You are here: home > columns

Borough-Jumping

By Stefi Kaplan
Posted Monday, September 3, 2007

So after riding the emotional roller coaster these past two weeks, enduring more blown saves than we thought we’d see in a season, it seems like a good time for the bandwagon fans to jump ship. Sure, we’re still in the thick of a playoff race, but jump around on the Mets-related internet for five minutes and you’ll discover more than half of the vocal fan base is “done with this team” or “hopes they lose because they don’t deserve a championship this year.” Of course, after taking the series from the Braves, a few may come crawling back, but judging from how the Yankees have crept back into playoff contention, the bandwagon fans seem likely to disperse from Shea and borough-jump back to the Bronx.

Bandwagoners as a whole make it a bit more difficult to enjoy the games. We all know who these guys are: they started following the Mets in 2006, when the Mets were the most exciting team in baseball with the most exciting player in baseball. The 2006 Mets were an aberration – a team that glued together instantly, weathered every storm and smiled the whole way through. Who wouldn’t want to be on their side?

Enter borough-jumpers.

But from the rampant booing at Shea, which Professor Coop so eloquently discussed last week, to the trolling all over the blogosphere, it’s just impossible to find the real Mets fans these days. The problem with bandwagoners is that their expectations are so high that anything short of 162-0 is failure. Most fans are passionate, but the fair weather fans take this mentality to a whole new level.

And not to say that you have to live and die with every Mets game to be a “real” fan, because I don’t believe that’s true at all. Casual fans can enjoy the game just as much as true fanatics. But there’s a difference between a casual Mets fan and a borough-jumping bandwagoner. The latter is the guy that used to blindly put on a Yankees cap because they won a lot of games and recently dumped his Derek Jeter t-shirt for a David Wright t-shirt, because they are his two favorite “shortstops” in New York. But if David Wright has a bad game, the Jeter t-shirt is still in his top drawer just in case.

So 2007 came along and the team has returned to earth quite a bit. Despite consistently grasping to 1st place all season, the team has not been quite as exhilarating to watch. This year has been so up and down and the fans have had to endure some of the most despicable losses of the Mets era in the past few months.

Exit borough-jumpers?

You have to think that if this roller coaster continues much longer, the bandwagoners will look for an easier team to root for. Because that is the definition of a bandwagon fan – one who does not wish to endure the bad times and just jumps in for the victory celebrations. A few more weeks of erratic play and the bandwagoners might just borough-jump back to the Bronx. Which might be a relief to just about everyone in Metsland not named “Wilpon.”

Of course, the increase in fans isn’t all bad. I love seeing Shea packed for big games – the energy level has been incredible lately. And the bigger the fan base, the easier it is to see your team play. SNY events all over the city, tickets being given away at events, the Empire State Building in blue and orange, late night express trains from Shea on game nights...these are all a result of the increase in fans. (Now if only I could get NYSC to carry SNY...sorry, I won’t go there).

But, by and large, we hate these fans. They don’t care about the team and find any excuse to boo the players. It used to be that meeting a fellow Mets fan was like encountering an American in Zimbabwe...there was an instant camaraderie that came along with the years of losing and losing...an immediate bond over the sorry franchise. It seems that once your team starts winning, that bond disappears – there are so many Mets hats around that I almost feel like a poser wearing one these days.

Borough-jumping is an interesting phenomenon in this city, because it’s a bit strange that the Yankees and Mets never seem to enjoy success in the same season. Sure, they faced each other in the 2000 World Series, but I’m sorry, I don’t think the teams were even that year. For the most part, it seems that the teams alternate between success and mediocrity in a bizarre juxtapositional fashion.

Indeed, the subway series matchups this year are a microcosm of how these two teams coexist in the world. The Mets in May were a first place, playoff team that was destined to win the World Series this year. They faced a despondent Yankees team that couldn’t buy a win. A few short weeks later, the teams faced each other again, but the circumstances could not have been more different. The Mets were fully intertwined in a complete free-fall while the Yankees were coming off of 9 straight wins. A limited example of what has been true over the course of the Mets franchise – the Mets and Yankees are never at the top of their games at the same time.

So that explains the borough-jumping...it is unfair to expect a casual fan to pick a team and bleed its colors through good and bad. But while the bandwagoners have brought about productive change in Metsland, in the end I’d rather have them root for the Yankees and leave the seats open at Shea for me and my friends.

But I’m not so sure they will be going away so fast. Let’s face it, for much of their existence, the Mets have not been an easy team to root for. But things have changed for the Mets the past few years and 2006 cannot be undone. The standard for excellence has reached a whole new level in Flushing. This newfound success came amidst the temporary collapse of the Yankees, the perfect environment for a flood of borough-jumping.

Send ‘em on over to the Bronx, I say. They’ve served their purpose in Flushing and we don’t need them anymore. And now, with the Yankees gaining momentum and pushing themselves into the playoffs, there is a good chance that could happen.

But, for the first time, the Mets and Yankee could actually be pretty even. The Yankees certainly have some young talent that could spark the team for years to come, just like the Mets. So where do the borough-jumpers land? Only time will tell, but for the first time I actually find myself rooting for the Yankees in this case.

Related info:
Discuss In Our Lively Forums