So here I am last Sunday sitting in a McDonald's parking lot in Little Neck, Queens eating my Egg McMuffin, reading the Daily News and listening to Mike Francesa on WFAN while my son is down the road at Americana Manhasset at a car show.
Francesa on Sunday morning is mainly about the NFL but this Sunday he was all Mets. He took a call from Will in Queens, a die hard Mets fan. How was I able to tell he was a die hard Mets fan? He was crying. Yes, an adult Mets fan calling Francesa and crying that the Mets are only ties in the NLDS 1-1 and through his tears exclaimed, or was it threatened, that Matt Harvey better come through tomorrow (game 3). That this is Harvey's "one chance," and exhorting Harvey to put the team on "your shoulders and then you got my faith back in you.”
I always knew that Mets fans were a squirrelly bunch and a little off (apologies to James Eterno) but this was too much. Crying? Intimidating the Dark Knight? Crying?
The Post picked up on the story and wasn't too kind to the Sports Pope Francesa. Francesa as we know likes to mock the Mets fans said;
“Will, you crying?” an incredulous Francesa, ever the charmer, offers. “Not really crying over this I hope, jeez. … That sounded scary. Will, come on. Calm down, it’s Sunday morning. He’ll be all right, jeez.”So what happens?
The next day, Monday, I'm listening to Francesa and he gets another call from Will in Queens. Will is a lot calmer this time, more level headed. Francesa is apologetic (Wish he talked to Mad Dog this nicely) and was talking up Will.
Turns out that Will lives for the Mets and does not have cable and is only able to enjoy his team through the stylings of Howie Rose on WOR 710. Will also lives alone. I know, a true Mets fan.
Francesa asks Will his age and Will tells him that he is 42 years old and has yet to attend a game at Citi Field. Yes, we know, a true Mets fan. Mike asks Will what he does for a living. Ready for this?
Will is a math teacher for the DOE at Russell Sage Junior High School in Forest Hills!
I spit my coffee out! But wait, it gets better.
Francesa asks Will if he is busy that evening and if he has the means to make it to Citi Field. Will doesn't know what is coming but I could tell already.
Francesa invited Will to the Mets NLDS game 3 at Citi Field as his personal guest. He told Will to wear his Matt Harvey jersey and his Mets hat and to meet him at the Gil Hodges gate at 8 PM.
Sure enough, Matt Harvey pitched OK and probably failed to heed Will's demands. But it was great to hear a positive thing happen to a NYC teacher, read positive media coverage about a teacher, and sadly the DOE is too dumb to pick this story up and run with it.
So many possible lessons could have come from this and we here at SBSB are sure that Will shared this 15 minutes with his students. I guess a city wide lesson could have been...hmmm, let's do this with an essential question,"What's the deal with Mets fans?"
Mets got a good team this year. I wish the Yanks could have been put together as they were. Enjoy the run.
If the Giants make the Super Bowl this year I am calling Francesa bawling my eyes out.
Will should get an effective call rating.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to Francesa since before he had his own show with Mad Dog - in those days you could call the FAN during breaks and ask to speak to a host and they would connect you. I had a former student who was a great basketball player but doing poorly academically and I called Francesa to see if he had any contacts to help get the kid out of town. He followed up and called me back a week later.