New York Metropolitans

My sojourn to the Netherlands begins with several days in Gotham City. Yesterday included a trip to Shea Stadium. Shea has a terrible reputation. It is usually described as a concrete sore that happens to house baseball games. This characterization is unfair. Sure, Shea is not Yankee Stadium. It has not been around since 1927; Howard Johnson and Keith Hernandez are not Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio; the Mets have only one World Championship; I understand why the Mets get so little respect. My trip to Shea may have been atypical but I saw everything that baseball should be about. Shea does not have a roller coaster, American Idol competition, or full service gas station within its walls. There is nothing to do but drink beer, eat hot dogs and watch baseball. And, this is what baseball deserves, especially the level of baseball being played by this incarnation of the New York Metropolitans.

Our "actual" seats were not very good. Our view was obstructed by the above level and the fans around us were fairly tame. We decided to move to the upper deck in the 4th inning. No sooner had we sat down than the only Marlins fan on the planet started waving a Marlins towel and yelling at the Mets faithful. This steroid monkey took exception to the Mets fans incessant jeering and started challenging the entire stadium to a fight. Some Metropolitan started the chant of "ass hole" which prompted 'roid monkey to rip off his shirt and rage. His buddy tried to settle him down but if you are not with 'roid monkey, you are against him. Monkey shoved his buddy and then stomped on his seat causing the Metropolitan fans to mock, "ooh", in unison. Security finally escorted him out and a newly energized upper deck started a wave. As a rule, I do not participate in the wave but these people were having so much fun (and were so likely to take my apathy as hatred for the Mets) that I had to oblige. We all did the wave and then booed the other side of the stadium for not carrying it on.