Last week, when sharing Amazings NY's missive to Mets management [1] regarding their decision not to renew a longstanding season ticket commitment, I mentioned that if anyone wanted to weigh in from the other end of the spectrum, I'd be happy to offer their thoughts to our readers on why they will be happily purchasing a ticket plan in 2010.
Well, somebody took me up on it.
Danny Abriano of Rational Mets Musings [2] wanted us to know that he is indeed down for another 15-gamer. He and his dad were Saturday ticketholders in Loge at Shea from 2001 to 2006; a friend then picked up his father's spot for the last two seasons at the old place. It was, in his telling, all good. Citi Field represented a bit of a seating shock (Section 527, Row 2) and Saturday in the new park meant one-third of the games he was buying became weeknights, but Danny decided the revised arrangement wouldn't be a hardship so, now with two friends, he went with the flow.
You can read about the ups and downs he experienced in Citi's inaugural year at his blog [3], but here's the money passage where 2010 is concerned:
We will keep our ticket plan. And like the days I spent at the ballpark with my father from 2001-2006, the three of us will go to the ballpark together to cheer for the Mets. We'll sometimes get there early to tailgate a little, head to Shake Shack for a burger and then settle into our seats. Every time we attend a game, we'll have our momentary escape from our jobs and our love lives and any nonsense that may be going on at the moment.
We'll enjoy the day or night, enjoy each other's company, and hope the Mets win. We'll do those things because that is what being at a baseball game is all about. It's not a place to bicker over nonsense (like the rotunda or the media's controversy du jour). It's about enjoying the ballgame. If there are 2 strikes on a batter and Johan is in his delivery, we'll stand up and cheer (the fairweathers behind us can complain all they want). If one of the Mets drives in a run, we'll stand in unison and slap hands and beat the hell out of each other in celebration. Unlike tons of other Mets fans who have been canceling their tickets in droves, we will be there. And come April, we'll be filled with optimism just like we are every season. That optimism will likely turn to sadness and disappointment sometime between April and late October. But if it doesn't, oh what a season it will be.
There are plenty of good reasons to withhold your business from the Mets this offseason. But there are plenty of people who have perfectly valid reasons for continuing to patronize them…or maybe enable them. Whatever path one chooses, here's wishing Danny — and the rest of us — well in the pursuit of baseball happiness.
As the wind whips off the Hudson next Wednesday night, December 16, find warmth at the River [4] in Hell's Kitchen where Chris and Will from Blue & Orange [5] will be hosting the Hot Stove Huddle. Scheduled guests include SNY.tv's Ted Berg [6] and, as breaking news permits, Newsday's Ken Davidoff. It starts at 7:00 PM and sounds like more fun than the Winter Meetings.