On Thursday, Nate will attend his first NY Mets baseball game. He has his Mets jersey hanging on a hook in his bedroom where he can view it every day until 'the big day'. He wore it to demonstrate his piching and catching prowess last week when we were in CT. Will was born during the playoffs in 2006 and Nate and his dad spent special bonding time watching b-ball while Mom was in the hospital. Peter is passing on his love and lifelong devotion to his team. Other family members say he is introducing Nate to a lifetime of disappointment.
What is it about a sports fan, whatever your choice of sport or team, that makes you continue to hope, year after losing year, for the big win? The Superbowl..the World Series..the Stanley Cup...whatever? Each and every year you remember the winning years and sweep away the losers. It must be akin to starting with a clean slate. Where else can you erase the outright errors and idiocy of the previous season and begin anew with the excitement and hope of an new opportunity? Everything else in life should be this way. It is, amongst lots of other lessons, one of the greatest that sports teaches us.
I say...let Nate have his day. I hope the Mets win (This is easier said aloud when they are not playing the Yankees.) M-E-T-S METS! METS! METS!
5 comments:
Really nice words. Thank you.
The concept of the second chance is uniquely tied to rooting for a team. The emotional highs and lows are what brings us back year after year. I relish the opportunity to celebrate and commiserate with my sons in the coming years. It will always tie us together. Nate already picks on Will by calling him a Yankee fan. I told Nate, "that's not funny...if your brother expects to live in this house then he will be a Met fan." Thursday is just the start of this tradition. We will be sure to post pictures as this is a big day in our family. No offense to yankee fans, but I just wasn't raised to root for the team from the bronx. It is a result of my father emigrating from Italy to Brooklyn. Where the Dodgers were the only team that mattered. Oh, by the way, I will be at Yankee Stadium to see my Metsies take on the Yankees at the Stadium. I haven't been to yankee stadium in nearly 20 years. My sister got tickets from a client(I would never pay to go to yankee stadium). I see this as opportunity to see yankee stadium one last time before they knock it down. I might even stroll through the dead guys in the outfield...yeah right!?!
Lets Go METS!
Nate calling Will a Yankee fan to tease him is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. That is a crack-up!
Yes, you guys have plenty of sadness coming your way, but as a Jetties fan, I know that there is a bit more joy when you actually win, when you actually have a chance, than when you win all the time.
Say goodbye to Yankee stadium for me. I have a lot of great memories of watching the old boys there, with the family gathered around the TV. Greg Nettles, Micky Rivers, Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter...My first ball glove was emblazoned with Catfish Hunter's "signature." I don't know, Heath, you just don't forget stuff like that. I can't explain it.
L-
-P
Do you know what is really ironic?
Pete is going to a game at Yankee Stadium in the last year and he will be THE ONLY ONE from the family that will have that honor.
So,as, Peggy says," Say Good Bye
For all us Yankee fans"
Ya know, after reading Peggy and Grammy's comments, I will take some time for the Wilbur clan and show Yankee Stadium its proper respect. I know I joked about strolling through the dead guys in the outfield. But, I think I will take the time to stroll through monument park(or whatever its called) and pay tribute to the Babe, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Munson and all the other great Yankees of yesteryear. Sometimes as a fervent baseball fan, you lose sight that these teams represent more than just swollen payrolls and bloated egos. But, they represent a lifetime of memories for many people. Therefore, I will be sure to honor that as the lone representative from this family going to Yankee Stadium in its final year. I just hope the yankee fans that see me in Mets gear understand that I am attempting to honor the memories of past yankee teams while they are yelling @$$hole at me.
Even though I am not a yankee fan, I still have great memories of listening to that awful drone of the scooter shouting holy cow! I can't get that image of sweet Lou wearing his hat proposterously situated on the top his head. The scrappiness of Nettles and the one hit wonder pretty boy Dent next to him at short. And, who could forget George Brett raging out of the dugout as his home run was discounted due to his pine tar being too high on his bat..unreal stuff. I always admired Donny baseball for his beautiful stroke and clear passion for the game. And...I guess I must admit that their is something mystical about Jeter striding to the plate with a runner in scoring position and the game on the line. Knowing that he will get the job done. I still hate the yankees, because thats all we know as hopelessly inferior Mets fans. But, on Friday, I will choose to be a baseball fan as well as being a Met fan.
P
OK, Pete. You're back in the will !!!
Post a Comment