They Will Always Be My Team

The Mets are not the best team in the league.  They haven't been the best for a while.  They haven't drifted into oblivion and stayed out of the race quietly.  They have become a laughing-stock.  A punching bag.  But, they're still the Mets.

I became a die-hard fan in 2006.  I started watching the Mets more often in 2005, but 2006 was my first full season of really caring.  I guess I chose a good year, as seeing the Mets go all the way to game 7 of the NLCS.  I was spoiled in 2006.  When the Mets played well for most of 2007 I thought playoffs would be a regularity for the Mets.  Then the collapse happened.  It was the worst feeling.  I remember having my grandparents come over for dinner that night and I just wanted to hide in my room.  The next day at school I wore my Mets cap.  I didn't care what anybody thought.  I wanted everybody to know that I was still a Mets fan and I wouldn't stop caring because they lost.  2008 was pretty similar to 2007.  They looked like a playoff team for most of the season but ultimately were left with no postseason.

2009 was its own animal.  The Mets were bad.  Really bad.  They also were embarrassing.  The absurd amount of injuries was almost okay.  What wasn't almost okay was the way the medical staff dealt with the injuries.  Not only were the Mets losing, they looked stupid while losing.  At that point, being a Mets fan was just a way of torturing oneself.  But, I still didn't care.  I was a Mets fan and I continued to wear Mets hats and shirts and jerseys and anything I had.  I wore so much Mets stuff in such a pathetic season even my teachers would make comments.  But, I always wanted to wear my Mets gear.

I'm not sure where this season will end.  I'd love for it to end during the playoffs.  For the Mets to make a run and show why all the fans have stuck with them.  But, even if they don't go anywhere for the rest of the season, I'll still have hope.  I will have hope for next season and for all the seasons after that.  I'll wear my Mets shirts and Mets caps.  I want people to know I'm a Mets fan.  I like being a Mets fan.  I like never knowing what will happen in a season.  There are some teams that always seem to have a winning record and some that, unfortunately, never can win a season.  The Mets seem to be on neither end of the extreme.

There are so many reasons why I'm a Mets fan and I don't see that fandom going away.  I probably follow more teams than anybody else, with all the former Mets I still love to watch, but I follow those teams because of the Mets.  Just four and a half years of caring about the Mets has me completely attached.  If it's wrong to like the Mets as well as the former Mets that I grew to love, I don't want to be right.  The Mets are the middle of my baseball obsession.  Actually, I'm pretty sure it's more than an obsession.

Let's Go Mets!