My off-season of discontent.

You know when sports are as big a part of your life as they are mine you can experience the highest of highs. Like when Scott Norwood missed that field goal in Super Bowl XXV. That was one of the defining moments of my childhood; at that moment I wanted to be like LT. I wanted nothing more than to play for the New York Giants at that very moment. It can also give you the lowest of lows. I remember what it was like having to walk through the halls of Garden City High School trying to be proud of being a Mets fan but having to deal with all of the ass-hole Yankee fans, which didn’t even know anything about the Yankees team. Then in 2000 when the subway series took place and I had to hear it from them all over again. The Yanks won that series 4 games to 1. And because the games won total was so lopsided all the Yankee fans again said how they kicked our Asses, and how we sucked. That was a hell of a world series, very competitive to anyone who watched it. Most of the games were close and came down to the last few innings. So where am I going with this you may be asking yourself. Well as I tried to watch the Giants game today, the first thing I saw was Tiki Barber fumble… AGAIN!!! So I immediately turned the game off and tried to turn my attention to other sports. What about hockey I asked myself. Well i’m a Pittsburgh Penguin fan, and as of this moment we have 6 wins, 14 loses, 4 overtime games, and 1 win in those overtime games. In other words we suck, even with the greatest player of all time (and yes that does mean kiss my ass “Great One”). Well what about basketball. Hey I’m a Dallas Mavericks fan! We are 13-7, that’s good enough for 2nd place in their division. And they will surly make the playoffs! Well hold on there. 1st of all your love for a team is directly tied to how long you have liked them. So how long have I been a Mavs fan? About a year, not long enough to get really excited about them.
This brings me to my point of this article. Baseball. I love baseball; there isn’t anything I love more than a Sunday afternoon game at Shea stadium. The smell of the freshly cut grass, the sun shining, even the sound of the jets flying overhead. So I have the summer to look forward to, and I am looking forward to one thing most fans don’t look forward to, rebuilding. The Mets aren’t gonna be that good this year, as a matter of fact we are gonna suck. We have the wrong mix of young and old. The old on this team don’t seem the least bit interested in helping the new kids. The only person worth keeping is Al Leiter because he is a fan favorite and deserves to end his career here in New York. But I’m not hearing about last year’s rookie performances of Jae Weong Seo , Jason Phillips, or rookie phenom Jose Reyes. I don’t even get to hear about the energy that Jeff Duncan brought to this team. What do I hear about this off-season? Well I hear that the Mets are trying to sign Japanese shortstop Kazuo Matsui. As a Mets fan I can say this, we don’t need a shortstop. Reyes is gonna be there for years to come, and sure there is talk about moving him to second. Hey ok by me because I can’t have another season with Joe McEwing at second. So why am I complaining? Because I haven’t actually heard anything this off-season except about the chess match between the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Sox get Schilling so the Yanks get Sheffield and Vasquez. So the Sox are tryin to get A-Rod. So the Red Sox are considering taking on A-Rods 25 million a year and trading Manny Ramirez and paying as much as 10 million per season on his contract till it runs out. So they are gonna essentially pay 35 million a year for A-Rod and trade Manny and Nomar (reportedly to the Angels or Dodgers). So let me get this straight, they are gonna trade Manny and Nomar for A-Rod and end up not saving any money. Does anyone else see why Boston hasn’t won in a billion years? You know who has won, the Florida Marlins and the California Angels. Two of the best TEAMS. Not a hodge-podge of all-stars thrown together. I’m not sure why no one else sees the formula for winning in baseball these days. Don’t let them see you coming, end of story. Anyone want to hop on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays bandwagon now? Or maybe, just maybe this year is the Mets year, I mean who expects them to win next year? I sure as hell don’t. This is my article for the week. I know its no gut but it’s what I was feeling this week.