F.U.: A Way Of Life

By John Coppinger
Posted Friday, March 16, 2007

Hope you’ve all been enjoying the first few weeks of the curriculum here at Flushing University. otherwise known as “F.U.” Now I know what you students must be thinking, “Oh how clever and edgy, the Mets play in Flushing, and Flushing University can be shortened to F.U…how very droll, ha ha.” Well buck up, young student. Because F.U. isn’t just a clever marketing slogan just to get you to visit the website…oh no, my fine feathered friend. If you’re taking Mets 101 just to get an easy three credits, then you go on believing that. But if you’re here at Flushing University to truly make something of your life, then the main thing that you need to know is that F.U. is much, MUCH more than that.

F.U., you see, is a way of life for Mets fans. And you had better learn that early because that’s the way it is in the real world, where it’s dog eat dog and I’m not talking about hot dogs like Rickey Henderson. Life is nasty for a Mets fan when you realize that the only people that you can truly trust are yourselves. Let’s face it, we’re all we have out there. We’re never going to win in the court of public opinion when it comes to baseball. On the whole, our own city looks upon us as the small market goons with the paper mache apple and the “fandini” nights, while the rest of the country looks at the Mets as the big market conglomerate that callously throws around money.

And sometimes, it can seem as if we can’t even count on the support of our own kind. Darryl Strawberry almost steered clear of 1986 day over money after attending Yankee Old Timers day (although now he claims priority loyalty to the orange and blue). Mookie Wilson was caught on television wearing a Cardinals hat during the 2006 World Series. When the Cards raise their World Series banner in front of the Mets on April 1st, they’ll do so with none other than Keith Hernandez as part of the ceremonies. Now those are extreme cases that have special circumstances, but it proves that while we’ll have our share of bandwagon jumpers when the Mets return to prominence…the bandwagon will never get TOO big.

It’s a lesson I learned way back in 1984 when the Mets had their first good season in almost a decade. I was looking forward to the legions of support that the Mets would get from around the country, as the return of a downtrodden franchise would win the hearts and minds of America harkening back to the days of the Miracle Mets of 1969. Instead, we got a heaping serving of love for the cursed Cubs, with a side of indifference towards the Mets.

Turns out the Mets were lucky to get indifference. In 1988, the team from the small market known as Los Angeles seemingly had the whole country rally around them in their playoff series against the Mets. Mid-America practically did backflips when poor little St. Louis beat the heavily favored team from the large, impersonal, financial capital of the country. You would have thought we would get some of that love back in 2000 when the Mets faced the Yankees, the team everyone loves to hate…instead, you got what was at that time the lowest rated World Series ever.

Brett Myers hates us.

Steve Phillips hates us (picking the Mets to finish third after 97 wins last season), and he doesn’t even work for the Phillies (although he once played a Cubs GM on television). Heck, he used to work for us! Mike and the Mad Dog hate us, although at this point, who isn’t numb on their special brand of Novocaine? Heck, the Cardinals hate us enough to not only raise their banner on Opening Night, but then go ahead and have their ring ceremony two nights later, so that the Mets get to witness TWO ceremonies. No wonder Met fans get tagged sometimes as being “self-hating”. When everyone else is doing it, why be left out of the party?

But remember that when it’s all said and done, it’s important to stick together, remain true to the cause, and shut out all the haters. And if one of them (or a whole crowd of them) get on your nerves, just remember the old Ralph Kramden credo: “Pins and needles, needles and pins. A happy man is a man who grins.”

And if that doesn’t work, do what I do and give ‘em a mighty “F.U.”
 

For more harping and whining about why the whole world can’t just get along and root for the Mets, come visit the original http://metstradamus.blogspot.com and sing “Kumbaya” with me.