Flushing's Schadenfreude

If you're a Mets fan, right now you're sitting at the edge of the baseball version of the perfect storm. Yankees to the left of you, Phillies to the right, and here you are, stuck in the middle with a plate full of gotchas. Faced with the overbearing conundrum of "if I'm going to watch, what do I wish for?", what's a fan to do? If all goes at it now appears it probably will, Flushing's Faithful are facing a sports apocalypse. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Back the boys from the Bronx because their winning beats down the Mets' division rivals and primary taunters? Back the Phillies in the hope the Mets' cross-town rivals and fan base are denied Big Apple bragging rights? If you're a believer that the season lasts until someone's won 4 in the Grande Finale, choosing to watch "Dancing with the Stars" simply isn't an option - you've gotta make a choice.

I'm proposing one based on geography. For Mets fans within the confines of New York, it seems that the lesser of two evils is to stand behind the Phillies. Why? Beginning next season, will there be any real significant change to the landscape fans realize? Whether a division rival is a single season or double season champ really has no great bearing on how a Mets fan experiences his or her season. But a Mets fan in New York becomes a second citizen when the Yankees win, not just next season, but each and every day between now and then. Whether 2 banners hang in Philly doesn't matter, but 28 hanging in the Bronx will forever be cause for a taunt.

What if you're a Mets fan out of the confines of NYC? Go for it, I say. Scream and holler for the Yankees as much as you want. You don't have to live with the consequences of a Yankee win on a daily basis, and if you're looking to simply support a New York team, so be it.

Come next year, it'll be a whole new ballgame, literally and figuratively. For Mets fans, what matters is whether they can fulfill a promise they've been hanging in front of us for 4 years. If that can't be done, whoever comes home with the ring in the end really doesn't matter.