You Have To Be Kidding Me

By Taryn "Coop" Cooper
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Divorce? Open letters to prove their allegiance to new teams? Yankees fans agreeing to go to Mets games and buying a Mets hat…”just in case?” Have things become that bad for Yankees fans?

I hate to say it is true, but ‘tis, my dears. Jane Heller penned a letter to the New York Yankees on Sunday, in effect “divorcing” herself from the team.

This is nothing new but perhaps a trend occurring in baseball fandom. About a year back, for example, I read a story about local brothers who sent open letters to all the teams comprising Major League Baseball, asking them to “prove” why they should be their fan. The postscript to that story was, one brother became a Chicago White Sox fan because they gave him a bunch of reasons (including lots of free toys) to bring him over to their side.

The Yankees, ironically getting divorced by one fan over the weekend, did not bother to answer a potential fan. I guess they figured that they have “enough” already.

Oh and the Yankee fan I refer to is my cousin. I invited him to a game, and he – a self-proclaimed Yankee lifer – bought a Mets hat to wear (too bad he doesn’t realize it’s cap day already…).

The point to this preamble is that like many of the constituents here at Flushing University, I am a lifelong Mets fan. I remember my father bringing me over to the good guys’ side back in 1983, when he was excited about some guy named “Keith” joining the team. I was 7 years old, but excited to be able to share something with Dad.

Although the Mets were decent (and even won a World Championship!) those days, in order to get the true Mets fan experience I had to hear about the down years, when “The Franchise” got traded and Dad cried in front of the nightly news as the press conference was being held. I also watched “An Amazing Era” about 500 times, to educate myself on what the down years were like, not knowing that being a Mets fan would constitute just that…more sadness than joy, disappointment than satisfaction, more ennui than excitement.

Of course, life is goooooooooood for Mets fans right now. We are in first place by four games, beating on the “good” teams like the Brewers and taking a series from the Yankees (of course, not beating the Braves…but that will come soon). We are on track to having a better record at the end of May this year than last year.

But let’s say we had a flashback to the Art Howe era…Would we ever consider changing allegiances or worse yet, “divorce” ourselves from the team? I think the answer for most Mets fans is a resounding NO!

The greatest part about years like 2006 and times like now is that…we stuck around for so long, the wins actually mean something to us as fans. The blood, sweat and tears we put into being a Mets fan are ALL becoming worth it, the butt of the jokes we had to endure, the hope we feel on every Opening Day because the team is in first place…it’s not futile anymore. We did all THAT to get to THIS point!

Look no further than Red Sox or Cubs fans. Red Sox fans had to wait 86 years before they won a World Series, and Cubs fans are waiting 90+ years and still counting. Yet, you speak to these fans and listen to them, you know they are just like you and me. They go to every Opening Day with HOPE. You can relate to them because they never had it easy and you know they will appreciate the good times because they went through the bad times.

I think Yankees fans divorcing themselves from their team is pure poetry. They are nothing more than what we suspected all along…they are rats in a sinking ship.

I’m not saying that the Yankees are going falter all year. I think we’d ALL be fools to think that way. But their fans are already believing that they will, so eventually the team might give up too.

But with Jane Heller divorcing herself, former fans becoming White Sox fans because they appreciate the inquiry, lifelong fans donning Mets caps…it makes me realize one thing.

That if Yankee fans had to endure what we as Mets fans had to over the years, what Red Sox fans had to until 2004, and what Cubs fan do to this day…they’d have given up a long time ago. In a way, I think they are jealous of us for having the heart to do that.

And that, my friends, is no true fan. Even a true fan sticks around during the bad times. It is what makes the good times so great.

The Yankees fans have had it so good, I think they need a bit of humble pie to bring them down to earth.

But divorce? Wearing Mets caps?

You have to be kidding me.