Eric Silverstadt, a lifelong New York Mets fan, has boiled the mystery of being a fan of New York's second favorite baseball team into a single paragraph in Sunday's New York Times:
It's now April in New York, and I will attend tomorrow's home opener with great hope and anticipation. If Reyes, Mike and Cliff stay healthy; if Looper, Cameron and Kaz deliver as advertised; and if Wigginton, Phillips and Yates emerge as bona fide big-leaguers, perhaps the Mets will surprise the naysayers. This includes the one hidden deep inside my head, the Met demon of denial who constantly wrestles with the Met angel. It's spring. I can't resist. Let's go, Mets!
It's been 40 years since the Mets home in Queens, Shea Stadium, opened to awe-struck crowds (at the time, it had the biggest scoreboard in the world, and was the only multi-purpose stadium that could host both baseball and football), and the internal debate rending apart Mets fans has remained essentially the same.
UPDATE: After jumping out to a 9-0 lead over the Braves, the Mets hung on for a 10-6 win. Click here for the happy recap. I would have loved to have seen this moment before the game:
The Mets honored New York's 1969-70 championship teams before the game. Ceremonial first pitches were thrown by former Mets Tom Seaver and Jerry Grote, Knicks greats Walt Frazier and Willis Reed, and ex-Jets running back Emerson Boozer.
I only went to Opening Day at Shea twice, the first a rather unmemorable win in 1982 over the Phillies and Steve Carlton. But the second was definitely something else, as my father took me out in 1983 for the return of Tom Seaver to New York. That day, the Mets victimized Carlton again, as Seaver pitched six shutout innings, but didn't get the decision. But on that day, Seaver won by just walking from the Mets bullpen in right to one of the greatest ovations I was ever part of.
