Mets Fan & Misery: Perfect Together (Well Not Really)

Baseball is not my favorite sport, not even close.  However it is the one in which I and many others invest the most time.  Spring training, 162 regular season games and hopefully the postseason.  As many of you know I am a longtime and devoted fan of the New York Mets and I would be lying if I said I was not bitterly disappointed over how this season ended.

After all the thrills they gave me from April through September the Mets died in October which is the most important month of the year in baseball circles.  I’m not here to analyze what went wrong and who’s to blame because that’s for another day.  The fact is they got a rabid fan base juiced up all summer long and then as fall arrived they broke out hearts….again.

As one who has always been a pessimistic fan I am not surprised because if you have followed the team for some 55 years then you truly expect the worst and consider 1969 and 1986 aberrations.  Those were the two seasons in which they actually won the World Series so it will be at least 37 years before another celebration takes place.

As I have gotten older I’ve accepted that when a season is over my team will not be on top of the mountain.  Whether it’s the Mets, Rangers or Penn State football I am conditioned to not having my team hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy (baseball), Stanley Cup (hockey) or College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy as the ultimate winner in their sport.

My children, ages 37 & 30 share the same passion and losses like the one the Mets just incurred are tougher on them.  Of course they have time to cheer a winner while my clock is ticking.

In closing I am okay and life will go on without the Mets in the postseason.  What I can’t accept is that the Yankees and Phillies are both playing today.  So for now I’m rooting for the Cleveland Guardians and oh no, the Atlanta Braves.