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The word from Citi Field is that Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline returned as a Sing-a-Along during today’s game during the fifth-inning break, while Meet the Mets will again play in the eighth inning.
Last night, Sweet Caroline was not played at all, which was received with cheers today by me, MetsGrrl.com, BrooklynMetFan.com, Evan Roberts on WFAN, and others.
Apparently, it isn’t totally dead just yet, though.
Question: A) Who within Mets management is in love with Neil Diamond, and/or ripping off the Red Sox, B) when did it become a requirement to have sing-a-longs at professional baseball games, and C) why do I care about this so much?
You (and many other fans) care because it seems sometimes like the Mets are trying to be run like a second rate organization. It still seems like this team is looking for an identity, when it seems like they already were establishing one in the late 90’s – 2000. You want the fans to get into something? – stop changing it every week.
And let me clarify my second rate comment……they clearly spend the money, they get the player they need to go out and get (most of the time)…..just the promotion/marketing team……they pull off some silliness I cringe at when I see. Although the Bobcat vs the Forklift race on diamondvision is amazing…..
Who won the race?
The excavator made a late charge and won it all.
Maybe it’s just another facet of Fred’s Brooklyn infatuation. Neil being an Erasmus alum and all.
Speaking of Brooklyn, how about a Junior’s outpost at the park? Mmmm… cheesecake…
Is someone in upper management related to Neil Diamond? That would explain “I’m A Believer” and this BS.
You care, Matt, because it makes us look bush league. It makes it look unoriginal. It makes us look like we are so embarrassed of our heritage that we can’t be bothered to create our own traditions (or use the ones that we have, like the Curly Shuffle).
Right now I’d welcome “Our Team, Our Time” over “Sweet Caroline,” and I really hated “Our Team, Our Time.”
Didn’t they have a fan vote last season and voted for “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees? Why did they just throw that vote out the window? Technically, we were “RickRolled” and Rick Astley won with “Never Gonna Give You Up”, but “I’m a Believer” beat out “Livin’ on a Prayer”.
i hate that song…
the beatles are tied to the mets via Shea, so i think we should use Twist and Shout, not only because its a good song by one of the most influential bands ever, its a reference to one of the great moments in Shea’s history…
I completely agree. About a year or so ago, when they held a vote for the 8th inning song, I always wrote in “Twist and Shout”. It would be a perfect homage to Shea Stadium and its ties to the Beatles.
I remember about 10 years ago or so, they used to play “I Saw Here Standing There” during the 7th inning stretch. That too would be an acceptable song in the 8th inning (if they feel they absolutely *must* have an 8th inning sing-a-long in the first place). “Sweet Caroline” is just derivative and wrong.
Absolutely, dulcetpine. An old Beatle song from the 1960s should be the pick! Also “Twist and Shout” is a good choice because it was the opening song for the Beatles at Shea stadium!!
as long as the 8th inning song is meet the mets, i dont care what they do in the 5th inning.
I don’t particularly care one way or the other about the song but I fail to see how the Red Sox own it. It is played at lots of sporting events.
I agree. There is absolutely no reason to have Sweet Caroline. It is specifically a Red Sox song and it’s kind of pathetic that the Mets management can’t think of another song to utilize.
being a Mets fan in Boston, this annoys me so much. I think it is played out at Fenway at this point. the current Red Sox regime has tried to make Fenway an experience as opposed to just a baseball game and they have done a tremendous job at that. Sweet caroline is part of the experience at Fenway.
I’m not sure what the mets are trying to do with it. I mean, even Neil Diamond associates it with Fenway.
I understand and share the frustration. My view is that a game should be about the game and if the Mets can keep winning at home like they are this year, it bothers me a little less.
I hope I don’t get my commenting permissions revoked for saying so, but Neil Diamond is from New York, the Rangers have been playing Sweet Caroline at MSG forever, and the Red Sox cannot claim ownership to the song just because it was shown in a Drew Barrymore movie. All that being said, I am not sure why they can’t just play Curly Shuffle and make everyone happy.
Because you can’t start doing something that’s become identified with another team. You can, but it looks silly.
Fans of a team don’t want to be reminded of other teams (or be made fun of by other team’s fans) for their stadium stuff. Just like the Mets shouldn’t start doing a sausage race or install a giant slide for Mr. Met to slide down after someone hits a home run or the Dodgers shouldn’t install a home run apple.
I think it doesn’t stop with “Sweet Caroline” the Jacki Robinson rotunda is really awkward. Perhaps my perspective is more acute as I grew up in Vero Beach among hard core Dodger fans (from Brooklyn and LA) and spent my childhood going to Spring training games and reverence the Dodgers have to Jackie is amazing. Jackie, regardless of how important a figure, never played for the Mets nor in Queens and I feel the Wilpons are hijacking another teams legacy for their own gain or whatnot. Even had they built the stadium in the Brooklyn Shipyards it would be awkward. Just because he never played on the Los Angeles team doesn’t mean he belongs to the default NL team is all I’m saying.
The “Sweet Caroline” thing is awkward too having two close friends who are Red Sox fans (who make fun of us for it in their obnoxious Bostonian accent). It just feeds into this inferiority complex the Mets seem to have.
Furthermore, and I know Metsgrrl is championing this as well, but the lack of our own monuments is really cruddy. You’re telling me we can’t manage a Tom Seaver statue? Or retiring Mike Piazza’s number? I see a real lack of Mets history at Citi Field and it’s a shame having been to so many ball parks that truly celebrate their history including the one in the Bronx. I mean both our WS victories are ranked among the greatest of all time!
Something tells me the Rotunda could have been used for more than honoring one of the greatest players that never played for us or in Queens. Ditto for the Ebbots field look. Why no reference to the Giants if that’s the point?
I think the Wilpons should have just bought the Dodgers from the O’Malleys. They are clearly in love with them still. That and I hate the McCourts. But that’s immaterial.
Here’s what I don’t understand: if the Mets are going to rip something off from the Red Sox, why can’t it be the manner in which the front office is run, or winning World Series, or something like that?
Oh, right. It’s because this team is run by buffoons and oafs.
Was anyone on here there yesterday? I heard SC being played during the Pepsi Launch but I don’t even think they played the whole song – were the words on the screen on the jumbotron? I was in the store when it was played so I didn’t get to see what was going on out there…
As a Mets fan since 1969, I can say that the Mets ALWAYS seem to do things that make no sense at all. We care about the song issue because we CARE about the Mets. Yes it is a blatant ripoff of the Sox doing it. No the Sox dont own the song, but can the Mets, in the Nation’s largest city, find NO ONE that can be creative enough to come up wi something better than Sweet Caroline?
I was at the game yesterday, and I am pretty sure when they played Sweet Caroline it was not as a singalong.
They just played it, and not even the entire song. Made it almost tolerable. Almost.
Bottom line: I don’t need 45,000 random people reaching out, touching themselves, touching me.
Neil Diamond is always going to be associated with New York, and stands out as a NYer. It’s obvious that many Mets fans enjoy the song. Lets not portray Sweet Carroline as if every Mets fan or even a clear majority hate it.
Red Sox were doing it long before a movie, either way the fact that Rangers do it is enough reason not to do it at Citi Field.
They should play the Ramones I Believe in Miracles
I enjoy Sweet Carroline but I think a regular rotation of selections that are NY appropriate would be cool too. A little variety, although goes against forming a hardfast tradition, for whatever that’s worth, would be fun.