It's been a busy - and difficult week. Continued heartbreak regarding Dad's situation in the Nursing Home. The first Mother's Day without my Mom. A friend who needed emergency eye surgery. And...a tragic accident in New Zealand affecting students from Boston University. My daughter is there, part of that group of BU students spending a semester down under. Mercifully, she was not part of the group who were sight-seeing when the accident occurred. I feel...relief that she is OK - and much grief that young adults have perished and that their parents are in mourning. (There will more to say on this subject at a later time.) As I said...it has a been a difficult week.One therefore searches for diversion. The Mets? Having won five games in a row and (against all odds) climbed to within a half-game of first place, the Mets were terrific during the week - and then had a very bad weekend. They lost two of the three games to...the Marlins. The "Jose Reyes" Marlins! And...the Mets not only lost two games but twice went into the 9nth inning with a lead - and suffered a sudden, walk-off defeat when the bullpen (think Frank Francisco among others) imploded. In-other-words, the Mets came so very close to sweeping their second consecutive series against the Marlins. And Reyes. Very close. Really close.
OK. It's "half-full" time. The Mets have already given us some very decent entertainment. With a team made up of David Wright, Johan Santana, and a bunch of non-entities - not to mention the usual never-ending series of injuries which seems to be as much a part of the Mets legacy as anything else - the Mets have been in almost every game - and won (sometimes in dramatic fashion) more than their share. A bad weekend...does not eliminate what has gone before. Live in the moment, cheer the Mets on tonight. Mets versus Brewers. It's Monday, a new day...time to put the weekend behind us. It's baseball...anything can happen. (Not like, say...basketball, where the best teams win as much as 80% of their games.)
Besides, the Mets have a story. At the moment it's not Wright (hitting close to .400). Or Santana. No - the story is R.A.Dickey. The 37-year-old knuckleballer. Lifetime record: 46-51. After almost ten years in the major leagues. Ordinary. And R.A. Dickey, by all accounts a hardworking, dedicated, role-model, my kind of player...a throwback...has won five games. Lost just one. Pitching for the New York Nobodies, Dickey beat the Marlins on Saturday, did his job. Someone to cheer for. Someone...persevering. Watching the man work...helped. It's only baseball. That's right. Only baseball. But it was enough.
There is a song which I wrote which captures this feeling perfectly. "The Mets (and Me)" The single can be found on ITunes (among other online stores). It can also be found on the new CD "In Retrospect" which was released over the weekend (and should be available online by tomorrow). The story of the song? Growing up a diehard Mets fan, I once spent time with a woman who just did not get it. And did not hesitate to tell me what she thought. "The Mets (and Me)" was my very nostalgic and heartfelt - but adamant - response. (Note that I am still the biggest Mets fan. The young lady? Long gone from my life.)
Most of the song was completed many years ago. The final verse...was finished last year (good thing there isn't a reference to Reyes! ) Coincidentally the Mets are celebrating their 50th anniversary. All of us who have been Mets fans since the beginning (or almost the beginning - I became a fan in '63)) can identify with the lyrics. Give it a listen... a few times...sing along to the chorus. And root for the Mets.
That's all for now, till then,
Stevenn
LYRICS
The Mets (and Me) (c) by Stevenn Beck
from the CD "In Retrospect"
I was a young boy feeling mighty sick
in the spring of sixty-three
my daddy tried to take my mind off the pain
he wheeled in the little TV
well I guess I've got the greatest dad
because of what happened to me
something touched my heart
moved my soul
the day the mets lost sixteen to three
I cried myself to sleep each night
the games were all the same
sometimes they'd take a lead into the ninth
still end up losing the game
there was Choo Choo and the Krane
and grover powell,
al moran and hot rod kanehl
and that boy jumped for joy when hickman's blast
gave roger craig the victory
<chorus>
you say you can't understand
how I can root for a team
baseball's only men playing a boy's game
oh baby I must disagree
you say you can't understand
you just can't see what I mean
people come and go but you ought to know
it will always be the mets and me.
we moved from brooklyn in sixty-nine
and I would have been so alone
but I kept my eyes on the TV set
to the tom and jerry pitching show
there was boswell and the crane
and the glider too
cleon jones and tommie agee
and when rocky made that catch
in the fourth series game
made me feel anyone could succeed
now the years fly by and the players change
but the old feeling stays the same
from the joy of game six through seasons of pain
and even the loss of old shea
there was mookie and doc, carter and mex
piazza, ventura and zeal
and when springtime comes
I'll be rooting for wright
to hit one out of citifield
<repeat chorus>
from the CD "In Retrospect"
I was a young boy feeling mighty sick
in the spring of sixty-three
my daddy tried to take my mind off the pain
he wheeled in the little TV
well I guess I've got the greatest dad
because of what happened to me
something touched my heart
moved my soul
the day the mets lost sixteen to three
I cried myself to sleep each night
the games were all the same
sometimes they'd take a lead into the ninth
still end up losing the game
there was Choo Choo and the Krane
and grover powell,
al moran and hot rod kanehl
and that boy jumped for joy when hickman's blast
gave roger craig the victory
<chorus>
you say you can't understand
how I can root for a team
baseball's only men playing a boy's game
oh baby I must disagree
you say you can't understand
you just can't see what I mean
people come and go but you ought to know
it will always be the mets and me.
we moved from brooklyn in sixty-nine
and I would have been so alone
but I kept my eyes on the TV set
to the tom and jerry pitching show
there was boswell and the crane
and the glider too
cleon jones and tommie agee
and when rocky made that catch
in the fourth series game
made me feel anyone could succeed
now the years fly by and the players change
but the old feeling stays the same
from the joy of game six through seasons of pain
and even the loss of old shea
there was mookie and doc, carter and mex
piazza, ventura and zeal
and when springtime comes
I'll be rooting for wright
to hit one out of citifield
<repeat chorus>
No comments:
Post a Comment