I Get To Do Cool Things

Three years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Mets game and spend pre-game on the field, and take one of my favorite pictures ever, with Mr. and Mrs. Met.
The experience I had before Friday's game against the Twins was even better. Thanks to the dogged persistence of a friend we were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium by the Mets PR team.

We entered at the Hodges gate, where right through that door is the press room where we often see Terry Collins discussing Mets injuries.

From there we were led down a back hallway, where the clubhouse is. And at the moment we passed by, Brandon Nimmo emerged on his way to the video room.

He stopped and chatted with us briefly about money and investing and the rapid depreciation of expensive automobiles.

To our left in that hallway is the batting cage where players can take some in-game cuts.

Lined up along the walls, where the bats and other equipment for every Met.

And in the best part of it all, we were led out onto the field, THROUGH THE DUGOUT!!!!!

Don't I look happy?

We were offered a piece of Major League gum. I brought two pieces home for the boys, who were initially unimpressed until they realized, that later that day the Mets had stuck their hands in that same bucket. They asked if the Mets get a new bucket of gum every day. I said yes. They decided the Mets must be rich to afford new gum.
They chewed it and decided it tasted better than the regular dubble bubble available to the public.

After a few more moments sitting on the dugout bench, and taking pictures we were escorted onto the field to enjoy batting practice.
Unfortunately, the Mets had concluded and the Twins were hitting (Kennys Vargas hit some bombs).

After a while we were asked to leave the field and head back to our seats, which we purchased ourselves, which explains the view from the 500 level.

But from that vantage point I got to see a masterpiece from Bartolo Colon, back to back homers from Jose Reys and Asdrubal Cabrera, and a 3-0 Mets win, topping off another memorable experience I was fortunate enough to enjoy. Note: Please forgive the lousy way this displays. I wanted pictures to be as big as possible, which doesn't work well with this template. For best experience click on the first picture and use the viewer to peruse them all.

The Gnome Knows

I went to two Mets games last August and I learned something important at each:
On August 2nd, I learned that Julian loved Thor aka Noah Syndergaard.
On August 29th, I learned that if you wanted to get a promotional giveaway you need to get there early, or spend a lot of money to buy it on eBay.

As soon as we heard the Mets were giving away Noah Syndergaard-en Gnomes, we got our tickets.
We gave them the tickets for the 8th night of Hanukkah, so they had been looking forward to it almost as long, and perhaps much more excitedly, than to the arrival of their new brother.

Unfortunately, for the second straight time, a game I looked forward to all winter, became an inconvenience when the time was changed, this time from 7pm to 4pm.
That caused Mrs. Poop to have to miss the communion of her friend's daughter, Chase to miss the second tryout for travel baseball and it came into conflict with the final hours of Passover.

To avoid the traffic, parking fiasco of last year's Jesse Orosco bobblehead day, we left our house 4 hours and 20 minutes before game time.

We arrived at 12:15 for a 4:05 start, and had one hour and 50 minutes until the gates opened. We sat in the car, walked around the parking lot and got on line at the left field gate at 12:45. That's when a man came by and said this gate opens half an hour later than the main gate by Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Gnomes would still be given away, but we'd have half an hour less inside the stadium. So we relocated. At 1:05 PM, a full hour before the gates opened, the lines were so long that I almost doubted whether we would be among the first 15,000 to get them.

We did and the kids loved them.

Because our seats were in left field we watched batting practice along the wall on the Giants side of the field. Relief pitcher Derek Law made two enemies for life by not tossing the ball in his glove into the crowd.

Mrs. Poop was a trouper, toughing it out, from a seated position, at 36 weeks pregnant.

The game started off well, as the Mets scored 2 each in the first and second innings, but then deGrom game up 3 runs to make it close.

But Chase's burgeoning favorite Met (Michael Conforto) homered in the 5th, and Julian's favorite Met (Wilmer Flores -- they share a birthday and a tendency to cry on the field) homered in the 6th and the bullpen held on for a 6-5 win.

The enduring memory of this game will be the gnomes.

I offered the kids to keep one for their room, one in its box in the basement as a collectible, and sell the other 2 (they consistently sell for $80-$100 on eBay) but they the gnomes are way too cool to sell.

Note: One guy was walking the concourse before the game with a $10 bill offering to pay cash for the gnomes. People were laughing in his face.

2015 NLCS Game 2: Mets 4 Cubs 1

I don't know who is having a more amazing postseason: me or Daniel Murphy.
I'm very lucky have to now been to 3 of the Mets home games this postseason.
This time we had seats in left field.

We were just a couple sections over from the Apple which was sporting a bandage after getting bonked by Travis d'Arnaud's home run in Game 3.

Of course it is nice to be anywhere in the ballpark for such a game, and even better to be down on the field level. And I am glad I got to try these outfield seats but were too far back to catch a home run, and we missed some key plays that happened deep in center or left, including David Wright's first inning double.

Now, on to some thoughts about the game:
Daniel Murphy is on an unbelievable, ridiculous, unconscious roll. Not only has he hit home runs in 4 straight playoff games, he's them off Kershaw, Greinke and Arrieta who will surely finish 1-2-3 in the Cy Young voting, and Jon Lester who is no slouch. Just an incredible stretch, that will probably never be replicated but should be thoroughly enjoyed for however long it lasts.

Lucas Duda has been awful. But he has to stay in there against righties, and I don't think Michael Cuddyer is much better against lefties. Hopefully the big man will snap out of it and go on one of his hot streaks.

Good job by Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed. The Mets are going to need those two guys if they're going to win the World Series. They can't rely on starting pitchers to enter games on their "throw day."

Yoenis Cespedes has not been hitting but he has been making up for it in the field and on the bases. But the Mets need him to break out.

The Mets have a 2-0 lead with Jacob deGrom on the mound in Game 3. It is still possible to blow the series for sure. But at this point the Mets have to be huge favorites to make the World Series.

Let's hope they keep getting good pitching and timely hitting and add one more year to the curse of the Cubbies.

By the way, did you hear the name of the supposed goat in the Cubs curse story was named Murphy. And I found that in stories written before this week. The world is a crazy place sometimes, let's just enjoy the ride.

2015 NLDS Game 4: Dodgers 3 Mets 1

I just never had a good feeling about Game 4.
I was still tired from Game 3. My energy wasn't the same, the crowd's energy wasn't the same and certainly the offensive production wasn't the same.
Our seats weren't as good either, though we still had a nice view from left field.

Steven Matz did not pitch great, though he could have easily avoided that disastrous innings if a couple of those hits didn't drop in or get by.

But the Mets just ran into the best pitcher in baseball on a good night.
All that stuff about Kershaw not being good in the playoffs was just nonsense. He's a great pitcher and he doesn't turn into a pumpkin on October 1.
Yes, his results were puzzling but they weren't as bad as they seemed because W-L record is not a good indication of a pitcher's individual performance, and because even 40 or 50 innings is a very small sample size.

But please remember, momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. We've got Jacob deGrom, but they've got Zack Greinke.

So who knows what will happen.

All we can do is wait, watch and scream "Lets! Go! Mets!"

2015 NLDS Game 3: Mets 13 Dodgers 7

Thanks to the connections of Master Bates, I was able to attend Game 3 of the NLDS at Citifield.
After the controversial Utley slide, emotions were running high, especially when Ruben Tejada limped onto the field in pregame introductions.

The game got off to a rough start as Matt Harvey, clearly without his best stuff, allowed 4 straight hits and 3 runs in the second inning.

But the Mets immediately turned that around and Curtis Granderson got a huge hit off a lefty (he struggled vs lefties all season, finishing with a 559 OPS against them), a bases-clearing double.

Harvey settled down a little, and then d'Arnaud homered to make it 6-3 and Cespedes put the final nail in the coffin with a three run homer to make it 10-3.

From our seats in left field

we had a great view of both home runs, passing right in front of us. d'Arnaud's was in doubt, but Cespedes's was a bomb.

Cespedes with quite the bat flip, justifiably excited.

The atmosphere for the entire game was awesome. Mets fans being happy and excited to have such a good team and such a good chance to win this series now.

And I was thrilled to have gotten to share this special moment with my family.

Julian's First Mets Game

I love the Mets. I don't know why, I just do. So many of my good childhood memories involve watching the Mets with Papa Poop. Obviously the entire 1986 season and of course World Series Game 6, just cemented it. When God made me, he tapped me on the head and said "Mets fan."
As a father there is nothing better than spending time with your kids. If you can do that while sharing something you love, and seeing them love it too, well, that feeling is better than just about anything I could possibly describe.
It's why I decided to make my children wait until they were five years old to take them to a live sporting event. And that event would have to be a Mets game. Just me and my son. This caused much controversy and tears, and I almost went back on it several times.
But I followed through and bought tickets for the Sunday game right before his birthday. Sunday, August 2nd. At 1pm. Until about two weeks before, when ESPN decided it would like to air the contest between the top two teams in the National League East to a national audience.
That delayed the time of the game until 8pm. Yikes. A little late for a youngster. Especially one such as Julian who goes hard all day, doesn't nap, but often asks to go to bed at night so he won't be "cranky all day tomorrow."
I was doubly irritated when I called to see if I could get a refund or an exchange (they said no) and was told the post-game Mr. Met Dash (the only thing he really understood and cared about) would not take place.
But I explained to Julian that neither he nor I deals very well with disappointment and this was just a test for us, to see if we could make the best of it.
I put on my brand new Mitchell & Ness 1986 Mets Keith Hernandez batting practice jersey and we put a blue tint in Jules's faux-hawk and we were ready to roll.

Trivia question for 1986 Mets: A Year to Remember aficionados: Keith is seen at batting practice, wearing this jersey, in one part of the video, what does he say?

The entire ride there he was peppering me with questions about how long it would go and what roads we're on until finally he said "so the cross bronx, the whitestone bridge, the whitestone expressway and Citifield -- BOOM!"

And several times he told me how long he had been waiting for this, each time recalibrating how long, until he just decided it was his whole life.

After stopping for the obligatory CitiField pictures

we headed to Mets plaza where a bunch of kids games and attractions were set up.
There was a Mr. Met Bouncy House,

a pitching area (I love this action shot, looks fundamentally sound),

and an art station where Jules colored a K.

After that we headed inside with a stop in the Mets museum. He enjoyed counting the plaques and I made him stop next to my favorite one.

And he wanted to pose with Casey Stengel.

Then we decided to go to our seats, because the thing he was the second most excited about (after running the bases, and way more than the actual game) was the helmet full of popcorn.

Due to our mutual love of popcorn, I had scouted this location as it appears to be the only one like it in the entire stadium. When purchasing tickets, I specifically picked a section near the stand, located behind Sec. 125, for easy refills. Though we only refilled it once, two big helpings of popcorn and a souvenir helmet for $12 is a downright steal by CitiField prices.

On the way up and down the aisle we noticed three Mets fans who had the same idea we had: Thor hammers. Jules became obsessed with these guys and they seemed to like him equally as much.

Midway during the game Jules asked "can we go back and see my friends? I want to ask them how the game is going?"

Finally the game started, though not well, as the second batter for the Nationals hit a home run to put the Mets down 1-0. By the second inning Jules was asking when the game would be over and I was really starting to worry.

And then it happened!

First it was Granderson, with a man on, to give the Mets the lead.

Then while we were still celebrating and high-fiving, Daniel Murphy hit one. Which I have to admit we didn't even see, or know what was happening until we heard the crowd reaction.

And finally when we started to settle down (and Julian put down his Thor hammer so he could clap more easily), Cespedes singled and then Duda completed the barrage with a home run that looked -- from our seats down the left field line -- like it was going to go foul.

But it stayed fair!

What ensued was a moment I will never forget. Julian, in a sea of screaming fans was shrieking from the bottom of his lungs, eyes popping out of his head, clapping and high-fiving and jumping up and down.

At this moment, I wish I had recorded video to share with you all. Because that was pure joy.

But in that moment, I'm glad I just existed in the moment. I didn't let the moment pass me by as I held up my iPhone.

I was jumping and screaming as loudly as anyone. I swear I will remember that moment, those home runs, the people around us, Julian's face, as long as I live. In 60 years when they wheel me out for my tapioca pudding they could ask me who hit those home runs, and I know I will remember, Granderson, Murphy and Duda.

From then, the game kind of zoomed on uneventfully, which is kind of a shame because Noah Syndergaard pitched a gem. And had it not been for the fashion in which the Mets scored those runs, the biggest memory from this game might have been him striking out Bryce Harper in the 8th inning with a 99 mph fastball.

A couple of times during the game Jules got a little impatient, but I soothed him with a pink lemonade (all the popcorn made him thirsty). And then they announced that there would in fact be the Mr. Met Dash after the game, which bumped his excitement level up, but also his impatience.

When the game finally ended and I slowly packed up our stuff he said "dad, come on, run the bases, let's go!"

When I did this with Chase three years ago, it took forever, we had to leave the Stadium, walk around the block and wait half an hour. This time we went right down the stairs, out the door and right back in. Obviously the security people wanted to go home to bed, because they were rushing parents and kids, and being downright rude about it. But I did manage to get some pictures of Julian on the field

And this video

You can see he got thrown off by the people rushing the kids off the field, he forgot to touch home plate.

But I think he was pretty happy.

Sometimes I feel (and I'm sure many others do) that the world is against me and my whole life is a struggle. But times like these (when something really important exceeds my wildest expectations), I really get this feeling that something out there (I call it the Universe) loves me and wants me to be happy. That's how I felt during this game.

And this feeling was worth waiting for.

The Best Game I've Ever Seen In Person

Syracuse's 91-89 victory over Duke in the schools' first game as conference opponents was probably the best game (any sport) I've ever attended in person. It was one of the best regular season college games of all time.
Normally I resist pronouncements like that because people often call every close, exciting game "great." But this one deserves the greatness label not just for the excitement and drama, but also for high quality of play.
Each team committed only 8 turnovers, that includes overtime. Duke made 15 of 36 3s and Syracuse didn't get out of their game plan, shooting only 4 3s and make 3 of them. Syracuse made 80% of its free throws, and that never happens. There were 40 fouls called but I don't think the officiating played a huge part in the outcome. This game was decided by the players, and so many of them made great plays.

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the game on TV and I wanted to share a few thoughts.

I'll start with the last play of regulation: Syracuse definitely should have fouled. Duke was inbounding with 4.6 seconds left. If you give a foul at half court you take away at least a second or two. Boeheim said that was the plan, and you can see CJ Fair did try to foul, he just wasn't aggressive enough.

And then, in a similar situation at the end of overtime, Tyler Ennis gave the foul with 9 seconds left, way too much time, too much can go wrong. And it almost did.

Syracuse went on a little run with 6 minutes left to take a 7-point lead (66-59). On the next 3 Duke possessions Tyler Thornton made 3-pointers to cut the lead to 70-68, with 4:22 left. The only 3 shots he made all night. Outstanding individual performance over that short period.

The 5th foul on Parker (offensive) was very questionable. There was definitely contact but Christmas sold it. The foul called on Cooney for hitting Sulaimon on a 3-pointer was equally questionable. The foul on Jefferson on Christmas though was a clear foul that had to be called.

Tyler Ennis is a great point guard. He always makes the right decision and never tries to score unless they absolutely need a basket. And he basically won the game by recognizing the mismatch in overtime with Dawkins on Grant. He did it twice in a row, then the third time when Fair tried to feed Grant the pass wasn't as good and Grant missed the shot. Then Ennis fed Grant one more time, and it forced Coach K to make a change, and bring in Plumlee.

Rakim Christmas did not foul on the final dunk attempt. He got the ball, maybe there was some incidental contact, but his hand on the ball, cleanly was why it didn't go in.

CJ Fair was mugged and beaten, it was clearly an intentional foul, but I don't really blame the refs for calling it just a regular call. It was excessive in contact in part because two players shoved Fair at the same time. I wouldn't have wanted to see a game like this decided by a call like that.

Fair played an absolutely incredible game. He's just a fantastic player who does the things you need to do to win.

What a game! I am thrilled to have been in attendance for one of the most memorable Syracuse games ever.

The View from Row Z

Syracuse did a pretty cool thing for Saturday's game against Duke. There's a "fancam" that took a huge panoramic of the Dome in such high quality that even people in the last row, and second to last rows, can find themselves, and then tag themselves in the picture.

Here's the camera shot taken the other way (with my blackberry, no zoom)

People in really awesome seats like Pizza Parlor Derek and El Greco were in really clear high-resolution.

But no one had better seats than Arli$$ aka Robert Wuhl who inexplicably seems to be a Syracuse superfan this season, and somehow got himself front row seats right behind the scorer's table.