Tuesday, May 22, 2007

It Hurts To Boo: The Epilogue

Half good livin'...half dumb luck...half minor miracle...but I'm able to sit down for a long stretch without dying when I get up. Looks like my demise has been nothing more than a drill. A trip to the back-cracker should bring me back to 100%. (Willie Randolph says that they're no need for me to go on a rehab assignment to blog about the Savannah Sand Gnats). Thank you all for your well wishes (including the phone call I got telling me what a wuss I am...you know who you are).

While in the midst of self medicating over the last 24 hours and nothing to sink my teeth into during this off day, it occurs to me...a microcosm of why the Yankee fan is so loathed in Queens.

I'm talking besides the obvious.

It's something I noticed in the crowd during the Sunday night game. The key...my friends...is in the chants. And it's a phenomenon you'll probably only see at Shea Stadium, but when Met fans chant "Let's Go Mets", it's in the general vicinity of the field, where the Mets are. The chant is delivered quite literally. We want the Mets to...well, go. So we chant "Let's Go Mets" to the Mets. The chant, you see, is used in the traditional method.

The "Let's Go Yankees" chant...a chant, by the way, rarely heard if heard at all before the mid-90's (despite the fact that the Yankee revisionist historian will probably have you believe that this chant was born the same day as Frank Crosetti himself...I will swear to my dying day that chant is a mere derivative of the "Let's Go Rangers" chant, which really has lasted since the beginning of time), was chanted on Sunday night by Yankees fans not in the vicinity of the field to exhort their Yankees to victory, but rather with their backs to the field, with pointed fingers at Mets fans as if "Let's Go Yankees" was a threat. Or perhaps a four-letter word...which many Mets fans consider "Let's Go Yankees" to be anyway...a cuss.

So how else, I ask, is a Met fan to respond to being cussed out?

"Yankees Suck!"

"Yankees Suck!"

"Yankees Suck!"

And while I'm not trying to exonerate the Met fans who went too far with their actions Sunday night, and neither am I trying to condemn the majority of Yankee fans who behaved (including, thankfully, the two that provided us with our tickets), this is more a way of trying to further delve deep into the psyche of the Met fan...what makes the typical Met fan lash out when confronted with "Yanksimus Maximus".

It's a mere sparkplug of the psychiatric melting pot that was Sunday night at Shea Stadium.

12 comments:

JAMMQ said...

I think chanting "Yankees Suck" is an ill-advised, and generally ineffective response to the "Let's Go Yankees" chant.

It reinforces the whole "Yankees come first, and whatever the Mets do is in response to the Yankees" thing.

Plus, it gives the Yankee fans exactly what they want . . . attention. It's a little kid throwing a tantrum the attention he craves.

I'll be damned if I'm going to waste my energy rooting AGAINST someone else's team, as opposed to rooting FOR my team.

That is energy better spent ripping Yankee hats off Yankee fans obnoxious enough to wear them to Shea and hurling them with great force towards the field, or, if that is too much for you, then simply chanting . . . "Let's Go Mets!"

DaYankeesWin said...

What are you saying? Do you really believe the shit you just wrote?

I don't hate the Mets. I hardly consider them a rival, it wasn't the Mets who beat the Yanks in 2004, and it isn't the Mets who have 9 1/2 game lead on the Yanks.

I can't believe you spent an entire post on this shit. You really think one chant has more to do with arrogance than another. Seriously, aren't you grasping at straws? Do they just have better weed in Queens than they have in the Bronx? If that's the case, then I'll quickly become a Mets fan then I'll be able to pretend to "understand" what you are saying.

I'm not hear to talk crap about the Mets, I have no ill-will towards them, I actually love watching Reyes play but seriously dude....I ask again, do you believe the shit you wrote?

"Mommy, Mommy, their chants are mean and arrogant, ours are nicer, those Yankee fans are just mean". I'll be back when you are talking about PMS and other shit I'll never understand.

Ken Dynamo said...

if all the yankees have left to cling to are obnoxious chants, why not beat them at that too? then they'll have nothing left. NOTHING.

i went to an O's game last year and yelled from centerfeild at damon and i swear i made him cry.

really tho, a lot of yankee fans grew up only knowing winning. thats why its so much fun to rub in thier ugly faces. i'll root for my team AND against the team we're playing. i have that much energy to go around during games. its insane really, my energy level. it's literally at 110%

Anonymous said...

I've written before (here, probably) about how the single syllable of "Mets" makes the Mets' cheer a more effective one than the Yankees'. It allows the chant to gain intensity with each repetition, instead of losing momentum due to dead space. The rhythm of "LET'S go YANK kees!" allows those dastardly (CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP)s to be inserted afterward, making for a bloated and sluggish chant. A Yankee fan could be in the middle of the (CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP)s when the other team hit a home run, but the "Let's Go Mets" chant can be stopped naturally on a dime because it is so short.

Here's a new insight: All three syllables of the Mets' chant are accented ("LET'S GO METS!"), but in the Yankees' chant the word "go," which is the most primordial element of any supporting cheer, is actually UNaccented. If you walked away from a bunch of cheering Yankees fans, when you got far enough away you would only hear "LET'S YANK!"

Metstradamus said...

DaaaaYankeesWin,

Yes, I saw it...so I believe it. Much like I believe that you're actually from Fallujah and Tora Bora as it says on your profile. Somehow, it just seems to make sense.

And yes, our weed is better in Queens, especially when used for medicinal purposes.

Anonymous said...

daaaaaaaayankeeswin needs to realize that he IS the reason for the "Yankees Suck" chant. See, we don't want to be ill-mannered or give the appearance that I'm less than nice, but posts like yours inspire me to throw your ballteams failures in your face whenever I can, however I can.

Let's Go Yankees was delivered as a "na, na, nahnah na" to Mets fans ... Let's Go Mets was urging our team on. There's a difference.

So your chant was stolen from the Rangers just as your logo was stolen from the police department in the 20's. Your team is a derivative concept who's management can't live without a new ballpark (just because the Mets are getting one) and who buys talent rather than develops it.

You're a hostile little fraud who roots for the House in Vegas. Own it, dude ... it's all you.

Anonymous said...

Get well soon!
Get well soon!
Get well soon!

You're right. Three syllables do the trick every time.

Anonymous said...

Met fans are baseball fans who love their team. Yankee "fans" are loutish thugs who desperately need to latch on to a winner in the hope that some of it rubs off and obscures their sad lives.

Met fans cheer their team. If I had a dollar for every slovenly pinstripe-clad drunk with his back to the game yelling "Look at me!!!" at Shea this weekend, I could buy season tickets.

Anonymous said...

Its becuse the Yanks were on the Road. I'm a Mets man but it'll be reversed in a couple weeks when we go to the Bronx. You have a different psyche when you are watching your team from another ballpark. Road fans are more passionate for the most part to begin with, so when you combine beer, a cross town series, and the camaraderie you see when you see another road fan, you can go too far.

Honestly, I dont give a shit about the Yankees. I love beating them but I really don't think about them otherwise. Could be because I live in DC now and am removed from it.

DaYankeesWin said...

fredstradamus - I'm an idiot but you have the audacity to say this:
"who buys talent rather than develops it"

Let's play a game and let's find out how much talent the Mets have developed, don't fucking act like the Mets are the Royals either.

Moises Alou, NOPE
Carlos Beltran - NOPE
Paul Loduca - NOPE
Carlos Delgado - NOPE
Jose Valentin - NOPE
Endy Chavez - NOPE
Shawn Green - NOPE
Billy Wagner - NOPE
Pedro Martinez - NOPE
John Maine - NOPE
Tom Glavine - NOPE
Guillermo Mota - NOPE
Ramon Castro - NOPE


Let's not forget the Robbie Alomar, Mike Piazza, Bobby Bonilla, Mo Vaughn, Vince Coleman, Frank Viola years either.

Please, don't be a dick and talk out of your ass. I never dissed your Mets, but at least sound intelligent.

Who cares where chants or logos are lifted, or whether if they were the Highlanders, or if YOUR team lifted the colors of both the Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants. Yeah, let's forget about all of that too. You know why? Cause it's irrelavant.

My whole point was, has it got so bad that we have to start saying that one chant is better than the other? That's retarded. I think the Mets have a great team, again...I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE METS. I wasn't taking anything away from the fact that the Mets took 2 out of 3. But seriously, the chants is the Mets fan big beef after this weekend?

Continue to spit into the wind....you got a nice green one coming right back at you.

I think Artie Lange is on to something when he talks about Met fans.

Anonymous said...

Oh, boy ... a sophmoric, disrespectful, ill-behaved Yankees fan who has misdirected anger. Where to start ....

"I'm an idiot" you said it, not me. But very well put. Probably the best, most truthful statement of your post. Nope, THE best.

The Mets have not thrown around 200M+ a year, including dumping oodles of money to a pitcher in A-ball to construct an All-Star team on a whim. So say what you like, but you don't have a leg to stand on here.

"Let's not forget the Robbie Alomar, Mike Piazza, Bobby Bonilla, Mo Vaughn, Vince Coleman, Frank Viola years either."

I think that goes from 1987 to 2005 ... care to clarify?

"I never dissed your Mets, but at least sound intelligent."

Ah, but you dissed my flesh and blood in a public forum, and you did kinda dis the Mets. The latter I can accept. The former ... no way. The guy who writes this column forgot more about sports before his morning coffee than you'll ever know, so go pound.

And I sound pretty intelligent to my students at a major university, as well as the tenured professors to review my work. Universities, by the way, are schools ... you should try one. Maybe 7-11 has a tuition reimbursement program you could look into. Don't use crayon on the application ... just a free tip from me. You're welcome.

"YOUR team lifted the colors of both the Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants."

Homage. It's in the dictionary too ... a little left of "University".

"Cause it's irrelavant."

You're irrelevant, punk. Go stare at the sun.

"I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE METS."

Then get off the boards where their fans visit.

"I think Artie Lange is on to something when he talks about Met fans."

You quote a bloated drunk comedian from the Howard Stern show? I think books are good. You should try one ... like I said, start with the dictionary and see where that takes you.

Now lose yourself.

DaYankeesWin said...

Ahhh ha, there we have it...you feel so inadequate that you have to throw around your job title and what you do for a living. I guess that little dick complex you grew up with has now manifested itself in you telling the entire world how smart you are. "Everyone, look at me...I'm smart".

I have a pretty good job, too. However, the difference between you and I is that my job doesn't define me, it is simply what I do, but it doesn't make me a better or even a lesser person. I would be willing to bet that you'd be quite humbled if you knew what I do, what my responsibilities are, AND EVEN what university I graduated from - including all my accolades.

But again, that doesn't define who I am.

Just because your inner child needs a hug, doesn't mean you should take it out on others.

If you are going to bitch about the economic system in baseball and the Yankees 200 million dollar payroll, then you have to take a careful look at how you and the team you root for have benefited from this economic system that you gripe about.

I love it when people who root for the Mets and Red Sox love to cry poverty. If there was a salary cap, then you know the Mets wouldn't be able to afford many of the players on their current team.

You sound like such a douche; you actually believe that all teams in baseball can afford to overbid for the services of Beltran and Pedro.

Whenever you'd your inner child needs a hug then let me know, because I can't do anything about your small pecker and your inability to satisfy any of your sexual partners. Don't take that out on me, you little bitch.

I'm sure Astro fans understand the poverty you talk about everytime Beltran comes to bat for the Mets.