Since those ’80’s Mets teams and the Yankees recent dynasty, the subject of the Mets taking back New York arises whenever the Mets begin winning again. Why?

I understand that winning will help take back New York. I understand it comes along with a more interesting and talented team. However, Mets fans snipe at the bandwagon fans that come with taking back New York. 

This obsession isn’t present in the other Nrw York sports. I’ve never heard a Jets fan talk about taking over New York. All Islander fans care about is beating the Rangers. They don’t care about taking over New York. Honestly, I think the Nets fans just want to be relevant. I think they’ll settle for that before taking over New York. 

Here’s the difference between the Mets and those other teams:

1. The Mets once owned New York; and
2. Yankees fans are intolerable

Since Interleague play started, we’ve had to deal with Yankee fans on a more consistent basis. They’re smug. They lord it over Mets fans when they win. When they lose, they point to 2000 and their other 26 World Series titles. They need to be taken down a peg or 26. 

We’ll always have Yankees fans to deal with.  We were hoping with Jeter gone, they would begin to fade. Of course, this year they’re winning. I’ve heard Yankee fans spouting off they have a better record and a bigger lead in their division. You see that’s the rub. They’ll never admit it, but the Mets bother the Yankees fans. 

Giant and Jet fans live in relative harmony. Two Super Bowl wins over the hated cheating Patriots will do that. Islander and Ranger fans hate each other’s teams, but they’ll admit it. In a small way Rangers fans welcome the return of the Islanders because it makes the rivalry so much better when they’re both good.

Yankee fans like to pretend there’s no rivalry. However, they’ll never admit to their panic in 2000 that they could’ve lost the World Series to the Mets. They were touting Severino last night. I think a large part of that was Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, and Wheeler. At least the Mets fan will admit they hate the Yankees and they want to retake New York.

I think another reason Mets want to take over New York is their children. I started this blog to share my experiences of raising a Mets fan. If the Mets are good, it’ll be a lot easier to raise a Mets fan. Also, you want your kids to enjoy baseball. It was a lot easier for me as a kid to enjoy baseball in 1988 than it was 1993. Admittedly, this is the part of taking over New York that interests me the most. 

Hopefully, the Mets are on the rise and on their way to retaking New York. Personally, I’m not consumed with it, but I will enjoy the ride. I can’t wait for those smug Yankee fans to be put in their place. More importantly, I can’t wait to raise a son in an era of good Mets baseball. 

You know what?  I’ve talked myself into it. Let’s take back New York!