Ok, now that Christmas and New Years are over, time to get back to work. That means you Omar Minaya. It’s nice that Jason Bay is going to turn his head and cough for the Mets quacks and the cold cut platter from King Kullen will be laid out at the Shotgun Shuba Room at $iti Field by tomorrow but until Omar and Co. sign or trade for at least two legitimate starting pitchers, well just call me under whelmed.

The Sports God’s must really hate me my guts. First, they torture me all summer with the Mets and then they tease me with the New York Football Giants going 5-0 and then amp me up with a game against the undefeated Nawlin’s Saints only to get the ass handed to them. From that game, the season went down the shitter. Now the Boston Celtics, the one team I root for that shows any heart and fight, are now bitten by the injury bug. Down goes Paul Pierce, KG, Marquis Daniels, and my man Rondo. The NY Rangers either win or lose games 2-1 depending on whether Marion Gaborik scores 1 or 2 goals. My only hope for a good run through the playoffs are the C’s as long as the PP, KG, and Rondo can stay on the court.

Let me add my voice to the “Bring David Cone to SNY” campaign. Talk about your no-brainers. Coney in studio and as a back up to Mex and Ron Darling is a perfect fit. In fact how about letting Gary Cohen get a day off or two and put Mex, Darling and Coney to do the play by play.  Com’on SNY this one is on a platter for you guys.

A must see today is this post from The Mets Police, with a exquisite collection of Mets Pennants. It makes me think back to when the vendors would be outside Shea with  souvenir boards filled with pennants, buttons with action shots of Mets players, and key chains with Mr. Met on them.

Now maybe it’s that fact that I’ve spent many more days at Shea than I have at Giants Stadium, even though I’ve been to many games there in the past 34 years but there is just not that attachment to the Meadowlands like I had with Shea and from the looks of things, I don’t think many Giants fans do either.

A lot of that non-emotion has to do with the fact that there are a lot of Giants fans who have never been to the Stadium. Think about that as Mets fans. For years, there was a huge waiting list for Giants season tickets, in fact season tickets were left in wills and estates to carry over from family to family. I’ve been lucky between my brothers and friends, I usually get to 2 games a year at Giants Stadium but there is a huge population of Giants fans who have never seen Big Blue play live and in person.

When the Last Days of Shea were upon us, the blogs and news media outlets were full of stories by Mets fans of the joy of growing up going to games at Shea Stadium. For all the complaining we Mets fans did about Shea from leaky pipes, to floods in the bathrooms, to no concourse space and on and on, when the last day at the ball park came, we cried like babies. Something tells me there will no tears shed for Giants Stadium today. I guess that’s one more reason why baseball is better than football, much more emotional.

Another Giants related story that had me thinking Mets was the story in the News about Wellington Mara and the day Giants Stadium opened and how happy he was that the Giants finally had their own home. Mr. Mara ran the Giants for years and when his nephew Tim Mara joined him in ownership, the team took a downward turn. I remember my brothers debating the Wellington/Tim Mara spilt as Wellington wanted to build through the draft and Tim was more of a showman and wanted to go after big name players and thus there was a huge spilt. It wasn’t until Pete Rozelle stepped in and told both Mara’s for the good of the NFL they needed to find someone to run the football operations of the team, and get the Giants back as NFL title contenders. Isn’t that where the Mets are today?

Freddy Skill Sets is not involved in the day to day moves of the Mets, he has turned the team over to his son Jeffey, who in turn has David Howard, the noted house shyster as his consigliore, neither one of them know anything about running a baseball team. They have a lame duck GM in Omar Minaya and a lamer duck manager in Jerry Manuel and now have a team with assets of close to $1 billion dollars but a team that no one wants to play for and is disrespected through out baseball.  What they need is a George Young, a guy to come in a run the baseball ops the right way, with a plan to build a solid foundation. This is not some small market; pocket the revenue sharing, type of franchise. This is a franchise with outstanding financial and fan support resources, what it lacks is leadership and until young Jeffey and Shyster Dave are removed from the day to day doings of the baseball end, the Mets will continue down the path of failure.

The fan base is not just angry but hugely disappointed in the direction this franchise is headed. The easy thing to do is abandon ship but we never will, this team is too much a part of us to that. Guys like me have to much invested here, but that doesn’t mean as fans we just sit back a take it.

I’d love to sit here and wave blue and orange poms-poms and praise the signing of Kelvin Escobar and R.A Dickey and Ryota Igrashi but there is so much more that needs to be done and I don’t have any faith in the front office to get it done.

I feel sorry for Omar Minaya. His biggest mistake as GM to me was hiring his friends into top jobs. It doesn’t work. From Tony Bernazzard to Ramon Pena to Bingo mgr Mako Oliveras to Julio Franco to Luis Aguayo they all failed at their jobs and they all failed Minaya. Now some of you are saying “see too many Latinos” but if you can look past your bias, you’ll see it’s more of guys that Minaya grew up through the ranks from player to scout to front office person throughout baseball that he surrounded himself with and it could just cost him his job. Add in the fact that Minaya is real old school when it comes to evaluating talent and maybe his way of thinking is outdated in today’s baseball.

Ownership and the front office can try to con us with “the team will be better as all those who were injured will be back healthy “ propaganda but their non-action speaks louder than words and the really need to do something to stem the tide of pessimism that they have cast over the franchise.

 

My mood is very, very glooming today due to the awful defensive display put on by the New York Football Giants last night against the Iggles from Philly. With the Dallas Cowgirls losing to the San Diego SuperChargers (if it’s December you know it’s wintertime and the Cowgirls will choke) and a big fuck you to Flozell Adams who if he played in the Staten Island Touch Tackle Football League (of which I played in some 30 years ago, 30 YEARS!!!!!! HOLY SHIT)  would be in a hospital recovering from reconstructive surgery on a knee, for being a cheap shot bitch, but I digress……..what a time for the Giants D to come up small and for the special teams to fall apart as well. Oh, an a word to Iggles Coach Andy, (more Chins than the Hong Kong phone book) Reid, your fat ass will not be going to the Super Bowl so enjoy your win over the Giants, only coaches who haven’t won shit would chest bump with their players after a regular season win.    

 

Can you feel the holiday spirit just oozing out of me? After that Giants game last I got to think of all the teams I root for which gives me the most of my rooting interest, Here are the candidates:

 

New York Mets

 

The first sports team I’ve ever rooted for and the team that gives me the most aggravation. More the way the ownership and front office go about its business is what infuriates me as the Mets are the only team I root for that does not embrace it’s history, in fact the owner not only had to be shamed into honoring the teams past but is shocked that the fan base is so adamant in celebrating the history of the team.  Freddy Skill Sets ain’t exactly Tevye, you know what I mean?

 

New York Giants

 

I got involved rooting for the Giants as a kid when I started playing football at age 12. My oldest brother had season tickets for the G-Men and I got to go once in awhile (at Highlander Stadium no less) and then my other brother became friendly with the Mara’s though business so it was a natural progression to become a Giants fan. Back in the 70’s, the Giants were not very good but I was a kid and my older brothers were Giants fans so I went with the flow. But then came the 80’s and the G-Men were the cream of the NFL crop (thank you George Young and Bill Parcells) then it became cool to root for Big Blue. The Mara’s also celebrate the teams history fully as they have owned the team since it’s inception in 1925 and it doesn’t hurt they are proud Irish-Americans as well.

 

New York Rangers

 

No one in my family were hockey fans when I was a kid and now there are still no hockey fans in my family today but me. My relatives always said I was a little “different” but growing up my neighborhood in Brooklyn was a hockey hot bed. We had the finest roller hockey rink in the city on 53^rd St and Ft Hamilton Parkway (it’s still there by the way) so as teenagers we spent a lot of fall and winter days playing hockey, and of course we were Ranger fans. Saturday nights on Ch 9 were Rangers Hockey Night (your Schaffer Circle of Sports) I got to see Brad Park, Eddie Giacomin and my all time favorite Ranger, Walter Tkachuk play in their famous Blue sweaters. Again there is strong tradition with the Broadway Blueshirts as they were an Original Six (I love that title Original Six!!!!!!) While I watched the Rangers on Ch 9 and listened to them on radio, I didn’t go to a Rangers game until I was 18 but the first hockey game I saw in person was a NY Raiders of the WHA game at Madison Square Garden back in 1973 (I was 15 and a bunch of us hopped the on the Sea Beach to Manhattan with our G.O cards and got blue seats for the Raiders for a couple of bucks, the Raiders played at 1 PM and the Rangers at 7:30PM. We thought about finding a hiding place in MSG until the Rangers game at night but figuring we never told our parents about our field trip to Manhattan, they might not be too happy if he didn’t come home until 11 PM or so) I held Rangers season tickets for 10 years but with a wife and two kids, it’s hard to go to 40 games a season and when you can’t make the games and have to eat the tickets, it gets quite expensive, but I was there to see the Rangers win the Stanley Cup and remember the banner in the Blue Seats that night “Now I Can Die In Peace” Of all the fans in this city no fans are more loyal than the Garden Faithful of the Rangers.

 

Boston Celtics

 

I know what you’re saying, “No Knicks?” No. Again every Sunday in the winter, I’d watch the NBA on ABC with Chris Schenkel and Jack Tyman and it seemed every Sunday, the Celtics were on TV. Sure I watched the Knicks on Ch 9 (WOR Ch9 was our sports channel only the upper crust in Manhattan had something called “cable tv” ) but I was mesmerized by John Havlicek, JoJo White, Coach Red Auerbach and the great basketball player of all time, Bill Russell. Plus, I thought they were all Irish because of the shamrock, green and well they were the Celtics. Of all my rooting interests, this team has won the most championships and I know a lot of fans hate the team and its fans for that fact. Tough shit!!!!!!!! It is weird though when I go to MSG to see the C’s dressed in my Celtics regalia and Knicks fans yell at me to “go back to Boston” and I yell back “I’m from Brooklyn, asshole” Classy, I know

Big tip of the Blue Mets Cap to Shannon Shark at Met Police for the first released pictures of the new, old, same Mets pinstriped jersey that looks exactly as the one I bought three years ago that hangs in my closet.

Hopefully some time today I will see this jersey up close and personnel as the plan was to up and out by 9AM for Christmas shopping but my daughter has decided to engage in a marathon sleeping session so our attack of the Paramus Mall is on hold.

Oh well, with the football season done here in NY , I guess all we can look forward to is the big Elmer Dessens press conference to announce his re-signing .

OH WHAT A NIGHT

Where were you on October 25^th 1986? I was in my living room in our brand new railroad flat in Bay Ridge watching one of the great comebacks not only in Mets history but all of baseball history.

We haven’t seen a Daniel Murphy post in a while so thank you John “Metsradamus” Coppinger for bringing up Murph and remember what will happen when you mess with The Murph.

A Mets minor league pitcher Rafael Castro died of a heart attack at the Mets Venezulan academy. It’s sad when anyone dies like that but the fact that Castro was 18 years old is stunning.

The TV remote will get a good workout tonight as Game 6 of the ALCS goes up against the New York Football Giants and the Phoenix by way of St Louis and Chicago Cardinals at Giants Stadium.

If the Angels can get ahead of the Highlanders early like they did in Game 5, then it will unleashed the panic stricken Joey G to go one pitcher per hitter and deplete his bullpen. If you’re a Highlander fan you have to be concerned that the Great Mariano has to sit down with Phil Hughes and give him a pep talk as it’s clear Hughes has that deer in the headlights look about him and that the total clusterfuck that is the Joba Chamberlain Experience has been ineffective to the point, if you’re the Angels the key here is to get to the Highlander pen.

Not to break balls or anything but the baseball fan in me wants an Angel win tonight just to have some Game 7 drama.

 

When I go to any sporting event I get there hours before the start as I love watching warm ups. There is nothing better than watching batting practice. My family can’t understand this how I can sit in ballpark and watch guys hit a baseball and field fly balls. There are still the few die hards that line up at ball parks and arenas like me for the gates to open but I think these days it’s becoming a lost art.

 

My wife was stunned this past winter when I turned down tickets to see the New York Football Giants play the Iggles at the Medowlands. I turned it down because I weighed the pros and cons and the cons won. The pros were a day with friends, watching my favorite football team in person, getting a better idea of various formations on offense and defense and having a general good time. The cons, it’s cold, too much down time with game stoppage and TV timeouts, and sitting in insufferable traffic. Then when you add in at home you have your own HDTV, no lines for the bathroom, attendants (children) and a big comfy chair when you think about it you have be nuts to go to the game.

 

I bring this up because I saw to day that STUBHUB has a ton of tickets on it’s site for the exhibition games this weekend between the Mets and Red Sox. The strange thing is these games SOLD OUT in 45 minutes or so we were told. It looks like the bulk of the tickets went to the secondary market, you know the new business that used to be called scalpers.

 

It will be a trend to watch this season with both the Mets and Highlanders to see if fans after their first trip to the new ballparks get that “been there, done that feeling” and pass up paying big money to go to a game to spend big money.

 

When you think about it for what you pay for tickets to a game plus food, souviners and other incidentals (it’s always those damn incidentals that will get you) and gas and tolls is it worth it? With the state of the economy, if you are fortunate enough to have discretionary funds put aside do you spend it on a day at the old ball game or a weekend at the shore?        

 

A must read is Matt Cerrone’s piece on his tour of $iti Field and it looks as if after all the bitching and moaning over the name and price of tickets and all the other minutia that myself and others have spewed all winter we can enjoy the fact that we have a first class ballpark to call our own that will be very different for our Shea experience.

 

I’m curious to know where you guys stand on the new studio team of Chris Carlin and Bobby Ojeda?. For me I’d say it’s a huge upgrade over Snoozeoff and Boardwalk Lee. I like Carlin. I always thought he was a good listen on WFAN and he did a good job covering the New York Football Giants as he has a jolly good personality. As for Bobby-O , he has star potential. I met Ojeda a few years ago when he was the pitching coach in Brooklyn and he knows baseball, is very opinionated and is funny as hell. The post game banter between Ojeda and Mex will be Must See TV mark my words.

 

Speaking of Keith Hernandez, he and Ron Darling will be handling the play by play for tonight’s Mets-Nats game on SNY. No Gary and no Burkhardt. I hope someone has their finger on the dump button.

 

And speaking of Gary Cohen, he has advanced to the Mets Greatest Announcers Championship Round at Amazin’ Avenue’ against Bob Murphy. Talk about your tough decisions. I had to put a lot of thought into whom I was voting for. So I went and did what I always do when I have a big decision to make, I went for a slice of pizza and a Manhattan Special. When I got back to my office, I went to my keyboard and made my choice. I am proud to announce that The Eddie Kranepool Society has backed Gary Cohen and will vote for him as the greatest announcer in Mets history. I think what swayed me was the fact I’m wearing my “It’s Outta Here” t-shirt today.

 

 

 

Derek Lowe is still on the ‘Ho Stroll, Petey wants to come back (I love you Petey but no, no ,no- time to move on with the Mets life and yours)  and there is still is a big need for a right handed corner outfielder but today and the next three days I am putting all that to the side as it’s time ot concentrate on football as the New York Football Giants get to defend their Super Bowl Championship with a play off game Sunday against the Philadelphia Pigeons.

Here’s is what we know about the Pigeons, they are Philly’s answer to the Mets as they never fulfill their fans desire with a Championship and know this too about Philadelphians They would trade 20 Phillies World Series Championships for One Pigeons Super Bowl Trophy. Philliy is a Pigeons Town first and foremost (with the Flyers second) but it’s too bad that Philly is running into the One NY team that has balls in the Football Giants.

Key to the game is Brandon Jacobs establishing his ball running prowess and the G-Men D-Line harassing the living shit out D-McMahon to the point he pukes (which he seems to do in big games)

This is a REAL NY-Philly rivalry and this time NY will come out on top

NY Football Giants 28

Philly Pigeons 17

GO BIG BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know there a alot of you out there afflicted with Jets/Mets and I feel for you guys I really do but don’t worry come April the Mets will start a new season and from what I know of the J-E-T-S they thrive in April at the NFL Draft.    

Remember in the words of Felix Unger, never assume as you make an ass out of u and me.

 

Gimp Castillo, Aaron Heilman, Brian Schneider a prospect and money (half of Castillo’s ill gotten gains) to the San Fransisco Giants for Bengi Molina and Randy Winn. The Giants get a second baseman for half price, plus a back end of rotation pitcher in Heilman and choice of a B level prospect (from a list the Mets provide) and they get relived of close to $15 mil in salary relief.  The Mets get a big upgrade at catcher plus a switch hitting bat for RF which in turn makes Ryan Church a bargaining chip for pitching.

 

Go ahead and flame away!

 

Saw these pics on Dom’ D’s Mets info laden site of Bailout Park. There is one shot of the bullpen that I hope is still under construction because I don’t see the Kevlar roof that will be needed to protect the relievers from the angry mob of Mets fans.

 

Mike Silva has a great post on his site on the 2^nd base black hole and the lack of leadership that is needed on the Mets. When we think of leaders we always go with fiery types like guys Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter but sometimes leaders are guys like Eli Manning who is far from being a spitfire in the personality department but he has stepped up and become the leader of the New York Football Giants by stepping up his game and remaining clam when tough and tense times occur. It also helped him immensely that two of his biggest critics and the biggest wash women on the team Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey were gone from the team and in turn Manning flourished. That’s why I would have loved to see Omar deal off Carlos Delgado to get not only max return off his stellar half season but them maybe David Wright would feel more comfortable to exert his leadership to the team. There is a part of that feels a team with mostly younger players would be more beneficial to the Mets winning than having older players. Maybe it’s still the hangover from the Famous Rays season but I like watching young guys bust their ass day after day than old ones drag their saggy butts around all season.

 

The Angels look like they are gearing up to offer C C Sabathia a Johan Santana like contract. I really don’t care where Sabathia goes but as long as he doesn’t end up in the Bronx just watching Mike Francesa look like more of a horse’s ass than usual will be a great holiday gift.

 

How come no one talks about Nick Evans? Talk about a forgotten man. Another reason why I’d move Delgado as a platoon of Dan Murphy and Evans at first would be more than adequate and then if the Mets made my Giants deal you could keep Church and Winn together with Endy Chavez and Fernando Tatis leading a strong bench (Omar go get Willie Bloomquist please)

 

Check out Toby Hyde’s Mets Minor League Blog as he has a post on Tigers catcher James Skelton who could be available as a Rule 5 draftee. Skelton is very slight in built especially for a catcher (5’11” 165lbs) but he has a good batting eye and could be converted to a 2^nd baseman a la Craig Biggio. It never ceases to amaze me how progressive thinking the Mets bloggers are compared to the organization which sometimes is stuck in the old time baseball mentality.

 

Do you think the message has sunk in to the Mets brain trust’ heads that there is no way on earth Mets fans want to see Gimp Castillo at 2^nd base on opening day 2009?