I love Brooklyn, being Italian-American, and the New York Mets. And so, naturally, the love of my life turned out to be a Bronx-born Chinese-American man who also happens to be a Yankees fan!
I could never be a Yankees fan. You see my dad was a diehard Dodgers fan and he mourned their leaving Brooklyn in 1957 for the rest of his days. When the Mets came on the scene in 1962, his natural inclination was to root for the new underdogs in town. And his loyal children followed suit. I remember the first time my dad took us to Shea Stadium and we walked through the darkness of the gate into the sunlight and I saw the field for the first time. I never knew grass could be so green. He took us down to field level so we could get some autographs and pitcher Jon Matlack borrowed my pen! We would watch the game on TV or listen on the kitchen radio while we were doing the dishes. The voices of the original three Mets announcers, Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, and Lindsey Nelson, with their flashy jackets, were a big part of the soundtrack of my youth.
During the 1969 playoff season, our teachers at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary let us watch the games live in our classrooms! Now that was a great year. And when the Mets again won the World Series in 1986, my sister, Lisa, and I threw bagfuls of confetti out of our bedroom window on DeGraw Street. And then we had to sweep it up.
The neighborhood was clearly divided between Mets and Yankees fans. We Mets fans usually commiserated together and conducted heated shouting matches (“Yankees stink, Yankees stink!”) with our friends who were Yankees fans. After picking up the Daily News Night Owl edition during the summertime, I would usually discuss the standings with my faithful Mets fan neighbor, Freddy Palma, who lived on the corner of my block.
The still intense rivalry is now in my own home. It's not just my husband who is the Yankees fan in the family. One of my sons has also taken the easy route and is growing up rooting for the uber team. I mean how hard is it to be a fan for a team that has won 27 World Championships??!! And my dearest friend, Diane, is a Yankees fan extraordinaire. When the Mets and Yankees faced each other in the 2000 World Series, we had a party of sorts, complete with team logo cupcakes from the dearly departed College Bakery. It was Diane and my husband against another very dear friend, RoseMarie, and me. That series did not end well for Roe and me (or the Mets).
It's a testament to a marriage and a friendship when you can root with your entire being for different teams and still be civil to one another. My childhood (and FB) friend, Theresa, also a Mets fan married to a Yankees fan, has a ritual during the annual Subway Series games. She and her husband, Mino, kiss before the game, fight during the game, and kiss after the game. Very diplomatic, I think. When my husband and I were dating, someone gave us tickets for Old Timers Day at the old Yankee Stadium. It was a major commitment I was making to our relationship by going to that game and I must say that when I entered the stadium, I felt like I was committing some kind of sacrilege. Luckily, the relationship survived.
At the end of last night's game, with the Yankees winning 1-0, my somewhat jaded husband tried switching to the Pacers/Heat game. I was holding out hope that the Mets could actually win in the 9th and that's just what they did. They socked the mighty Mariano Rivera for 3 consecutive hits and 2 runs. It was the first time Mo blew a save without retiring a single batter and it happened at the hands of the Mets! It was a super sweet victory for this beleaguered Mets fan and I was whooping it up like it was the World Series. Albeit by myself. The 2013 Subway Series continues tonight with Game 3 at Yankee Stadium. Let’s go Mets!
