Forgive me if the answer to this question is completely obvious to you and makes me appear to be obtuse and uninformed for even asking this…

But why do so many people hate the Mets? It doesn’t appear to be just rival teams’ fans who feel this way and I’m curious as to why this is. Some examples:

1. Following their victory over the Mets in the 2006 NLCS, the Cardinals celebrate in their locker room by chanting “Jose, Jose, Jose” - the same chant heard at Shea Stadium cheering on Jose Reyes.
2. In late September while the Mets, Phillies and Brewers were battling it out for playoff berths, there were reports coming out of the Braves locker room that the Atlanta players were openly mocking and cheering against the Mets.
3. Prior to what turned out to be the final series of the 2008 season for both the Mets and Marlins, Florida’s first baseman (and former Met) Mike Jacobs said regarding how the Marlins had effectively played spolier in 2007: “It was pretty amazing going from how loud that stadium could be to you could hear a pin drop after that game was over. I remember hearing some of the guys saying they saw fans who were crying.”
4. Following the final game at Shea that saw the Marlins – for the second year in a row – eliminate the Mets from playoff contention, the Marlins celebrated on the field, lingering on the diamond for a much longer period of time than usual, prompting Mets fans to yell “Get off the field” for at least two minutes before they finally did.
5. During game 2 of the NLDS, the Phillies’ Shane Victorino hit a grand slam. While rounding first, Victorino raised one finger in the air in celebration. Which is all well and good, except for the fact that back in July, Jose Reyes had done the same thing against the Phillies. And they were pissed. Phillies’ radio personality Larry Anderson went so far as to say “somebody oughta put one in his neck” on air. Prior to the start of Game 3, Victorino walked into the Phils clubhouse to find that his name above his locker had been changed to “J. Reyes” in commemoration of his celebration style the night before.
6. Phillies GM Pat Gillick admits – NL East teams hate the Mets. “If you want to know the best thing we had going for us this year,” said Gillick, “it was the fact that all the other teams in our division hated the Mets’ guts. It started with Atlanta and all the hostility they had with the Mets through the years. Then Fredi Gonzalez left Bobby Cox to manage the Marlins and he didn’t forget everything that went on between the Braves and Mets. Look what Florida did for us the past two years (beating the Mets two out of the three in each of the last series of the season to prevent them from making the postseason)! Washington doesn’t like them very much either, and all those teams seemed to really get up for the Mets.”
7. And last night, as the Phillies were celebrating their first championship since 1980, Phillies’ broadcaster Harry Kalas screamed “See ya, New York!“, which sounds to me like a really odd thing to say. I mean, the Mets weren’t playing and haven’t been for the past month. What exactly did he mean by this?

I suppose I can understand that Reyes’ dancing in the dugout can seem excessive. But I don’t find it offensive. It’s not like the guy does it in front of the opposing teams’ dugout. He never points at players on the opposite side, he never looks at the pitcher following a homerun, and he doesn’t have a slow trot around the bases.

And the rest of the Mets players are… well, kinda dull. The two Carloses (Delgado and Beltran) are consummate professionals, David Wright is the golden boy who wouldn’t dare tick anyone off, Johan Santana is all business, and John Maine has no discernible personality. So please explain this to me.

P.S. To all the Red Sox fans I may have angered by my post last year on why everyone hates Curt Schilling, now is your chance for revenge.

This post started as merely a comment to Sarah’s article (below). If you haven’t read it, go do it right now. It’s quite good.

Go on. I’ll wait.

For those of you who have already read it, good for you, and while we wait for the others, allow me to remind you that Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and that no one can tell your mom how much you appreciate her quite like Mr. T  can.

All of you back? Good. Cause I’m throwin’ it down.

Sarah asks a question (possibly rhetorical, but as a blogger, I have no patience for rhetoric) that was too good to not respond: “why do so many folks want to believe… that Curt wasn’t really bleeding on the mound?” It’s a juicy one.

First off, the guy is easy to hate. I am not saying I personally hate him because I’ve never met the guy. I have no reason to have any strong feelings about him, really. But Curt reminds people of those who tormented them in high school, college, and at other points in life. Currently standing at nearly six and a half feet, he was probably bigger than everyone else growing up, and with his demeanor, it’s easy to imagine him pushing around smaller children. Like, seven year olds. When he was nineteen. I can’t even be certain that Curt Schilling didn’t invent the atomic wedgie. If Gary “The Forehead” Thorne told me he did, I may believe it. Even if that’s an unfair position to put him in, he does have that air about him that rub some people the wrong way. The guy’s a total meathead. Some people love meatheads, others not so much. And what are the odds that Gary Thorne wasn’t on the receiving end of a few gotch pulls in his life?

Moreover, the general dislike of Red Sox fans held by many outside New England becomes manifested towards Curt Schilling. That, I can personally attest to. In 2004, I found myself actually enjoying the Red Sox run in the playoffs. When the final out made its way into Mienkiewicz’s glove, I was happy for them.

Then Jimmy Fallon ran onto the field to make out with Drew Barrymore. That moment, in retrospect, epitomizes the ridiculousness of it all. The organization allowed the Farrelly brothers to film that scene for “Fever Pitch” at the exact moment that the purity of baseball was supposed to return, if only for that one fleeting moment. It was an inopportune reminder that this is a business. Red Sox Nation is a corporate brand – and worse, it’s a brand that doesn’t include me. The “members” of Red Sox Nation (and good lord, I know I’m going to hear it from people for writing this) appear to have a large contingency of those who know very little about baseball outside the Northeast Corridor of Amtrak (I can feel the hate already). The world revolves around David Ortiz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling, and Theo Epstein. They’ve already put Jonathan Papelbon in the Hall of Fame. Bill Simmons is their Hemingway (Ernest, not Mariel).

Now admittedly, this is me speaking as a New Yorker, and this certainly does apply to Yankees and Mets fans as well (although us Mets fans have less to boast about). And of course, there are many Red Sox fans out there who do have some sense of perspective, are very knowledgeable and rooted in reality. However, as it goes with most things in this world, the most rational ones are not the most visible ones. Look again at Curt Schilling. David Ortiz is probably a far more likable person than Curt – but he’s not the one with the blog. It’s the backlash from the months and months that those of us who carried foreign passports into Red Sox Nation following October 27th, 2004, have had to endure. Their “woe is me” disposition turned into a “sucks to be you” attitude in mere minutes. Those who had never heard of Tom Brunansky immediately headed off to the local mall to purchase Red Sox paraphernalia and boasted their level of fandom. I recall seeing a segment on the news the night they put the Cardinals away that had a college student in Boston actually utter the words “I never thought it would happen in my lifetime”. We weren’t ready for that.

So I think this resentment fueled the flames. There is no doubt that Gary Thorne is a total wiener. Even if it was true that Doug Mirabelli had told him this, it was extremely unprofessional and irresponsible to state it on the air during an Orioles broadcast. The story never should have gotten so much attention to begin with because it was a moronic assertion from the start. If Curt Schilling were more likable, it would have been far easier for people to dismiss. But Curt is the loudmouth of an already far too vocal and proud Red Sox Nation. People want to bring him down and knock him off the pedestal. It’s human jealousy. And if he doesn’t want people to hate him, then he shouldn’t be so goddamn good at it.

P.S. Treat you mother right.