Monday, October 01, 2007

Sports Stuff

First the New York Mets. I have been a Mets fan since 1962 when I was 7 years old. I remember my Dad, an old Brooklyn Dodgers fan taking me to the Polo Grounds to see the Mets play. Even though the Yankees were across town, and even though they were the team with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, I pulled for the Mets. I remember such luminaries as Pumpsie Green and Chris Cannizzaro. Little Al Jackson was a fan favorite. The Mets were terrible, but fun.

1969, of course, changed things. Starting with the '60's the Mets have made the World Series once a decade and they win every other decade. This is the decade when they are supposed to win. They didn't even make the post-season this year----and you could see it coming. There was bad fielding. Strike outs at the worst possible time. The bullpen was dreadful and, frankly, Willie Randolph, who I do like, made some very questionable decisions. Right now the average Mets fan is angry. This is a team that blew too many games and shrugged it off. They had two series at home against the bottom of their division and won only one of those games. They were eliminated by the last place team in their division by losing 2 out of 3 games to the Florida Marlins.

Mets fans are angry, and frankly I believe that the New York Mets are going to have to confront the fact that they really let their fans down this year in a big way.

Ah, I always feel so much better when I vent.

Which brings me to the New York Giants. Donovan McNaab, I suspect, had visions of Osi Umenyiora in his sleep. He had 6 sacks. Mathias Kiwanuka had 3. (The Giants have their own Scrabble team!) McNaab, went out to dinner after the game and was sacked by one of the waitresses. Well, I might exaggerate a little.

I'd feel badly for the Eagles, but these are the hated Eagles.

I have to say that the Giants may be generating some optimism. (Of course, I'm an old Giants fan so optimism dies easily.) They lost their first two games to Dallas and Green Bay both of whom is perfect at this point. They played well against Washington and stopped a hot Eagle's team cold in its tracks. Osi Umenyiora had a totally dominant game. He had 6 sacks, but was always in McNaab's face, forcing the Eagles' QB to thrown too quickly or erratically. Lord help me, but Tom Coughlin is remaining calmer, not running around like a fool, and making rational game decisions.

They are 2 and 2. 14 more games to go. We'll see.

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