Like many or most of you, my heart is heavy right now. Many times you see disasters on the news and think “those types of things only happen other places, thank goodness that doesn’t happen here”. And then you find yourself sitting in your living room in the dark, listening to the wrath of Mother Nature outside your windows, not knowing what’s going to happen to you or other people who were sitting in their living rooms much the same way. In all my years of growing up and living in New Jersey, never in my life have I seen or heard anything like the fury that just overtook us. In the blink of an eye, we had suddenly become “other places”.
Most of you have seen the pictures on TV or online. Most of us have lived it. The pictures look like those we had only seen “other places”. Only this time they weren’t…they were our homes, our neighborhoods, and our lives. This is our Katrina, and our lives will most likely never be the same again. Those of us who grew up spending our summers on the Jersey Shore, or out at Jones Beach and Coney Island…those memories are now forever changed. Some people lost everything, others opened their homes to those they could, others sat in the dark for days, their patience and sanity slowly slipping away (mine included…although someone was able to talk me down…you know who you are <3).
As always though, we will prevail. Once again, the best of humanity has shown itself, as volunteers spend countless hours at shelters; electrical crews from states all over the country flock here to help us get back up and running; police, firefighters, emergency personnel are working 16-hour shifts to ensure chaos doesn’t ensue and of all things, to keep order at GAS STATIONS. Governors we may or may not like are suddenly heroes in our eyes as they lay everything on the line for the people of their states. We will prevail.
And my Mets faithful…the World Series is once again over and another season has come to a close. Now the frenzied off-season starts, with the “who’s going where” rumors already spreading. But we as Mets fans have one thing on our minds…our beloved David Wright. R.A. Dickey could also be included here, but since David and Ruben are my assignments this off-season, I’ll stick to D-Dubs. By now we all know that the Mets have picked up Wright’s $16 million option for 2013, and it seems contract extension talks have FINALLY begun.
However the reports out of negotiations are not great…rumors of a “cavalier” attitude on behalf of the Mets, and talks that are “stuck in neutral” have been swirling around. Let’s get one thing out on the table here…this is the Mets’ last chance to do the right thing and show their fans that they are listening and care about this team. Is David the greatest player in all of baseball? Probably not, but he’s OUR David, and whether he’s playing his best or not so great, he’s someone for us to rally around and believe in and root for.
So come on Wilpons, let’s do something right for once. Don’t let your most talented home-grown player, who has a shot at breaking almost every franchise record, get away. Let us keep our hero. It’s rare enough to have a player of his character who actually WANTS to be here.
After this week, New York fans are going to need something to rally around…and what better person for Mets fans, than David Wright.
