Published 01:14, April the 28th, 2009
Mets fans are now most annoying in all of sports
Jacoby Ellsbury isn’t the only one stealing something from the Yankees. Just as swiftly and suddenly as an Ellsbury break for home, Mets fans have yanked away Yankee backers’ long-held status as the most annoying fans in all of sports.
The change is stunning in its completeness and evident everywhere from the sports talk radio airwaves to those green seats at Citi Field.
If you didn’t grow up a Mets fan, it is now almost impossible to root for the team. And for once, this has nothing to do with Oliver Perez’s mound work.
Instead, it’s about a fan base that seems to only turn more and more whiny by the inning. It’s a collection of miserable souls that are starting to make the pre-steroid booing of A-Rod by the pinstriped pinheads look almost reasonable by comparison.
You can hear the whiners in full force when Omar Minaya goes on the FAN in late April and caller after caller comes back to angrily wonder why Mike Francesa didn’t rip on the Mets’ GM.
You can’t miss the negativity in the stands of Fred Wilpon’s dream Brooklyn-style ballpark, either.
When David Wright came up in the third inning Friday night, with the Mets leading 1-0 and Johan Santana having recorded the first six outs by strikeout, a middle-aged Mets fan next to me in Section 107 remarked, “He’s going to hit a pop up.”
This commentary of doom continued all around even as the Mets wrapped up Santana’s third win. Yes, the Mets have put their fans through consecutive September chokes. But if you can’t even enjoy an early game when you have the best pitcher in the planet on the mound, what’s the point of being a fan?
Sure, Yankee fans are rightly fed up with Joe Girardi right now, but they’re no longer the biggest loons in town. That’s an upset on par with ’Nova over Georgetown.
Sounding off
Let’s hear more about:
Mark Sanchez proving that Pete Carroll still doesn’t know the NFL.
Remember how Carroll publicly rallied against Sanchez’s decision to turn pro and declared his QB “not ready”? Well, Sanchez went five spots higher than Matt Leinart did back in 2006. And that was after Leinart came back for his senior season at Carroll’s urging. It hurt his draft status and arguably his NFL career.
Sick of hearing about:
NASCAR backers feigning concern for the fans injured by the flying debris from the spectacular crash at Talladega Speedway on Sunday. Honest racing fans, and thankfully there are plenty of those on the Internet, love this type of scene. They turn in to see crazy crashes.
So let’s drop the mock horror. That wreck provides a sport that lost its “Next Big Thing” status with a much-needed boost.
Broadcast upset of the week:
Erin Andrews still has a job at ESPN after conducting arguably the worst interview in the history of bad sports interviews. Just the premise of having comedian Bill Cosby and an unrelated, unknown wide receiver named Quan Crosby together was horrific enough. Andrews, though, managed to make it even worse by continually referring to the old jokester as “Doctor” and ordering him to put on a helmet.
CHRIS BALDWIN