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As Much as It Hurts, Still You Gotta Believe Mets Fans

Filed Under: baseball, BLOG, Current Events, Family Life, Life in General, Nostalgia Tagged With: , ,

“There are few hurts in life as crushing as your favorite team losing a championship.” – Eli of Coach Daddy

I have let some time lapse since post season baseball ending before writing my thoughts down here.

See I am a Mets fan.

There I said it.

I grew up on the chants of “You Gotta Believe!” and “Let’s Go Mets Go”.

 

 

Still, there was a dark period where I fell in with the Yankees lovers and even found myself at a Yankees Ticker Tape Parade in downtown NYC during the late 1990s.

Yes, in my early twenties I was what my husband still reminds me every so often, a front runner.

But that is a story for a different day and have promised if I do share my reasoning behind that decision to give the exclusive interview to Eli.

However, for all intents and purposes, I have been and still a Mets fan despite that brief respite for over 30 plus years and somewhere even have baseball cards from the great ’86 Mets, plus a kids Jersey that I wore to home games back during that hailed time.  

On a side note, I tried that Jersey on (my mom actually kept it) and it still fits (a little snug, but still) as I am only a few inches taller and pretty narrow on top.

So this year truly brought back that spark and vigor from my youth, when the Mets were on top and the likes of Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden were Mets, not Yankees playing in the Fall classic in 1986 and won against the Boston Red Sox.

Earlier this past year, we even took our girls to their very first ever baseball game at Citi Field and they loved it so much that we keep getting asked every so often for a repeat performance.  

Mets-Game-Family-Photo
It was their first Mets Game this past year…

This only brought me back that much more, as I still will never forget my first baseball game only being a bit older than my oldest at Shea Stadium.

Then the post season arrived. Low and behold the Mets not only won their division, but the NLCS, too.

I priced tickets for the post season games and not going to lie as much as I love this team couldn’t justify the exorbitant price tag for these coveted seats.

So, I did what any fan would do and watched from the comfort of my home holding out hope by once again believing into the wee hours of the night for these games.

The Mets were on fire during those NLCS games and swept the Chicago Cubs in 4 straight forward and easy games.

The youthful, four pitchers in rotation seemed unbeatable, including Matt Harvey, aka The Black Knight and Noah Syndergaard aka Thor.

OK, so I may have been heard saying I think Thor is a bit of a hottie.  Sue me I am married, but not dead.  Trust me, I may look, but would never touch.  Still, I got a bit of a shock when I was told to look up his age and found out I was a junior in high school when he was born! 

This is the photo that shows up now each time, I get a text or call from my husband!

Still, my punishment for that statement came when I wasn’t looking and my husband programmed Thor’s picture on my phone to show up every time he texts or calls me now.  Fair is fair, I suppose!

But I digress and back to the NLCS games.

The MVP, Daniel Murphy, even broke a record for home runs batted in post season games.  The offense, in general, was on hitting streak.

Seriously, he and the team were a force to be reckoned with.

It appeared that nothing could stop them.

The stage was set.

And then the first pitch of the World Series silenced them and fans like myself with the in the park home run hit by the Kansas City Royals, Alcides Escobar.

Just like that the post season became real and also pretty hard to watch and swallow if you were a Mets fan from that point forward.

But I continued to watch as much as it hurt to through 14 innings for that game, plus the 4 more that followed with a brief interlude with the one winning game the Mets had in the series with Thor at the mound.

My own husband, even though a Mets fan, pretty much busted my chops for my reaction to how they played most of this series.

He even told me to write this article, because as much of a Mets’ fan as he is, he truly didn’t get it.  See according to him these guys get paid the big bucks and would still get those hefty paychecks even after losing.

So why should the lose matter or get under my skin – just a lowly fan?

I know I sound like a spoiled kid that is a bit of a sore loser, too.

Yes, at 38 years old, I pretty much had to turn off my TV once Game 5 went into extra innings, because I knew even still trying to believe that in my heart of hearts that the Mets would lose that game and ultimately have to watch the Royals party and whoop it up celebrating at Citi Field.

That alone was too painful of a thought and a memory I truly didn’t want to have etched in my brain.

But that is exactly what happened. To the victor, went the spoils.

So with that the series, the post season and this baseball season was over and outta here!

I woke up last Monday morning to that cold realization and as much as I hate to admit it, the plain simple truth is the Kansas City Royals were just the better team in this series and the Mets got outplayed by them.

It is what it is.

I also woke to Coach Daddy Eli’s response (the first line in this article) to one of my earlier comments on his article from a few days prior.

I read it and completely concurred then and days later, I still do.

Like I said to him, it is does get less as time goes by, but the residuals are still there. 

mets-game-may-2015
Can’t wait until next season with The Mets….

Still this year’s Mets team played one hell of a season for 2015 baseball even having lost the World Series and helped this Mets fan remember to believe again.

[Tweet “For all #Mets fans, you still gotta believe #LGM #UnfinishedBusiness “]

This season is definitely over, but there is also one silver lining in being a Mets’ fan. Spring training will be here before we know it to launch a new season with new dreams and hopes for me and all fans once again.

And with that, “You still gotta believe and let’s go Mets go!”

Signature 2015

About Janine

Janine is a published author of the books, The Mother of All Meltdowns and Only Trollops Shave Above the Knee. She has been featured on The Huffington Post, Mamapedia, Today Parenting Team and SheKnows. She also runs her own graphic design company at J9 Designs.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Seana Turner says

    Ah yes, e are loyal to our teams! I’m a Phillies fan, so no excitement for me this year. Sorry to say, my husband spent his impressionable years in Kansas City, so he was thrilled. What do we all have in common? We stick with our teams, no matter what:)

  2. eli@coachdaddy says

    When you enter into arenas of great promise, you accept the possibility of great sorrow. So it is with love, and baseball. I can still see Troy Tulowitzki watching the Red Sox celebrate a World Series sweet in Colorado. You can’t unsee such travesties – you can only hope to inflict them on another club. Next year, preferably.

  5. Jen says

    Oh your husband is awesome! Having that be his programmed picture is genius and something my husband would totally do too! Looking forward to spring training as well! We always try to take the kids out to a few practice games that happen here!

  6. Diane Roark says

    Janine,

    At least the Mets made it to the world series. We are big Atlanta Brave Fans. They looked ugly this year for sure!!!

    I love that you are a baseball fan. What a great way to make family memories to last a lifetime at a baseball park.
    Blessings,
    Diane

    • Janine says

      Diane, I still remember how classy the Braves were when I was a kid and they played the Mets at Shea Stadium, even signing autographs for us. So, I felt your pain reading your comment here today. Here’s hoping next year now.

  7. Jack says

    I thought this was going to be a repeat of ’88. My Dodgers would take out the lowly mets and win the whole thing.

    Damn, it should have happened, but it didn’t. That is the joy and pain of sports. Still, I wouldn’t ever give up on it all, way too much fun.

  9. Marilyn says

    My sisters and I are Met fans[also Baltimore Oriole fans,too.] We were so happy to see the Mets go almost the whole way. It will be a little less fun next season if the Mets do not sign Daniel Murphy ,he is our favorite player.
    LETS GO METS IN 2016!
    Marilyn and Family

  10. catherine gacad says

    my husband is a crazy mets fan!!! so i have been watching all the games. the world series was so painful! i’m not even a mets fan, but i was getting angry at all the mistakes that kept on happening. it drove me crazy.

  11. Bev says

    My dad and my sister were at that last game. They were so sad! My dad has been a Mets fan for a long time and I know this year was such a bummer for him. It’s hard to see your team come so close and have it all fall apart at the end!

  12. Tamara says

    My first baseball game ever was a Mets game. They won! I remember it well.
    You’re not going to believe this but I asked Cassidy last night who won the World Series. And he told me and also told me it happened ages ago. See how up on things I am?? (not)

    • Janine says

      Tamara, not going to lie when the Mets weren’t in it years’ past, I totally had a similar reaction as you did with not knowing when it had even ended and the actual outcome either.

  14. Dana says

    Sorry about your team, Janine – my team was out long before, so it was not an emotional experience for me! I enjoyed watching baseball as a kid, but I will admit I’m not really a fan anymore. Now we are a football family, although it’s not a good year to be a Ravens’ fan…

  15. Aunt Gloria says

    I am not a baseball fan but it was very exciting to have the Mets in the World Series. The atmosphere in NY was electric and it felt good to have something positive to root for! Sorry they didn’t make it…..there’s always next year, as we say to soothe the wounds. Your article here was great! xxoo

  17. Allie says

    Janine! I feel you, I do. I’m a Red Sox girl – remember that long dry spell we had?!?!?!? And the role the Mets played in 1986? Yeah. You’ll have your day again, I know it. All the sports casters are predicting the Mets will be back next year. Keep the faith!

  18. Terri says

    This was such a cute post. I am not a sports fan by any means, but my husband. is As I read this post, I smiled the whole time because it’s exactly how my husband feels- though he’s a Philadelphia sports fan. In a way, I am like your husband, because I like to point out to my Philadelphia fan that even if his team loses they’ll still be rich and it has no affect on us. But I guess, as a non sports fan I’ll never get it. I do agree however, that no matter how bad it may seem you must continue to believe.

  20. Chris Carter says

    Oh Janine, I had no idea what a baseball fan you were and with that- I must say how sorry I am that you had to forge through this end of the season loss! I love how you concluded the win with Kansas…
    “I woke up last Monday morning to that cold realization and as much as I hate to admit it, the plain simple truth is the Kansas City Royals were just the better team in this series and the Mets got outplayed by them.”

    Spring is around the bend, my friend! New hope awaits!!

  21. Gingi says

    I really wish I could get into sports.. I’ve tried, but I just can’t seem to get interested.. maybe I just need to give a live game a try sometime??? lol…. great post my friend!

  23. Kristen says

    LOVE this! And yes it’s hard to be a fan of any team, especially when they are so close!! And btw try interviewing those young kids every night – I feel So OLD!

  24. Leslie says

    So, I don’t know much about baseball…or the Mets, but I know what it’s like to have an emotional attachment to a losing team. For the last 13 years I’ve seen my husband hope that this would be the year for the Redskins, just to be disappointed in the end. Granted, some years weren’t too bad. But the bad ones were ugly. I feel for you! Here’s hoping for next season!

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