Watching the Mets in the 2007 Season
From the depths of my subconscious mind, from the reservoir of my earliest memories, the following metaphor emerges for the 2007 Mets season:
When I was a kid, you could still see on TV these black-and-white cartoons from the 1930s. Anyone who has ever seen these cartoons (and you may have because Pee-Wee Herman showcased them on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse) knows that they are the best and most imaginative cartoons ever made.
Anyway, I seem to remember one cartoon in which a happy old man whose name I think was Grandpa Snazzy was driving a car up and down hills. The car was pretty rickety. It was not what anyone would consider a hi-class ve-hic-ule. But it bounced along happily, if not entirely smoothly. Then all of a sudden the car would stop and start, lurch and belch smoke, and then all kinds of things would get coughed up out of the engine and the radiator: cats, caps, polka-dotted underwear. Grandpa Snazzy would look distressed, but then, when enough things got coughed out, the car would calm down and start running smoothly again, or sort of smoothly. It always looked as if although it was moving forward now, it was only a matter of time before it started to act weird again. And sure enough, after some pleasant, happy driving by the pipe-smoking and humming Grandpa, the car would start lurching and stopping and starting again and there would be explosions and this time, out of the engine and radiator would come dogs and octopuses and Mahatma Gandhi. Then things would calm down again and Grandpa Snazzy would continue on his journey, singing and whistling, until the next time the car would decide to act up.
I don’t remember how the cartoon ended. Maybe he drove into a town where there was a fair and everybody cheered him and kissed him. Maybe the car leaped off the road after a big explosion and bounded down a hill and landed in the middle of somebody’s picnic table. I don’t remember.
Anyway, this is what the 2007 Mets season reminds me of.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:12 am
Dana,
I remember those cartoons too. After tonight’s game, I couldn’t agree with you more. I think the last time I was that upset was when the Mets lost game 7 of the NLCS last year. Tonight’s 9th inning fiasco should wake them up and make them mad as hell. They need to get the fire started if they want to stay in first place and not wind up like Grandpa Snazzy. I don’t remember how that cartoon ended either, but I hope Grandpa made it and didn’t get derailed! LOL! Of course you can rationalize it by saying it wasn’t meant to be and they might have lost in the bottom of the ninth, but at least they would have made it there.
What was Marlon Anderson thinking? I am sure he will get reamed by Willie. And what is wrong with Jose Reyes? This is not the time to go into a slump, and get picked off base? The good news is that Wright and Beltran are hitting and Delgado is starting to come around, but time is getting short. We need a long winning streak!
August 30th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I suppose it could be worse. The Mets 2007 season could have reminded you of the Ford “Ka-boom” Pinto. Instead, sounds like it reminds you of my old 1983 Bonneville (when I was driving it in 1995).
August 30th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Dana: 2 things
1) I guess we both got our wish for a meaningful Mets/Phils rivalry. And you know the expression “Be careful what you wish for …. you just might get it.” God is certainly ironic.
2) I am at least pleased that your car analogy is most akin to my old 1983 Bonneville (when I was driving it in 1995) rather than the Ford “KABOOM” Pinto.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:01 am
Sorry for the double posts. For some reason my first bad Pinto joke did not appear on the board when I checked back, leading me to think I forgot to actually post it. Strange (but my work computer was screwy today).
August 31st, 2007 at 2:11 am
Yes, JD. Now we have a meaningful Mets-Philly rivalry. How about that? I was driving a 1964 Volvo 240 in 1984. It worked fine until it just up and died.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
That’s because it was a Volvo. Old school Volvos are tanks. Whereas I think my 1983 Bonneville started acting up around 2 weeks after it came off the line.
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