Mets Fans as Masochists Part 2

The other night, hubby and I managed to sneak out to the movies (thanks to our girl watching the boy). Halfway through, my phone rings. It's a client in crisis. I spent some time talking to her before advising her to go to the ER. Never an easy thing to recommend; the psych ERs in our area are less than stellar. In this case, there was no choice. So, upset and worried, I got into the car with hubby for the ride home. He puts on the radio (which is usually tuned to sports station WFAN) and we proceed to hear all about the Mets' tough loss earlier that night. My mood went from upset and worried to positively black. Any sane person would've turned off the radio at this point, right? Forget all about it, get on with life. We're Mets fans, though, and sane does not apply. We had to listen to all that went wrong during the game, analyze what Jerry did wrong, moan about the lack of clutch hitting (same old story). We allowed ourselves to wallow in the torture of the Mets season thus far, which is basically the same as seasons past - the talent is there, but is not performing up to expectations.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we are Mets fans, that's why. It's what we do. Arrugghhh...
Till next time!

Autism Awareness Day at Citifield

Obviously, this thrills me beyond words. The Mets are celebrating Autism Awareness Day at Citifield next Saturday, May 8, as they do every year. We have never gone, due to the logistics in getting to a game, but this year I made it a birthday request (my big day is May 7. No, don't ask my age). There is no way our boy could accompany us, as the noise and crowds would be extremely overwhelming to him. Maybe someday...

The Mets have been extremely generous to the Autism community over the past few years, in terms of giving various schools and organizations free tickets, which those organizations could then sell, and keep the proceeds. Our school, Eden II Programs, has benefited, and also makes it a point to send a contigent of 100+ staffers, students and parents. We chose to purchase our own tickets as we are picky about our seats (yeah, I know, we're snobs) instead of sitting with the school, but we were able to chose to pay a higher group ticket price with a portion going back to the school.

So we will be there sporting our matching MickeyMets jerseys (what, too geeky??) and our autism ribbon pins. Follow the link above to order your own tix. Come on, you know you want to.

See you there!!

Birthday Brunches and Big Green Men

Twice a year, our family gets together for a group birthday party. Half of us celebrate in the spring, the other half in the fall. Works out well, actually, as distance and busy schedules keep us from gathering more frequently. Today was the day our family celebrated for the spring chickens, which meant that I broke out the OJ and hosted a brunch (even though I am one of the birthday chickens!). I've discussed my cooking issues before but have found brunch to be an easy one. Hard to mess up pancakes and bacon! I even attempted a banana bread which turned out surprisingly well.

Best part of the day: For my birthday, I received tickets for not one but two Mets games! So we will be storming Citifield after all...despite hubby's anger at the Wilpons.


As for the Big Green Men, hubby's ultra-competitive, uber-serious men's fastpitch softball team, the season has begun. Which means good-bye to him every other weekend till September. Kinda makes me feel like the wife of a major league manager. 'Cept without the money. And fame. Or any other perks, for that matter (although I do get the appreciation of young New Zealand & Canadian players who crash on my couch from time to time, while awaiting flights out of Newark). For those who know us, you know this ain't no beer league, and the cost for this team, in both time and money, is significant (thank God for sponsors!). Just call hubby the George Steinbrenner of fastpitch. As for the Big Green Men moniker, the origins are top-secret. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

So this one's for you, my dear: Go Gremlins! No, really. Go. Podunk, Pennsylvania awaits you.

Till next time!!

Mets Fans as Masochists

The good news... Today is the first day of actual baseball at Mets spring training. The bad news, see previous.

Back in October, I was talking World Series with a co-worker and our supervisor. Both are Yankee fans (of course!) and when I expressed my pain at the whole event they both looked at me with equal parts horror and pity. Oh dear, a Mets fan! My supervisor, a most brilliant clinician and renowned therapist, immediately offered up this nugget: Are Mets fans masochists? Cause why else would you root for a team that always loses?

Good question. Why do we do it?

A quick survey of the Mets blogosphere and twitterworld reveals this fact: Most of us were born this way. We were taught that rooting for the Mets was what one did as a baseball fan. Our parents (well, fathers, mostly) were fans; our uncles, our favorite teacher, the guy down the street. Yankee fans were probably brought up the same way (except those that jumped on the WS bandwagon). We're adults now, however. Why not switch allegiances? Wouldn't it be easier? As @HappyRecap puts it, "Why I remain (a Mets fan) is still a question". Are we addicted to the agony of being disappointed year after year?

A masochist is defined as someone who "chooses people and situations that lead to disappointment, failure and/or mistreatment..." Hmmm, sound familiar? We could debate this endlessly, and in fact, it may be a good subject for a research paper (are you listening, professional student and published scholar brother of mine?) "The Sociological Masochism of Mets Fans". Has academic potential, don't you think?

OK. So whatever the reason, here we are again. Spring is around the corner, baseball is under way, and we are once again filled with hope, despite all logic. My consolation thought is this:

We could be Cubs fans.

Till next time!