Will I be able to rouse myself to root for my traditional favorite ball team this year? Circumstances are lining up against it.
We can begin with a called third strike in 2007's NLCS when a hit would have put us in the World Series.
Then we can move forward to two consecutive historic season-ending collapses in 2008 and 2009. And 2010 was, by the end of July, a lost season.
Then of course there is CitiField, named after an ignominious bank implicated in another historic collapse. And the way the stadium is painted all black and funereal as if black had any history with the Mets. And the way they named the entry rotunda after a guy who never played for the Mets but for a competitor team now in Los Angeles. And how the ticket prices went up as if we were getting such an upgrade as the team was flopping around like a fish on the dock.
Now we can add the muck of Madoff bucks to the unclean stew that has become the New York Metropolitans. The Wilpons, who own the team in Flushing, are being sued in a clawback exercise by a special trustee trying to get fake profit back from those who took money from Madoff even as Madoff was simply handing over to them the deposits of other investors. And there will be a trial, and it will be a cloud over the team for some time to come; and indeed the finances of the team are rocked already, else why would the Wilpons be looking to sell part of the team? Oh yes, there's that too. They are trying to sell part of the team. Really they should sell all of it. If they can. It is possible the entire team could be liquidated to satisfy Madoff-related judgments.
Also, I think Reyes and Wright are significantly overrated and we have no pitching beyond Johann Santana to speak of.
The Mets have become synonymous not just with failure but now with smarmy dealings.
I don't think I can muster any support.
Across town, there are the Yankees, who seem to carry themselves with so much more professionalism and pride (I am loathe to admit).
Hm.
