Saturday, February 12th 2011, 2:49 PM
It's never easy being a Mets fan, but these are especially trying times. We already take grief from all those knuckle-draggers who root for the Yankees. Now, we'll have to sit and stew in our Oliver Perez jerseys this season while the Phillies field a Hall of Fame rotation.
New general manager Sandy Alderson might be one of Major League Baseball's most capable executives, but he's no miracle worker, and most of us Mets fans are already resigned to the fact that our club probably won't compete for a playoff berth. Plus, there's all the turmoil in the front office. Fred Wilpon says he wants to sell a chunk of the team, a move prompted by the lawsuit the trustee representing Bernie Madoff's victims filed against the Mets owner and his business partners in December.
Like I said, it's never easy being a Mets fan, but these are indeed trying times. It's enough to make me want to beat on a brat with a baseball bat!
There is, however, one way for the Mets to exorcise the bad vibes that have hung over the team since Carlos Beltran struck out looking to end Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS: the Mets need to honor the late Joey Ramone, the lead singer of the Ramones and the greatest rock 'n' roll star ever produced by the borough of Queens.
"He stands with the giants. In his genre, he is David Bowie, Mick Jagger, even Elvis," says Joan Jett, who knows a thing or two about rock 'n' roll. "If I had never heard Joey, 'Bad Reputation' would likely not exist, and it is one of my favorite and most important songs."
Former Ramones manager Danny Fields says the Mets could use a little Joey Ramone mojo: "I think it would be a wonderful thing for the Mets to do," says Fields. "Joey was a nebbish from Queens who had the guts to get on stage and become a rock star. He made it possible for all the losers in the world to be cool. He led a charmed life, and I think the Mets could use a little charm these days.
Even "Handsome" Dick Manitoba, a hardcore Yankees fan and the lead singer of the Dictators, another one of the great punk bands that exploded out of CBGB during the 1970s, says he'd be delighted to go to Citi Field if the Mets honor his friend, who died 10 years ago - April 15, 2001 - from lymphoma.
"I'm thrilled whenever I go to Yankee Stadium and I hear Joey singing 'Hey, ho, let's go!,'" Maritoba says. "I think if Joey were alive, he'd get a kick out of being honored by the Mets. Count me in! I'll do whatever I can to make this happen."
There's a precedent for all this. In 2010, the Giants, who hadn't won a title since 1954 - four years before they abandoned New York for San Fancisco - finally triumphed in the World Series. The difference? Well, Tim Lincecum had a lot to do with it. But so did Jerry Garcia.
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