I'm Back to Being Normal...For Now

Magic Number: 7

Although Pedro was pitching last night...I chose happy hour (at a bar with the Mets on TV). That was as close to a night off as I could get. I didn't even turn it on when I got home and the rain had subsided. I couldn't do that to myself.

Today, which by the way I can't stand 3:55pm starts, Ollie P needed to be a big shot. With one eye on a presentation for work and the other wandering eye on baseball, I think I saw him be effective & come up huge. I wasn't seeing things...that was the real deal.

So 2 wins later, a bad attitude for all things Philadelphia, and Mets in moderation...the good news is I am starting to return to a normal human being. The Mets were doing bad things to me. They were making me a very angry, annoyed, unpleasant baseball fan. Along with that people were telling me I looked like the dog I don't have died. I was losing my sense of humor & I was convinced the world as I knew it must hate me. Welcome to being a Mets fan, circa 2007. This was not the season I've been waiting for, despite the word from Mets marketing.

The good news is I am going to be okay and so are all of you. The Mets have really tested our loyalty this season; but those who are true fans have earned their stripes in times that were ten times more terrible than this. The Mets may scratch and claw their way to the playoffs and we may have some bumps and bruises from the ride this year, but we need to look alive. They need us more than ever now. So do what you can to freshen up...head to happy hour, take a nap, go to the gym.

It always makes me sad when fall finally arrives. It is as bittersweet a time as I have each year. I love everything about a change in season, yet I dread the end of baseball season. I am usually exhausted at this time of year as I realize I'm far too emotionally invested in this team. Especially after a year of watching your team ride a rollercoaster. So as exciting as playoff baseball can be, I always have a hard time. It's a long season, that goes by too fast. Then before you can blink, October turns your team into the past, despite the glory or heartbreak that comes of it. I hate the uncertainty that October brings; with 162 games a fan knows that it doesn't matter how good or bad their team is, they'll be there 162 times. October does not guarantee tomorrow. There's the part of me that needs 4 months to find sanity and have my nights to myself again, but just like anything you know is good for you, I'd like to avoid the off-season more than asparagus.

8 more days of certainty, 8 more games, 8 more nights of wishing the Phillies would die already...soak it up everyone. Then we have to answer to October.