Welcome to the beginning of the second decade of existence for Faith and Fear in Flushing, or to put it in reverse and observe it from the more comfortable perspective of the rearview mirror, today is our tenth anniversary. We signed on the blogging air on February 16, 2005, looking ahead not ten years but maybe ten minutes. That particular Wednesday was the day everybody’s two favorite life forms, Pitchers & Catchers, were reporting to Port St. Lucie. Infielders and outfielders were sure to follow, and we decided it sure might be fun to follow the lot of them as they prepared for the season ahead.
We did that and we stuck with them through the 2005 campaign and we did it again the next spring and the next season and we kept going and in between seasons and games and innings we managed to muse and reflect and recollect and occasionally guess what might reveal itself down the road…though honestly not so much with the looking ahead, because you never know, so why pretend? One game at a time, set against the tapestry woven by 43, now 53 previous Met seasons, was enough for us.
Ten years after the first FAFIF day, I can confirm that this has been fun. It’s been pretty much the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer or, when considered on a going basis, most anything else. Nearly every time you’re reading me here, you’re in on a continual highlight of my life. I have this baseball team that it’s never occurred to me to try to shake and I have this means of communication for expressing my thoughts on their actions and, thanks to you, I have an audience that chooses to read what I have I have to say. That’s as good a deal as a Mets fan could hope for. That’s Parsons-for-Grote good.
How many other places in this universe could I casually reference the 1965 trade of a pitcher who never made it for a catcher who became the Met backbone for a generation and not have to explain it to death? No wonder I like doing this where I like doing this for whom I like doing this.
We didn’t set out toward a decade of blogging. It just happened, the way the Mets kept happening to each and every one of us once we first discovered them. You know how it goes: you find the Mets; then you like the Mets; then you are drawn to others who like the Mets so you can talk about the Mets. Then you don’t stop. If you do stop, you’re not reading this, anyway, so I feel safe in generalizing.
Why stop? Because the Mets have been, shall we say, less than successful? So what? Would we possibly appreciate as we do the periodic better days without the climb up and out from the recurring muck? Granted, we could do with less muck, but maybe we’ll be out of muck and full of luck soon enough. In February, that’s the best guess to make if you’re inclined to guess at all.
And if Met things don’t amount to the paradise we wish them to be once this year’s Pitchers & Catchers and infielders and outfielders sort themselves out, you’ll still have Faith and Fear in Flushing. We just keep happening that way.
Over the course of Spring Training, when we’re not breathlessly analyzing side sessions and agility drills, we’ll fill the inevitable lulls with a series of retrospective pieces revisiting the defining moments, stories and personalities of the past ten Met years, a time — win or lose — I’ve found absolutely fascinating to cover from this perch. And on Saturday afternoon, March 28, we invite you to join us at Foley’s NY for a little tenth-anniversary celebration where we’ll meet, we’ll greet, we’ll eat and I wouldn’t be surprised if we drink. And of course we’ll talk Mets baseball, just like we do on your screen. More details on that little event as we move inexorably forward here in what has slowly yet suddenly become our second decade.
We’re so very glad you were part of the first one. We’re thrilled you’re around to help us get started on the next one.
Well, happy 10th…in this era of immediate obsolescence in which other sites probably proudly boast that their site started back in 2014 and is still going strong, 10 years probably bestows old-timer status on you (and I mean that as a compliment). In my central Jersey to uptown Manhattan commute (meaning at least 90 minutes in each direction), you’re always among my first reads and it’s always fun to cyber-commiserate with fellow members of the suffering support group that makes up the Mets fan base.
And wait, Tom Parsons for Jerry Grote…you mean it’s actually legal to trade a young pitcher for a position player? Quick, someone alert Sandy, unless this was something only allowed back in the day. Maybe the rules have changed as the Mets move forward in their attempt to take half a decade to improve their record by 10 games.
Congrats! FAFIF says smart things about the Mets as often as Jeff Wilpon says dumb things about the Mets.
Congrats Greg and Jason! Since I moved back from the West Coast in January 2006, this has been the only blog that covers the Mets that I’ve consistently read. That’s not to cast aspersions on others, just a commentary on how great you two really are when it comes to writing about this team. The Mets might be mediocre to bad most of the time, but FAFIF has been a World Champion from the day I started reading it. Here’s to many more years of this, and hopefully some years where the Mets play meaningful games in OCTOBER (the month Fred should have said).
congrats on FAFIF’s 10th anniversary! Mets fans may not have the best team, but we definitely have the best bloggers.,
Thanks for all you do- providing us Mets fans a place to enjoy the triumphs and commiserate over the Metsian way things often play out, without the typical blog troll responses. Rather, this is the thinking person’s Mets blog, at times hilarious and other times touching, with everything in between. I discovered the blog after I discovered the FAFIF book and have been enjoying what you and Jason do ever since. Here’s to more years writing about our club of choice. And because of me, FAFIF is international!
Happy anniversary, and endless thanks to you and Jason for keeping at it and putting smiles on sad Met fans’ faces! I’ve been coming here to read and sometimes vent just about every day since around 10/1/07 (I choose not to remember the event that inspired me to do so)
Happy Blogoversary – we’re looking forward to celebrating with you at Foley’s next month!
Wow. 10 years. Congratulations. And Many More, as they say.
And thanks, especially to Greg and Jason but also to all the thoughtful commenters – even the curmudgeons – that Greg and Jason have attracted here like moths to a flame of Insight and Intelligence and Erudition and Enlightenment and (of course) Faith and Fear.
Any time somebody tries to tell me that the internet forces everything to the lowest common denominator, I point them here as a sparkling counterexample. It’s a sports blog, for Gooden’s sake, but it’s also a haven.
Congratulations on your blog anniversary! I haven’t been reading since the very beginning, but I have been around for most of that time and Faith and Fear in Flushing remains one of my favorite blogs.
Happy anniversary Greg and Jason.
You have been a source of laugh, thoughts and comfort for a mets fan that was in NY when you started and now is back in Europe.
The toast is to many more FAFIF blogoversaries
Congratulations, gentlemen. I’m proud to say I’ve been reading since the first day, mostly because you’re awesome, but also because we’re old. Here’s to another 10 years and I look forward to March 28.
Congrats on 10 years of success. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?
Now, if only the Mets would jump aboard the fun train.
I forget exactly when or even how I first stumbled upon your blog, but it’s been several years now. Several of the worst years for being a Mets fan, but definitely the several best years ever for reading about the Mets…thanks to you guys.
Thank you and Bravo on Ten years!
Congratulations and keep up the good work, fellas!
I’ve always considered myself a Mets fan who likes to read. Thanks for letting me.
And I will definitely be at Foley’s on the 28th. There is so much to celebrate!
Congratulations on decade of Mets blogging dominance, the stability of which is so beloved that it’s surprising you two haven’t been traded to the AL West for cash considerations. And thanks beaucoup for serving as my gateway drug to the Mets blogosphere oh so many moons ago.
10 more years! 10 more years! Excelsior!
A fun, non-Wilpon-influenced look at the Mets. That’s Faith and Fear in Flushing, keeping up the big tent of Mets fandom. 10 years! May there be many, many more!
Congrats…never would have made it through 2007-2008 (and everything since) without you!
Gentlemen: My sincere congratulations on starting your second decade. It has been my utter pleasure to read FAFIF. You bring a certain joy to being a Mets fan that only another die-hard can appreciate. Hear is to reading about great events to come.
Congratulations and many, many thanks for making this fallow and frustrating period in Mets history a little easier to endure. Here’s hoping that both the 2015 Mets and The Force Awakens will go down in history as the most gloriously entertaining installments of their respective franchises. But I think we’d settle for a level of quality around 1984/Return of the Jedi.
If it weren’t for you guys and rotisserie (a frowned-upon subject here, I know, but it helps. It really helps), I’m not sure I’d still love baseball.