Hysteria, Thy Name is “Mets Coverage”

I love being a Met fan.

I love the ups (infrequent) and downs (all too familiar) of remaining true to the orange-and-blue. I’m fierce in my defense of them against all enemies, Bronxian, Cheesesteakesque, Fishy or otherwise. I enjoy hawking over them every day from March through October. Well, the BEGINNING of October, anyway. I love the colors, I love the history, I used to love the yearbooks before they did away with any verbiage, I love the humanity and humility of this franchise.

Lately, however, they’ve been portrayed as only all TOO human in the vaunted “mainstream media” – the MSM, to be short. I can never remember a time when there has been so much vitriol hurled Queensward as these past 3 years. No move can be made, no phrase uttered, no decision rendered by the Mets which isn’t howled at and ridiculed by the beloved MSM.

The POST – in which no respectable fish would ever find itself wrapped – announces the starting second baseman before Terry Collins decides who it will be. The BERGEN RECORD, that bastion of medical journalism, has a better feel of Johan Santana’s shoulder than Santana, himself: pretty neat trick, that. NEWSDAY says the Mets have absolutely zero chance of making the playoffs. Thank you, Mr. Nostradamus Davidoff. There’s no such thing as good Met news, seemingly.

Yes, there’s a lot to mock about the team, the ownership, the ballpark, parts of the fan base. Yes, I understand the contrast with the splurging and success that occurs across town and that that reflected glare is most unflattering. But EVERYTHING? Really? If you read nothing but the local papers and listened to nothing but sports talk radio, you’d think this team didn’t even know how to tie its own shoes and ran to third after hitting the ball. These guys are still professionals. They still know how to play this game and what it takes to succeed at it better than any writer, blogger or fan ever will. This is still a team with some talent. This is still a team with David Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Angel Pagan, Francisco Rodriguez, Jose Reyes (for now) Johan Santana (for later) and Carlos Beltran (possibly).

But as the old saw goes, never let the facts get in the way of the narrative.