If you were among the Giants fans on Friday night, as I was, I suspect the soundtrack in your living room was similar to the soundtrack in mine.
“#*#%##*^!!”
“*!*%#%*#!!”
“#*%##%*%%!!”
(And yes, I admit it. Nowadays, we're allowed to get closer and closer to actual swear words than we used to, but I still prefer the swear words in manga and anime. Call me old school.)
Saquon Barkley did it.
And here's the thing: It's OK to mourn Berkeley's passing. and It's a recognition that, overall, it was still the smartest move for the Giants. One reaction is instinctive. The other is objective. As a sports fan, it's perfectly reasonable to care about these things. But the two are not mutually exclusive.
Mets fans have been mulling over this same scenario for months now in case Pete Alonso ever parts ways in the future. On one hand, there's everything a true fan holds dear: the home-grown player, the one who grew into an All-Star with the Mets, the desire for that player to play his entire career with one team. All are strong. All are right. All are fair. All are the prerogatives and privileges of the fans.
For the team, it's always a little colder than that.
“Hard Knocks” shows how emotionally difficult it was for John Mara. The moment Barkley realized he wouldn't be with the Giants for lifeThat was entirely understandable: No owner around here is more openly a fan of his team than Mara, and the conflict on his face was the same as that of millions of others.
Steve Cohen may qualify as his team's second-most ardent fan, with an attachment to the Mets that dates back to the Polo Grounds in 1963. No matter what he thinks is the smartest business move, or what voices from other organizations try to sway him, when decision day comes for Alonso, the voice of a 13-year-old will be ringing in his head, and he'll likely react the same way if he plays for another team.
Mets fans feel all of this more deeply than most fans around here. And the reason is two names: Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver. The Mets got tired of waiting for Ryan to solve his blister problems, so Ryan won 295 of 324 games for teams other than the Mets, and in return got the benefit of a year and a half of Jim Fregosi. And then, of course, Seaver got ousted in 1977 because he didn't like his stingy boss, M. Donald Grant. So Mets fans watched Seaver pitch for Cincinnati at the end of his prime.
But sooner or later, it happens to every team. Yankees fans saw Dave Winfield hit a World Series-winning hit for the Blue Jays a few years after George Steinbrenner finally succeeded in getting him off the team, and they saw Dick Howser and Lou Piniella win championships as managers during a title-less run from 1978 to 1996. Islanders fans had to watch Bryan Trottier win his fifth and sixth Stanley Cups with the Penguins. Knicks fans were disappointed to see Bill Cartwright win three titles with the Bulls. Jets fans watched Jonathan Vilma win a championship as a key member of the Saints.
And Dr. J to the Sixers?
That is still very sad to me as a 10 year old.
There are many more.
And I know that's just the way things are in sports and not unique to New York (Cardinals fans, for example, weren't all that excited about Keith Hernandez in 1986, and it's hard to imagine Red Sox fans being overjoyed when Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens reached their peak with the Yankees), but that doesn't make it any easier.
It didn't make it any easier to watch Friday night when Barkley scored three times behind a talented offensive line and looked sharper than he ever did with the Giants. It didn't make it any easier to watch Alonso hit home runs next year in a Cubs, Giants or Astros uniform, if that all happens. After all, it never made it any easier to watch Seaver with the Reds, or Daniel Murphy with the Nationals.
But nobody promised us it would be easy, did they?
Vax Wax
I won't be making predictions about the Jets and Giants this year, but our shared hope is that Daniel Jones and Aaron Rodgers can both perform well for 17 games and 18 weeks. I know it's a long shot, but that's the least we can hope for.
We'll leave the predictions to the folks at Strat-O-Matic. They simulated a full NFL season with the Jets going 11-6 and finishing as AFC East champions and the No. 2 playoff seed, while the Giants went 6-11 and were the No. 3 playoff seed in the NFC East. In the simulation, the Jets lost 24-17 to No. 7 Kansas City (9-8) in the wild-card game. Dallas (12-5) beat the Chiefs 27-16 in the simulated Super Bowl 59.
Franco only pitched a third of an inning, but former Mets pitcher John Franco said his brief appearance against the Braves, his first game back after 9/11, is something he'll treasure forever. “9/11 was personal for me,” he said. “I lost some friends. I knew I was a part of history.”
I don't say this lightly: MLB Network's documentary “Greg Maddux: One of a Kind” is one of the most entertaining sports documentaries I've ever seen, so I urge you to sit down and watch it.
Counterattack against Vac
Matt Deakin: This is the Yankees. Outside of Judge and Soto, they're a low-energy team with a low-energy manager. A team like this never wins a championship. Let's hope it's not like that.
vacuum: I am still stubborn enough to believe that come October everything will be ruined and anything can happen.
Gary Siegel: Your father must have been a truly great man, and I too hate over-celebrations, so I’m glad you learned your lesson years ago and are sharing your father’s wisdom.
Vac: I mean, Mark Vientos hit a walk-off homer on Friday, had a great, excited reaction, and somehow didn't embarrass himself. Is that really a terrible standard?
thank you This Mets winning streak is feeling a bit like the 2002 Oakland Athletics… except hopefully it ends differently.
Mike Vack: If Barry Zito could move to Citi Field in 2002, that might help, too.
Richard LePetri: Even though Reid Garrett has been playing well recently, I think I’d feel more comfortable seeing Wayne Garrett jog in from the bullpen.
Vac: As always, the song remains the same: To be a Mets fan is to forever wait for the next disaster to occur.
