteeing at least one near-sellout in July, August, or September.

Sorry for the little rant – just had to get it out there to someone who feels the same way I do…hence the appropriate name of your site “The Mets Police”.

Thanks as always for all you do and keep up the great work pal –

Chris

Great point about the Yankees fans being in the building.  That is going to be awful.  Jeter knows how to behave, the Yankee fan wearing the Chamberlain 62 jersey (complete with name on the back) may not.

I assume the Mets thought that the Subway Series was the right time to honor the Subway Series, and I’m the one who complained loudly that they didn’t honor team history enough, so I’m not going to rant about this….but I think it’s another example of a situation where they need to bounce stuff off Howie or Cerrone or if Dave Howard wants my cell number he can have it.  Any one of us could really help the Mets avoid awkward situations…oh man, the Yankee fans are gonna be annoying.

I’m sure their hearts were in the right place so I will just thank the Mets for honoring the past, and hope the Mets fans out-yell the visitors.

Hey guys – Matt at Metsblog had a great idea for a meetup during the Phillies series and has pulled together one for Tuesday!

Pop over to metsblog for specifics of the McFadden’s Ike Davis Special (5-7pm) and I’ll try to get there a little before 6.

I hope to see you there, and don’t forget of you don’t have tickets you can always keep hanging at McFadden’s

I’ll send an official Blue Cap Army notice out tonight. Been a crazy week in the real world.