To Leave Or Not To Leave...That Is The Question

A furor is raging over the New York sports wire regarding of all things, paternity leave and its effect on Major League Baseball and its players.  I’m not making this stuff up I swear.  The fire began when New York Mets second baseman, Daniel Murphy, was excused from the first two games of the season so he could be at his wife’s side for the birth of their son.  Not everyone apparently thinks a father, especially one that’s a professional athlete, should be taking time off for such inconsequential things.

Longtime radio personality and notorious thorn in Mets fans side, Mike Francesa, went on an anti-paternity leave rant the other day on his WFAN radio show.  Calling the situation a “scam” and a “gimmick” it leaves one to wonder what life in the Francesa home was like in his or his kid’s formative years?  Since he’s gone on record calling what Murphy did as being a “scam” and a “gimmick”, I would be remised not to point out that Francesa’s own father abandoned his family when Mike was just 8 years old.  So I guess being a cold hearted prick must be one of those passed down family traditions, kind of like Sunday gravy.

Even Boomer Esiason on his radio show, “Boomer and Carton” weighed in on the situation with this sage nugget of wisdom while acknowledging that Murphy has a legal right to miss work:

"Bottom line, that's not me. I wouldn't do that."

"Quite frankly I woulda said C-section before the season starts, I need to be at Opening Day.

I'm sorry."

Eat your heart out Marcus Welby.  Well there you have it ladies, and from the mouth of the guy who’s put more thought into this than anything he did in all the years he was quarterbacking the Jets.  But wait, Dr. Esaison continued:

"This is what makes our money, this is how we're gonna live our life. This is gonna give my child every opportunity to be a success in life. I'll be able to afford any college I wanna send my kid to because I'm a baseball player."

Yes so true Boomer because you know that taking 2 precious days to see an event that should be more important than anything you’ve ever accomplished on the gridiron is simply pushing the envelope of rationale.  What’s next? Are we going to give NFL players who are convicted felons the right to keep earning millions?  Stop the madness! 

You know you would think that Esaison would have a bit more empathy considering the great work he’s done with his Foundation that funds research for cystic fibrosis, a disease of the respiratory and digestive systems that affects his own son, Gunnar. 

I could see if Murphy was asking for 6 weeks leave, as is normally the case with maternity leave.  But the team policy is 3 days max for paternity leave.  All of this outrage coming from a sport where players miss weeks and months on end when they pull a muscle – 2 days for the birth of your child – heracy!

This phony machismo attitude by these radio personalities and ex-athletes doesn’t play well in this day and age.   I could almost hear Francesa say that Mickey Mantle wouldn’t ever do something like this.  Of course not but then again I wouldn’t put Mantle up as a father of the year candidate either.  Look I get the locker room, testosterone driven mentality where you rub dirt on an injury and you keep your mouth shut even if you probably shouldn’t be on the field playing.

Some people get drunk with success - wink wink – Franseca.  Why don’t you do us a favor and take a few days off yourself.  We could all use a break from this stupidity

What Being A Mets Fan Means To Me

It’s like clockwork you know, hell I could even set my watch to it. Every year and almost exactly around this time, nostalgia rushes over me in a wave of mixed emotions.  I feel the cold rattle my aching bones yet I know somewhere warm and far away, my team is getting ready for a new beginning.  Unless you’re a fan of this team, it’s hard to describe the passion we share for it, at least not without sounding as if we’re completely insane.

As much as it is a time of rebirth it’s a time where my memories pull me in equally powerful yet opposite directions.  It’s hard to let go of those I’ve lost, my father and grandfather especially.  I long for the days when we would travel to Kissimmee to see the Mets play the Astros during Spring Training.  It was the closest we could get to opening day at Shea, listening to Ralph Kiner – now also a part of our collective memories – and soaking it all in.  Full of hope; high on expectations and yet cognizant of reality, that’s the life of a Mets fan. 

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the combative and sometimes negative banter, especially when you’re a part of such a diverse and passionate fan base.  Most of the time it’s exhilarating, as defending your opinion should be.  On rare occasions it brings out the worst in us, but like I said, that’s rare.  But there should be no doubt that hope, really does spring eternal every year around this time.
It’s going to be exciting to see how the future is going to play out with regards to the Mets pitching.  It’s difficult to not compare the arms of Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard to the icons of the past whether they be, Seaver, Koosman and Ryan or Gooden, Darling and Cone.  We’ve been teased before with Generation K, so we’re battle tested and always prepared to be disappointed.  But perhaps that pendulum has finally begun to swing our way.

Questions remain, as they always do.  Who’s playing first?  What about shortstop?  Does Alderson have money to spend?  If he does, do you believe him?  Do you believe the Wilpons?  Does that matter?  We always seem to be skeptical no matter who’s running the show, and that’s not entirely a bad thing.  We have to admit that progress has been made. Granted in a perfect world, it would have happened sooner then again in a perfect world Carlos Beltran would have swung at that curveball and Bernie Madoff would have never existed. 

“[Baseball] breaks your heart.  It’s designed to break your heart.  The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.  You count on it, you rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it the most, it stops.”
~ A. Bartlett Giamatti, Take Time For Paradise: Americans And Their Games

Even though a part of me would give anything to relive the past, I’m beginning to realize the true gift of what the past has given me.  What good is it to wish for days long gone with those we cared for sharing our love of this game and this team if it simply ends there?  Every thread of this game becomes a tapestry when passed down to those we love. The whole point is to continue our tradition. 

Adrienne Djaha
1933-2014

Just recently the mother of a good friend and co-worker of mine passed away.  As true a fan of this team I have ever known.  Adrienne would call to speak to her daughter and I knew when they were done speaking – it was time for us to talk shop.  She was 80 years old and sharp as a tack and she knew everything that was going on with this team from who was playing to who was hurt, down to her “boyfriend” Keith Hernandez’ personal life.  She made it a point to mention that he was “available” now and that he lived not too far from her.  I think the Mex would’ve met his match though. 


This is what matters most about our love for this team.  I may not write with the aplomb of a Greg Prince or with the uncanny wit of Metstradamus or with the statistical dexterity of Eric Simon.  But like Forrest Gump, I too know what love is and my greatest hope for anyone who reads this is to find that someone in your life and pass this love down.  I know, you might think it’s a curse but deep down, beyond the issues, beyond the controversies, we’re all one big family and I’ve been lucky to know and learn from a few of them.

Sandycare

Trust me.  I'm a lawyer.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or on Thorazine for the past few weeks, you’re probably aware of how the President’s health care plan, the Affordable Care Act a.k.a Obamacare, has been the finest roll out of a government program since the Kim family started rolling out grey one piece jumpsuits to the masses in North Korea. 

One of his many mantras over the course of his campaign, the President kept repeating the line “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”  He said it so often and focused on it with such dramatic attention that it had to be true, right?  Well, with the verbal deftness of a typical ambulance chasing lawyer, the President was proved to have lied or should I use Washingtonian speak and say he misled or was just being vague? 

Unfortunately we’re lied to everyday by so many people that we’re becoming practically numb and accustomed to it.  Granted what the President did to sell his health care plan ranks among the more ballsy of lies we’ve been told and its ramifications are just now beginning to unravel as is arguably his Presidency now hovering in the George W. Bush poll territory.

But I wonder if the virus that causes “misleading” or “obfuscation” has infected none other than Sandy Alderson, General Manager of the New York Mets?  There was a time where I was completely and totally on board with Alderson’s plan which was to rely more on home grown talent versus the actions of his predecessor which relied on buying talent. I still think that’s how you build self-sustaining, long term winning franchise, through developing your own players.  It’s just this doublespeak that’s starting to sound like outright lies that’s bothering me.

I’ve also finally have come to the conclusion that Sandy Alderson is just a transitional figure – moving this team from the days of spending money and getting little on the return for an owner that was almost financially destroyed by his relationship with a Ponzi scheme artist, Bernard Madoff.  Now it seems the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction where every decision is dissected to the nth degree; paralysis by analysis followed by an unwillingness to make improvements that don't require a trip to the flea market. 

In one breath we’re told that with money from albatross contracts coming off the books (Santana, Bay) there will be far more financial flexibility to bring in better talent.  Hints at signing players to $100 million dollar contracts are floated out to the masses by saying the team has “interest” in players like Shin Shoo Choo or Jacoby Ellsbury, both who will command contract’s somewhere in that range. 

We were told that the team would be interested in acquiring perhaps at least two if not three outfielders, either through free agency or trades or a mix of both.  We were told that the shackles were coming off after a long exodus in baseball purgatory.  So what do we get this week from the annual Winter Meetings held in Orlando?  We’re suddenly told there will be no $100 million dollar signings.  Probably one outfielder will be acquired, at best, and it won’t be the aforementioned Choo, Ellsbury or ex-Yankee Curtis Granderson. 

Look, I’m not pining for the Mets to suddenly offer a hundred million to Joe Schmo just for the sake of it.  In fact, I think this is one of the weakest free agent crops in quite some time.  That said, you don’t send mixed messages to the fan base especially when it comes off as being a lie…err I mean disingenuous, I mean misleading.  Cut the crap.  Either you’re willing to spend the money or you’re not. And seriously, enough with the money (lack of) jokes already. If perception truly is reality, you're doing a great job of making the Mets look broke...of course unless they practically are then you're just lying...I mean misleading.  There I go again, thinking I'm being lied to.  Silly me.

At this point, who the hell knows.  Like the old saying goes, shit or get off the pot.  Stop acting like a politician trying to please everyone because the truth isn’t what you (or the Wilpons) would like people to hear. In the end, you’ll end up looking like a slimy fool with something to hide Mr. President, err I mean Mr. Alderson.

Do the fans the honor of being honest with them.  We can handle it.