Little did we suspect when we acquired tickets for the July 4 Mets/Yankees game that we’d be walking into the first potential sweep by the Mets of their high-salaried rivals…and on Steinbrenner’s birthday, yet.
However Caroline was running a slight fever this morning, so Kathleen insisted that Ariel and I go and she would stay home with the munchkin. With two tickets available, our dauntless webmaster Glenn and his mildly interested wife, Brandy, accompanied us.
If the word “suck” did not exist, people would have been mute.
Mets fans outnumbered Yankees fans by about four to one, yet somehow it was the ultimate exercise in free speech. Yankee fans would chant “LET’S go YANkees” and Mets fans would rebut, “YAN-KEES SUCK!” Neither group tried to overshout the other or yell at the same time. They took turns. Bizarre…almost as bizarre as the strange woman five rows away who was missing several prominent teeth and kept dissing the Mets while waving a Phillies cap in people’s faces (leading me to take an educated guess as to where her teeth went.)
It was a wild ride, ending in a 6-5 Mets win. Both Keith DeCandido (a Yankees fan) and Bob Greenberger (a Mets fan) were also in attendance. We never spotted them, but didn’t have to. Glenn simply called Keith on his cell phone and the moment he answered, we started shouting “Yankees SUCK!” into the phone.
A good, if wholly immature time, was had by all.
PAD
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Free Speech, as it should be
I was at the Subway Series game today at Shea, thanks to the kind auspices of Peter, Kathleen, and Caroline, who took ill and had to stay at home. Hence, Brandy and I got the tickets for Kathleen and Caroline….
That is what you have to love about America. You can have mindless, immature fun while at a ballbark and chant “Yankees SUCK!” anytime that you feel like it.
Plus you have the freedom to hassle fellow fans just by making a simple phone call. 🙂
jeff
Is that what you were saying? Honestly, I couldn’t hear a dámņ thing between all the ambient noise and the crappy connections.
My own feelings on the game are here.
—KRAD
Peter David: Bizarre…almost as bizarre as the strange woman five rows away who was missing several prominent teeth and kept dissing the Mets while waving a Phillies cap in people’s faces (leading me to take an educated guess as to where her teeth went.)
Luigi Novi: I will never understand you sports fans.
🙂
Me, I enjoyed the fireworks. Last year was the first time I happened to be in New York for them. Usually people who live on the Jersey side of the Hudson River just go out to JFK Boulevard East, which is what I always did, but last year, I was at the Loews Kip’s Bay on 2nd Ave. & E31st Street recruiting for a movie screening we were doing, and when the fireworks started, I was shocked. The walls of the theater lobby shook. Looking outside (the doors faced west, away from the fireworks), I saw brilliant reflections of colors in the windows of the building across the street. I went outside, crossed the street, and looked east.
Wow.
I never realized how much more exponentially beautiful it was to see the fireworks right there in New York (and for the matter, how much louder the explosions were). I decided that I would no longer be going to Boulevard East for the fireworks ever again. This time, I went into the city just for the fireworks (business has been threadbare lately, with only two screenings within the last three weeks–Yikes!), and went all the way to the FDR drive by the edge of the East River. It was great.
Anyone else?
By the way, anyone know why, when I hit the “Preview” button, I don’t get a preview of my post, and can only see it when I hit the “Post” button, when it’s too late to change it?
While you on ‘that side of the pond’ were enjoying the 4th july Festivities, (in fact before most of you were probably awake because of time differences) i was watching Andy Roddick in the final of Wimbledon (his first one) – He lost, but had chances and could have won it – did anybody over there watch & cheer him on or did independence day take preference. ???
Yes, life is good when you can chant “Yankees Suck” and back it up by beating them. It was a nice Fourth of July present.
Immature? No one ever starts fights at these showdowns. Everyone acts like a good host. Compared to Red Sox-Yankees and Islanders-Rangers, these games are calm.
That said, I will gloat just a little over the improbable idea come true of a sweep. Not that it matters if the mets don’t do what they need to against the Phils and Marlins.
Luigi, we saw the tallest fireworks from our fifth floor bedroom window in Queens. From what I’ve seen in the past, this was clearly the biggest and best show yet.
Yeah, that’s what it sounded like listening to it on TV, like the “Let’s Go Yankees” and “Let’s Go Mets” were almost answering-calls rather than taunts. I didn’t think Friday’s game was that exciting but Saturday’s and yesterday’s were killer! I looked for you during the crowd shots but didn’t see you. 🙂
Robbie grabbed the binoculars and spotted Keith and Terri in the picnic area so we also called to heckle a couple of times. Had no idea where Peter and company were sitting so we left them alone.
Great game, very exciting and better than Deb predicted. She thought after the Red Sox series and the first two defeats the Yanks would be exhausted and both teams would play a sloppy game. One error each does not a sloppy game make. Instead, we watched tired arms in the bullpen and had a great deal of fun.
As long as the Mets don’t get used to winning through the longball, they have a chance. Being in second place a mere two games over .500 reminds me of the 1973 season.
I may still hold to the belief that baseball is an inherently boring game punctuated by short bursts of excitement, but it is always a pleasure to see you and yours Peter. FWIW that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen, and I always appreciate you thinking of us when you have spare tickets to a game. I always keep trying to watch sports, hoping one day it’ll click with me and I’ll see what all the fuss is about. All these intelligent people I know love sports, and hoards of people worldwide love them, so there has to be SOMETHING about them people love. Look at it as work related research 😉
I’m sorry Caroline wasn’t feeling well, and sorry I didn’t get to see her & Kathleen. However I cannot be too sad since I shall see you all at Shore Leave. Anyone who wants me, I’ll be at the pool building up my arm muscles by reading “Quicksilver”.
Brandy
You know, I find it amusing that Mets fans would be so complacent about an utterly irrelevant series. Then again, considering the Mets haven’t been 2 games over .500 since August of 2002, perhaps that’s something to at least be happy about. I mean, when was the last time the Mets were 7.5 games ahead in the NL East?
Although, it really does make the Red Sox look awful, when they can’t beat the Yankees once and a team just floating under .500 sweeps the Yankees.
So, there’s a true silver lining, even though the games were relatively meaningless from the Bronx perspective.
See you guys this weekend at Shore Leave.
Mr. David, I especially enjoy the fact that you brought your cute daughter, Ariel, to the game. You were obviously offering a fatherly demonstration of exactly how weird and creepy boys can be. (Comparatively, the gang you introduce her to at conventions are like milk and cookies.)
It is a father’s duty to teach his daughters wary respect for those strange creatures called men, and even allow them to recognize that their father is also one of those strange creatures. Congratulations.
(You could say that I hate my sex, but how could anyone hate anything that insignificant?)
I give a minor cheer for the Mets for sweeping the Yankees. Not that I care about the Mets, but more for the fact that I hate the Yankees. 🙂
Although, if there’s one thing that’s really irking me about baseball, it’s the scheduling.
Cubs? Six against the White Sox.
Cardinals? Six against the Royals and Mariners.
Yeah, that’s fair.
*sigh* And this TypeKey crap hasnt been fixed with regards to it posting our email addresses.
It seems to blatantly ignore our settings.
Great. If this keeps up, I’ll stop posting.
Not that I’m a Yankees fan (although my brother is), but I don’t understand why people would yell “Yankees suck” simply because they’re rooting for the Mets. The Yankees empirically do *not* suck; the statistics back that up. You may not like them, but give them credit for being a very decent team.
I guess “I don’t like the Yankees because their success ratio allows them to purchase the contracts of many of the best players in the game” is too long for a crowd chant.
Craig,
Try putting something in the URL field. I believe that’ll override things.
No, it’s not a great solution, but it’s certainly a workable one. I’d hate to see you leave.
TWL
Delighted to hear that you guys were at the game. Wish I could have been there myself.
It’s amusing watching Keith try to justify the loss on his LiveJournal.