As for many Mets fans, they are starting to lose patience with the 2011 Mets. Getting tickets to a Mets game (and I was only offered them the other day) is kind of like getting tickets to sail on the Titanic - after you already know it has hit an iceberg. Many people are going to decline the offer, but some of us might just slip on life jackets and take a chance. There is a good possibility (like in last night's game) that the team will find a way to lose, but it's hard to stay afloat with all that seawater rushing in.
I am not ready to give up on the Mets; in fact, I will never give up on the Mets. I will not - like many fans did in the mid-1990s - turn away from the team and become a Yankees fan. That mentality has nothing to do with being a fan but rather with being what Thomas Paine called a "summer soldier" or "sunshine patriot." Fans who gravitate to teams simply because they are winning do miss the whole concept of loyalty and fraternity, but that's another story.
So I am in no way giving up on the 2011 Mets, even if most of the time it seems they have given up on themselves. I will not shed any tears because that will not change anything; I will continue to watch the games and root for them because that's what real fans do. Sometimes it will be painful to watch, and I may switch the channels and watch golf, tennis, or even old episodes of M*A*S*H to give myself a break, but I'll go back and check on them soon enough.
Hang in there, true Mets fans, things will get better. Wright, Davis, and Santana are coming; yeah, I know, so is Christmas. I just hope we don't have to wait that long until they return.
Photo Credit: Collins-Daily News; Stengel- Sports Illustrated
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