The decision to see the Mets play the Royals was partially inspired by a series of drunken texts about bragging about the 2015 World Series as much as it was an excuse to finally get the gang back together at the ballpark, removed from the tangled texting communications that last too long.
I double checked with everyone going to make sure we were all clear and committed to a night out at the ballpark. What I didn’t expect was to see about 1200 orange clad Mets fans from Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island stretched along the right field line when we got inside the park.
After catching up over some ballpark food out past right field, we headed in to watch some baseball. Collectively, we were all pretty well heeled Royals fans. Adam was wearing a powder blue retro Perez jersey. (‘I had this custom made before he was even called up!’) I made up the other 25% of the quartet that wore a Royals jersey. <mine was a Scott Blewett jersey I bought for $50 bucks in April. Blewett never made the major league roster out of spring training, and the unnumbered jersey that bore his name called out to me. I figured between the front and back, the Royals/Blewett made a nice descriptive and complete sentence summing up the Royals from 2016 to the present. Like clockwork, my jersey’s first appearance matched the Royals play all too well.
Meet the Mets (fans)
The night of heckling Mets fans began with a few dispirited yelps of ‘Scooter’ towards their right fielder Michael Conforto. That was the best I could come up with after doing some research. I did finally admit defeat with a loud ‘Your wikipedia page is boring!’. My callous acts were minuscule as what would happen later in the evening. All of us took note of the 1200 or so Mets fans taking up six sections of seats.
We all pondered what we could do to the Mets fans. One early idea almost became a reality. There was a balloon artist in the outfield, and we wondered if he could make a 2,0,1, and 5 out of balloons for us. We’d slowly parade in front of the Mets fans until they took note.
Unfortunately, our bubble burst when the balloon ‘artist’ couldn’t make a 2 or 5 without glue. Crestfallen, we spent a few innings bemoaning the perfect troll. We even visited the giftshops and tried finding some banners or anything that could step in place of the 2015 balloons.
We walked back to the outfield to regroup and figure out what to do with the few innings remaining.
Drunken Inspiration and Ingenuity
As we were walking back to the Mets sections, Adam looked at my back and the idea hit him. “Your jersey already says Blew It, we should just add a ‘2015’!” Shocked by the simplicity of the plan, infinite possibilities emerged. Sharpies, eye black, ketchup, mayo were all ideas on how to write 2015 on my back.
A food booth was closing as we dejectedly strolled by. It hit me. The guys continued to stroll ahead when I yelled. I needed three things: a sharpie, saran wrap and a piece of paper. A food stand that was closing would have all three.
I hastily wrote 2015 on a large white bag, then spun myself with a few layers of saran wrap. This mission was about to get real. With everybody already laughing, I held my hand up over my head, yelling ‘Royals!’ and headed towards the belly of the beast.
Blewett 2015
I made my way through the crowd, and settled at the railing in front of the section of Mets fans. Walking through drew enough attention and some boos and comments, but nothing like what would happen. As I stood at the railing and watched, my friends reported they saw the people’s faces change from confusion to anger. Then the ‘Asshole’ chant started. I turned to my crowd and made a few comment about the ’15 Series. I asked why Harvey wasn’t starting the ninth, called out Lucas Duda, and continued on, getting jeered louder and louder. Soon, I was up at the railing face to face with the enemy.
To a man, every Mets fan I talked to shook their head and said what I did was wrong, but they respected it, laughed, and shook my hand. I posed for pictures, wished them the best while they were in Kansas City, and proceeded to watch the Royals lose their 79th game out of 123 tries.
Thanks Corey, Curtis, Adam and Big John.