As Squawker Jon noted last week, we are going to Taxpayer Bailout Field – err, I mean Citi Field – on Saturday, April 4 to see the Mets vs. the Red Sox in an exhibition game.
This game is a huge dilemma for me, and it’s not that Jon has forbidden me from wearing Yankee gear to the game (as if I’m going to listen to him!) And that I’m liable to hear “Yankees bleep” before the first pitch is even thrown. I would expect nothing less.
No, my dilemma is about which team I should root for – or root against – more – the Mets or the Red Sox.
Despite their enmity in 1986, the two teams – and their fanbases – have a lot in common besides hating the Yankees and their fans, and having Pedro Martinez pitch for each of them. They also have no use for Roger Clemens (come to think of it, that’s something Yankee fans also have in common with Mets and Sox fans!)
The Mets and Sox each have annoying players, like Jose Reyes and Jonathan Papelbon. They also have mascots – Mr. Met and Wally the Green Monster – which many Yankee fans also find annoying (not me, though! I’m a little jealous that the Yanks never had a successful mascot – Dandy was an unmitigated disaster.)
There’s also the little brother syndrome each team is afflicted with, where everything they do is viewed through the prism of Big Brother Yankees. (Squawker Jon would agree with me calling Yankees Big Brother, as in “1984”!)
In 1986, I was thrilled to see the Mets beat the Red Sox in the World Series. But I’m not sure what I should do during next month’s game. Sit on my hands and stay neutral, like Switzerland? Boo both teams equally? Cheer the Mets, even though it means that Jon and I will be on the same side for once, which seems like that will violate some space-time continuum thingy? (Note – cheering for the Red Sox is not an option. Some lines just can never be crossed.)
Who should I root for – or against? Leave us a comment!
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