Hmmm, Jerry’s not exactly a student of baseball history, huh? He just “thinks” the Skanks were around longer than our 1962 expansion team?

LOL I like jerry, but that one made me laugh.

Other than that, cgpublic’s commenst are well-taken.

That said, I certainly loved the 86 team, and that was full of hired and traded for guns, many of whom were hardly reflecting well on the city or were David Wright / Derek Jeter types of men at that point in their lives.

I generally want US corporations to do well and make money for their investors, create jobs, produce new and useful products and services for consumers, and help the economy. Also, I generally vote Republican.

Yet, I loathe the Yankees and love the Mets.

Personally, I see rooting for the Skanks like rooting for the government – large, impersonal, powerful, merciless, and all too present in our lives.

Plus, ….there’s the DH abomination. ;-)

First and foremost, you need to recognize that it is not a question of the homegrown players who have been traded, but rather a question of the overall approach to building a franchise and how get the best ROI. Over the past five years, who other than the Mets has made a bigger splash signing free agents to big (money and term) contracts? Have you not considered the picks that have been lost? Have you not considered how that money could have been spent improving the ability of the Mets to scout and sign players?

Second, there is no code, only the fact that the fan base, in spite of a large number of Latino fans, have not embraced Beltran, Castillo, Delgado and Santana. All better than average players, they do not openly exhibit the same love for the game as Pedro Martinez, Jose Reyes and David Wright.

Unfortunately, Pedro has been injured for far too much time as a Met, and while Reyes has a winning personality, a significant number of fans question his commitment to the game and his team.

Lastly, I’m not sure what gave you the impression that I was excluding Wright from his responsibility for the collapse. He shares it equally with the other members of the team.

Sorry I do not buy the code word on how you win and who is doing it.

I also do not buy that they are not very likeable other than Wright.

What makes Wright any less part of the collapse other than the color of his skin?

While I do agree with Manuel and Matt that winning would change the perception of the Mets, the bottom line regarding building a resilient fan base is that it’s not only winning, it’s how you win and who is doing it.

What’s often overlooked in the negative fan response to the Mets since the collapse is that other than Wright, they are not a very likable team. If you don’t like the team, why give them the benefit of doubt and root for them?

In my opinion, the Wilpons and Minaya made a big mistake in taking a page from Steinbrenner and the Yanks in their attempt to take a shortcut to optimize the profitability of the pending launch of CitiField with a free agent spending spree.

What was needed, and wanted, was some homegrown players that reflect well on the team and the city. Just ask the Yanks about Jeter and his value to the franchise.

I don’t want you to strain yourself. It’s certainly easier to be “negativefan”. Like that poor sod in the Red Sox movie (2003?), who clung to his pessimism to prevent the psychological work that dealing with reality can involve.

gotta love those italian women.