The Brooklyn Trolley Blogger: Welcome To 2010 Everyone!! First Things' First..I promised you.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Welcome To 2010 Everyone!! First Things' First..I promised you.

I trust everyone in the BloggerHood is safe and home and doing well, and is ready to take on 2010 after partying away '09. You should be awake by now. C'mon.

OK? Good! Now the sarcasm can flow more freely. I guess this is fair warning because it seems anytime I start talking about the Yankees, even though I'm very fair, I just can't help myself and usually take a shot or two at'em. Don't wooorry Bomber fans. This isn't the posting you need to worry about. This one is nicey-nice.

THIS WHOLE METS-YANKEES-REDSOX THING I HAVE GOING ON:

It's really very simple. From birth I must have been encoded to be a Mets fan. There was never any doubt. How it happened? I have no idea. My PoP was a Yankees fan. Being what it was, he took me to an equal amount of Yankee games and Met games at Shea. So, one afternoon after school I was home doing homework. My Pop called home and told my sister to have me ready to go at 5pm or so, but for what I had no idea. I just knew we'd be outside. Later that night, in the bottom of the 9th inning, I watched Chris Chambliss' HR drop out of the sky and the Yankees won the ALCS of 1976. I was 9 yrs old. I'm sure you've seen the footage by now of that insane scene that ensued. Ladies and gentlemen, till this day that was the sickest, most incredible night I ever had at a ballgame.

I really didn't hate the Yankees yet, but they sure weren't my team. However I've always watched them just as intently as I do the Mets. I never missed a Reggie Jackson at-bat, how could you not love Munson and Guidry was class. But by 1977 and '78, I knew my future lay in antagonizing their fans because they had truly become "the Bronx Zoo". To me, The Yankees are like having that brother you don't always get along with, but never loose your sense of connectedness with. I appreciate their long storied and glorious history. I'm a baseball fan. I actually consider myself a better Yankee fan that half of these zeroes slithering around our city streets who call themselves Yankee fans. Because of the Chambliss game, I do have that one small spot for them in my heart. But I warn you, it's small. Anyway, as it stands today, I revel in Yankee folly. I love to antagonized the hell out of their fan base, because as a New Yorker, I know how to get under their skin better. It's just certain fans that earn my ire. Otherwise, honestly, I don't hate them. As a New Yorker, I'm damn glad to have 'em around. All that other nonsense about being cross town rivals is for another day.

By 1977 and '78 I came to understand the Red Sox were their biggest rival. I wanted them to win the '75 world series because as a Mets fan, I hated the REDS. I was leaning by this time. It happened very naturally. I ran home from school to watch the A.L. East one game playoff between the Yanks and Sox in the infamous Bucky "f'n" Dent game of 1978. Once the Sox went up on a Carl Yastrzemski homerun early in the game, I was hooked as a Red Sox fan ever since. YAZ always remained one of my most favorite players of all time! Oddly enough, so did Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. That Big Red Machine was an insane team. I didn't like them, both those two players made an indelible impression on me though, just like Yaz.

There, that's it. I don't hate Bucky Dent like Bostonians. I didn't feel for Buckner what Bostonians felt, (Bostonians and greater New England, sorry folks) because after all I am a Mets fan. There is no internal conflict should the Mets and Sox face off. I compartmentalize. I don't claim 2004 means as much to me as it did to New Englanders, but DAMN! - that was sweet. I would never insult you fine N.Englanders that way. Outside of NY, I truley love New England and the enemy of my enemy is my friend! But, in respect to RedSoxNation, I really like them a lot! I've been going to Fenway one to three times a year, on average, since 1993. I do my best to represent theNATION when ever they come to NYC and keep SoxNation kickin' in Brooklyn. I wear my SOX stuff to Yankee Stadium all the time! When they find out I'm a NY'er just like them...LOL - You should hear their tones change! LOL!! It's a gas!

My PoP was a Yankee fan. My 19 yr old son is a Yankee fan. My wonderful wife is a Yankee fan. It makes for a fun time at the dinner table to say the least. I still take my son to as many Yankee games as I do dragging him to Mets games. At 19, the kid is an utter panic (that's a good thing) and I'm enjoying the hell out of going to games together.

There it is folks and here I am today. A die hard Mets fan who likes the Red Sox who, just as long as they're not playing the Mets or Sox, will go to Yankee Stadium and root for the Yanks....sometimes...it depends. Sometimes as the game plays out it's more fun to root against them just for fun. I hope this doesn't make me a METroSOXual. That doesn't even sound right (note to self...delete that now!) Here's another bone Yankee fans. The 1995 playoffs were again, some of the best times I've had in all of baseball. I was pulling for Donnie Baseball....OK?