[bundee1]

I will start by saying this. I've been a huge Mets fan for 20 years. I started in this forum with "Queens, home of the Mets" as my location 5 years ago. I know how much we have suffered as Mets fans over the years. From losing to the Dodgers in the playoffs, to watching Vince Coleman shoot bleach at reporters from a syringe, to watching jerkface Yankees fans invade Shea Stadium for every Subway Series EXCEPT this last one.

The tide has finally turned for the Mets and we finally have a real contending team for many years to come and the Yankees are struggling to get to 3rd place. Its nice to bask in the glory for a change, but it seems some Mets fans are getting carried away. Their behavior is reminiscent of the way Yankee fans treat opposing fans in their own stadium (believe me I know).
I have no problem razzing someone who is a vocal supporter of the opposition. If you are visiting another teams ballpark you should wear your colors, sitdown, shutup, and clap politely if your team happens to do well.

The last couple of games Ive gone to at Shea have come close to getting ugly. Ive seen Mets fans through food at innocent opposing fans, booing kids, almost get into fistfights with other Mets fans over thrown food and generally act like *****es. I know success can get to your head (along with 7 beers in 2 hours) but remember where you've been and where you are.

The one thing I could always be proud of, even when the Mets stunk was that their fans were, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and respectful. Please dont turn into the thing we hate the most: arrogant Yankee fans. Win and lose with dignity, pride, and respect and keep Shea a fun and safe place to watch a winning team.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

It's just further proof of the disintegrating behavior of today's society.

 

[SptsNaz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundee1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please dont turn into the thing we hate the most: arrogant Yankee fans. Win and lose with dignity, pride, and respect and keep Shea a fun and safe place to watch a winning team.

Yeh, because all Yankee fans are idiots

Give me a break, every team has their fare share of dimwit's. I think you might just be a little bitter that the Yankees have finally got it going after so long while the Mets have started struggling a bit. I get your point, but do you have to go out and personally insult all Yankees fans and pretend like all Mets fans were always angels? Please

 

[bundee1]

Give me a break! Yankee fans are the most hated fans in all of baseball. They walk around like they are owed a championship every year and when they dont win, they disappear. For the last 2 weeks I havent seen a single Yankees jersey in the city. Just yesterday everyone and their brother started wearing them again. 30% of Yankee fans are teenage girls who dont know Ken Phelps from Kenny Rogers.

Ive been going to at least 5-6 Mets games a year for the last 5 years and they've all been against some of their biggest opponents. Braves, Phillies, and Yankee fans all used to stroll into Shea stadium like they owned the place without so much as a dirty look thrown their way. Finally this year Mets fans are shouting them down and giving them the busines like they deserve but I dont want our fans to treat others like we've been treated in those other parks.

Dont throw beer, food, and curse around kids. Dont start drunken fights over nothing. We're better than that and we've shown it.

Anyone who has been to a game lately notice it?

 

[immoral flame]

As a Red Sox fan, I have to say you both suck. No no I don't mean that, like the other cat said all teams have their idiots. Just look at the dodger fans here in so cal, they invade angels stadium during freeway series, petco every series, and God forbid I go to the revine wearing a Jake Peavy jersey(he's good). The only difference is Dodger fans will stab you just ask those giants fans from a few years back.

 

[The Monkey]

Shea is like a jackass magnet.

 

[BlindTiger]

I'm sorry to hear that. I've been going to Shea a lot in the past few years only because I've been hanging out with Queens residents. We always go to the Mets/Braves games and I've always had a great time, no problems.
Unlike at Yankee Stadium where I've felt a tinge of racism and that's a shame. I've had food thrown at me when I was there with my Boss, does not feel good.
I've went to Shea with this same Boss and had a great time with his family, granted his kids weren't too friendly but I tried getting to know him. I hope he don't turn into one of those Yankee fans, wink wink.

 

[Ampersand]

You can't be a REAL fan of baseball and be a Yankee fan at the same time.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundee1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will start by saying this. I've been a huge Mets fan for 20 years. I started in this forum with "Queens, home of the Mets" as my location 5 years ago. I know how much we have suffered as Mets fans over the years. From losing to the Dodgers in the playoffs, to watching Vince Coleman shoot bleach at reporters from a syringe, to watching jerkface Yankees fans invade Shea Stadium for every Subway Series EXCEPT this last one. The tide has finally turned for the Mets and we finally have a real contending team for many years to come and the Yankees are struggling to get to 3rd place. Its nice to bask in the glory for a change, but it seems some Mets fans are getting carried away. Their behavior is reminiscent of the way Yankee fans treat opposing fans in their own stadium (believe me I know). I have no problem razzing someone who is a vocal supporter of the opposition. If you are visiting another teams ballpark you should wear your colors, sitdown, shutup, and clap politely if your team happens to do well. The last couple of games Ive gone to at Shea have come close to getting ugly. Ive seen Mets fans through food at innocent opposing fans, booing kids, almost get into fistfights with other Mets fans over thrown food and generally act like *****es. I know success can get to your head (along with 7 beers in 2 hours) but remember where you've been and where you are. The one thing I could always be proud of, even when the Mets stunk was that their fans were, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and respectful. Please dont turn into the thing we hate the most: arrogant Yankee fans. Win and lose with dignity, pride, and respect and keep Shea a fun and safe place to watch a winning team.

Welcome to New York! Most Mets fans are closet Yankees fans, so it's really all hereditary. I can't say the same for Chicago: Cubs fans could care less about the White Sox.

You know a city has no class when their baseball fans persistently boo their team's best player.

-Matt

 

[tjkurita]

I've had bad experiences at Shea also. All I can say is that there are jerks everywhere. I also remember the recent years when Shea was half-empty and only the hardcore fans were there. There were a lot of "we're in this together" feelings in the crowd during those days. Then Kaz getting run out of town and Beltran getting booed were not so good.

My sense of it is this: There are die hard Met fans in this city and die hard Yankee fans. And then there is a large group of people in between whose loyalties shift with the division standings. As you know, NYC is one of the greatest baseball cities in the country and there are A LOT of people going to games. That kind of appeal brings a lot of people to the park who are simply there to "party" or act foolish. I think it is mostly an issue of people thinking they own the place but feel no responsibility for their behavior.

It's sad. I feel very much at home at Shea, but in the same way I feel at home in a good friend's house. I have a great deal of respect for the team and the stadium and my fellow fans. But again there are a lot of jerks in this city! It almost makes you long for the days when only the most dedicated fans would make the trip to Shea.

 

[Dimitris]

I went to the Yankee game yesterday for the first time and to be honest i was surprised how calm things were. My friends were wearing Pirates shirts and hats and noone said a thing. In Europe if you go to watch soccer the fans are separated with police force between them so I guess the Yankee stadium seemed a lot milder to my eyes.

 

[ShaolinRasta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyfrenchman27 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know a city has no class when their baseball fans persistently boo their team's best player. -Matt

There are times when booing your best player shows that you're a true baseball lover instead of just being a mindless fan whose desire to win supercedes all. Seems to me that the game today is filled with guys who don't understand that the point is to play hard without cheating. Guys like Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have unquestionably good for baseball financially, but have resulted in it becoming far more of a business than a game. In our modern climate, "business" has thus acquired a pejorative taint -- I would like to think that most of us don't want Gordon Gecko coaching our kids' Little League teams. (I'm pretty sure that most kids wouldn't want him as their coach.)

When Yankee fans boo A-Rod, it may show that some of them have no class, but it simultaneously shows that others have a tremendous respect for the way the game should properly be played. I've always had an extreme dislike for the Yankees, but have had a grudging respect for the classy way in which they traditionally conduct themselves. A-Rod behaves like a punk and should be treated as such. Guys with that sort of talent shouldn't have to resort to slapping, yelping and highly-questionable slides to break up double plays. His own teammates give terse "no comment" answers when queried about those sorts of plays. It's a real shame that many younger Americans think that sort of behavior makes him even cooler.

Mets fans have always been a different breed than Yankee fans, we're traditionally a working class group who don't insist on the regimented efficiency characterized by those in the Bronx. Roger Angell captured this perfectly in an early essay:

"Suddenly the Mets fans made sense to me. What we were witnessing was precisely the opposite of the kind of rooting that goes on across the river. This was the losing cheer, the gallant yell for a good try — antimatter to the sounds of Yankee Stadium. This was a new recognition that perfection is admirable but a trifle inhuman, and that a stumbling kind of semi-success can be much more warming. Most of all, perhaps, these exultant yells for the Mets were also yells for ourselves, and came from a wry, half-understood recognition that there is more Met than Yankee in every one of us."

The Mets have flirted with the dark side, most notably in the Vince Coleman era, when they brought in highly-paid punks. The current regime is very aware of past transgressions. This is not to say that the team should play in Utah...for instance, the beloved '86 squad were certainly not choir boys. They played hard, they fought hard, they partied hard, but they respected the game. True Mets fans won't have it any other way.

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ampersand /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can't be a REAL fan of baseball and be a Yankee fan at the same time.

Utter nonsense.

 

[darkninja67]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif Shea is like a jackass magnet.

So is Fenway. Some of the most bitter fans I have ever seen.

 

[darkninja67]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ampersand /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can't be a REAL fan of baseball and be a Yankee fan at the same time.

Nice generalization. Doesn't make you sound too ignorant I would say.