Unfortunatley history seems to have repeated itself

The disclaimer in the financial industry is: past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Unfortunately, this statement seems to be all too true when it comes to the Mets. The past few months, the epic collapse of 2007 was in the back of every Mets fans’ mind. With the lack of emotion and offensive output, as well as the ever deteriorating bullpen, it was hard to push the memories of last season out of my mind. The ups and downs of the past two months have tugged at the heart strings of all the faithful Met followers. This off season is going to be long and painful for the current Mets squad; and it should be. Their lack of effort and enthusiasm directly correlated to the second demise of the Mets in two years. While I agree that a better offensive output needed to be demonstrated, the bullpen was ultimately the demise of this team. Even when the Mets were putting up 8-10 runs on the board, inevitably the bullpen allowed the opposition to come back. It doesn’t matter how many points the offense scores if the defense can’t stop anybody. If you put on 20 runs but you let the opposing team put up 21, then you still lose. It’s going to be a long off season. Let’s hope that everyone involved in the Mets organization uses it to their advantage to stop the bleeding and patch up the wounds of this team once and for all.

My last game at Shea

I was at Shea stadium for the last time last night. It was so weird to walk away from the place on my way out of the disastrous loss to the Cubs. I realize that I didn’t grow up in New York and don’t have memories of being led into the stadium as a little tyke like I do of Three Rivers Stadium, but in my three and a half years as a New Yorker I have grown to love that dump. I grew up in Pittsburgh and Shea reminds me of the concrete columned, no frills stadiums that were prevalent in baseball up until the 2000’s; the stadiums that I grew up going to and watching on TV. At that time, the point of going to the stadium was to watch the game. Now there are increased luxury boxes, fan interactive experiences and gourmet food stands. From a business perspective, I realize the need to adapt to the times and I am excited to see games at Citi Field next year, but, at the same time, it’s sad to see the end of an era.

In my short time in New York, I ended up going to my fair share of games at Shea but in that time I have compiled my own list of memories from the places. Among them:
-Opening Day 2006 when we had nosebleed seats and a bunch of drunk goombas started fighting in the upper deck and one of them fell creating a domino effect which ended with my friend face first three rows in front of where our seats were. I will never forget the look on her first when she finally landed and looked up at me, beer everywhere personal belongings spread all over the section.
-Pedro’s first home game of the 2006 season when he hit three batters. He got a hit himself that night and, despite the frigid temperature I couldn’t help but crack up watching him dance around second base like a little kid.
-The Orioles/Mets interleague game when I scored sweet seats from work and was close enough to first base to see the eye black on Brian Roberts.
-Running into Cole Hamels on the subway after the Mets/Phillies games in July.
-Taking the LIRR to the game and laughing so hard because the train was packed and we were trying to drink our beers while pressed into some random guys’ back.

I also won’t forget the corn dogs, Miller Lite’s, the cowbell man or the 7 train home. Shea, according to the city of New York, you’re not as nostalgic as the House that Ruth built, but I sure will miss you.

D-Day

This is it, we're playing for all the marbles tonight. The National Championship has officially met September. This could mean either the beginning of a National Championship run or the end of our season. I'm not going to lie, I'm on edge. The last few "big games" didn't bode well for the Buckeyes. And, coming off our pitiful performance last week, I think that my uneasiness heading into this game is understandable. I know that the Buckeyes are capable of beating this USC team, I just hope that last week gave them the kicck inthe pants that they needed in order to get 100% ready for tonight. I would like to once and for all silence all of the Pete Carroll/USC lovers and all of the Buckeye haters.

It's go time. 9 hours and counting...