Mets Mess: The Forecast for 2011 Is Cloudy With Plenty of Meatballs

Article first published as Mets Mess: The Forecast for 2011 Is Cloudy With Plenty of Meatballs on Blogcritics.

I have been a fan of the New York Mets all my life, sometimes causing myself much pain and anxiety. I can't help but to tell you the truth; just like Lady Gaga, I was born this way. I like lots of Mets fans emerged from the womb, born of the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. With orange and blue blood coursing through my veins, I have gone through life loving the team but cursing my lot, and this season isn't going to make life any easier for any of us. Who besides me has thought that this year Flushing will not only be the name of our team's home but also what we can do with the season?

Most fans of baseball teams are excited now. Opening Day should be "Anything Can Happen Day," but this year it's a Friday for the Mets and not a Wednesday. As fans of the old Mickey Mouse Club show know, "Talent Roundup Day" was on Friday, and that is about the best description of the Mets roster this year.

Now we get the latest of the "Good News from Mets Camp" in today's paper: Jason Bay will likely land on the disabled list to start the season. Sore ribs? Man, this is enough to make a guy want Ed Kranepool to come back, even now, and take a few swings.

We have Carlos Beltran hopping along worse than Cassidy; Angel Pagan has a bad back; Jason is now in Sick Bay; Johan Santana will probably miss most or all of the year, and the starting lineup and pitching rotation have more holes in it than that piece of Swiss cheese on your ham and rye. People used to laugh about the old Mets; well pull up a chair folks and get your handkerchiefs ready, because this season is going to be a cross between a tearjerker and a knee slapper.

Sport Illustrated just came out with its Major League Baseball preview. In the article the Mets are rightly picked to finish fifth in the National League East. Hey, I'll go them one better: I'll bet they will have the worst record in the National League this year. That's right: they will be worse than the Diamondbacks, the Astros, and probably that little league team up at the park.


Hey, I'm a Mets fan, but I'm also honest. All I can say is the Mets are back home - in the basement - which is right back where they started so many years ago. So I'll watch the games, go to a few, and have no expectations. I'll yell at the bums, just like my grandfather and uncles did with the Dodgers all those years ago, but I'll never stop loving them. That's the lot of the Mets fan and I'm sort of used to it by now. Good night Basement Bertha, wherever you are!

Photo Credits:
Jason Bay - espn.com
Basement Bertha - nydailynews.com

Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team

Article first published as Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team on Blogcritics.


Donald Trump - the man known for strange hair and the iconic line "You're fired" - has made it known that he would like to buy a piece of the New York Mets. Why, you may ask? To help a friend? Well, yes he and Mets owner Fred Wilpon are chums. Could it be exposure? The Donald likes exposure as much as the south wall of your house. What other reason is motivating Trump to get in on this? My thoughts are that he probably thinks the Wilpons are going down, and who better to be there to pick up the pieces and take on the whole team once Fred and Jeff are gone.

One thing is very certain: if Trump comes on board things will get interesting very quickly. The Wilpons have never been interesting. They don't even register a blip on New York sports pages - except if they are involved with the infamous Bernie Madoff. Living in this town we Mets fan have always had to endure the back page headlines about another sports owner - the late George Steinbrenner (and now his sons). He was always hiring and firing Billy Martin, warning Reggie Jackson (and everyone else from Horace Clarke to Joba Chamberlain), and basically creating for himself a colorful personality that increased the Yankee brand.

Even famed New York Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo couldn't resist creating a recurring cartoon character in Steinbrenner's honor. Mets fans had one too - the oh so lovely Basement Bertha. This figures to be the Mets' fate: the Yankees get a general and we get an overweight woman living in the cellar. That is our lot in this town.

But, oh how things would change with The Donald in charge of the show. Can you imagine the press generated by Trump as he came to games? He would be more exciting than Lady Gaga sitting in the stands in her pajamas. Never one to mince words, there are probably hundreds of different headlines just ready to burst out of his mouth over the course of the season. Trump's presence in the owner's box would be an event, would help ticket sales, and most certainly bolster sagging TV ratings.

Heck, I even propose if The Donald is in that the Mets TV channel (SNY) create a new series - Donald Trump's NY Mets Apprentice. This would be a fabulous weekly series where players had to work for the Donald - on and off the field. Wouldn't it be worth it just to see the Donald sitting across the table from Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez saying, "You're fired!"

As a Mets fan, I am totally behind Trump buying into the Mets. I think lots of fans would agree with me. So come on, Fred Wilpon. Take the Donald's call and lets get the ball rolling. It might not save this season, but it certainly will make for a hilarious time, and we Mets fans need a reason to laugh right now.

Photo Credits:



Donald Trump - celebritysmackblog


Basement Bertha - NY Daily News

Jerry Seinfeld's SNY Booth Visit Was Refreshing

Article first published as jerry-seinfelds-sny-booth-visit-was on Blogcritics.


Most Mets fans know that comedian Jerry Seinfeld is a longtime fan of the team, but on Wednesday, June 23, 2010, they got to hear him enter the television broadcast booth armed with more than jokes. He actually displayed a nice flair for talking about the intricacies of the game, could do a little play-by-play, and came off like a regular guy from Queens who happens to be a comedy legend.

Jerry made it clear early on that he was there as a fan and what his focus was to be. He said he didn't like celebrities coming into the booth and chatting about everything but baseball. He told booth regulars Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen, "So let's just talk about the game."

And Jerry did just that. He proved to be knowledgeable about the players, about the team, and stuck to his word, more or less. Of course, it was inevitable that the entertainer Lady Gaga (who recently attended a Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field, had a problem with the fans, flipped photographers the bird, and eventually landed herself in Seinfeld's private suite) would come into the mix. Seinfeld brought her up first and joked, "That's why I'm here."

Jerry didn't mince words about Gaga's strange antics. He said, "I did not like the finger." One can only imagine what kind of episode could have evolved out of this kind of thing on the classic comedy Seinfeld, especially if Kramer and Newman were in the mix. Needless to say, Seinfeld was a bit annoyed that to soothe the obviously disturbed Gaga that she was placed in his suite, but he went on to say, "She should make a nice apology to the Mets fans and I'm willing to forget the whole thing."

During the game the Mets showed they too had a sense of humor, with a Go Gaga for Wright promotion involving foam fingers given away to fans. The intention of this good natured gimmick was to inspire fans to use their appropriate digits to vote for third baseman David Wright for a place on the NL All-Star Team. Once again, Seinfeld must have been thinking how those twenty thousand foam fingers could have worked in an episode, or perhaps he'll reserve it for use in his stand-up routine.

Fans of the classic comedy should remember when Keith Hernandez, playing himself, was a guest star on Seinfeld and started dating Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Seinfeld and Hernandez engaged in a light-hearted banter about that time, when the Mets and their fans were glowing after winning the 1986 World Series. As they spoke, you could hear how much Seinfeld admired the former Mets first baseman. Of when Hernandez came on the set to start filming, Seinfeld said, "I was most excited to meet Keith Hernandez of anyone I ever met on the show."

Over all, it was a pleasant experience that Mets fans will long remember. In the end, the broadcast was more about Jerry Seinfeld than the game (the Mets did win 5-0 over the Detroit Tigers), even with his coming in with the best intentions. Not that there is anything wrong with that.