Fan Appreciation Day?

My son and I went to the last Met game of the season on Sunday October 4th (not exactly what I was thinking when I hoped the Mets would be playing in October). We drove up to the main parking lot and they were allowing ordinary fans to enter (usually reserved for VIPs). As we approached the attendant I asked if parking was free today, being the Mets stunk, it was the last day of the season and it would have been a great PR move. She looked at me and said, "are you kidding, wow that would be a good idea." I wished her a nice winter as I handed her my $18.

We got inside around 12:30 and the place was empty (shocker) and all the concession stands were closed. One of them had the gate cracked open about 8 inches so I leaned my head in and asked when they were opening (so we could over pay for some food). The woman yelled into the back room and asked when do we open? She told me 6:30. 6:30? It's 12:30 now, you don't open until tonight I asked. She insisted 6:30. She looked puzzled for a few minutes and then realized what she was saying. Oh, it's a day game - we open in 15 minutes. Unreal - WTF, why would she be there at 12:30 for a night game (and it was the last game of the season). BTW - they opened 30 minutes later. Think I got a free bag of peanuts?

It was a beautiful fall day and the Mets actually won the game. No banner day, no give away - no FREE parking. The Mets understand good business about as well as the concession stand worker understands what time the game starts. How Bout Those Mets!

Met rant - come on Mr. Wilpon

1. allowed the new stadium to be named after a bank. if they had named it after Jackie Robinson, they would have gotten instant respect, fantastic pr, great merchandising opportunities and they would not have to worry about the name of the place ever changing.

2. over priced tickets. the mets didn't sell out opening day (night) at their new park. the 900 left over tickets were all priced over $500. this confirms that they have little understanding of supply and demand. hey Mr. Wilpon, you need the demand first (ask the Red Sox - sold out for the entire season with the same size park).

3. limited collectables for kids. i went to the first met game at citi field, my son and daughter wanted a t-shirt that celebrated the occasion. they only had adult sizes. nice one mets - your marketing needs to focus on the youth (us old folks are already sucked in)

4. TICKETMASTER - it appears that the majority of MLB teams use TicketMaster infrastructure to service the purchase of game tickets. the mets do NOT use TicketMaster, they use their own system. Try buying tickets online from the mets - not a good system. 
i.e. if a big game goes on sale and you are lucky to get in to buy tickets (which is not easy being the system is easily overloaded), you can buy your your tickets and then back into the system to buy more. With TicketMaster you can not back into the system, which protects the fan(s) from the scalpers buying up all the tickets.

5. The patch. Just take a look at the patch on the sleeve of the mets home uniforms celebrating the inaugural season at citi field. ask any met if they deliver and if you can get extra cheese:)

6. Sweet Caroline. I mean pleeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz - can you not steal the great 8th inning song from the sox? hire someone who has an original creative view on music!

The Mets can't even out design the Yanks...

It really is embarrassing - the Mets marketing department is the biggest joke in the business. How can they consider themselves a New York product? Everything they do sticks, their tv network, the black uniforms and now the graphic design. Just look at the logos and tell me which one a major advertising agency produced and which one my cat did. Go Metsies!

K-Rod!

Happy days for hot stove baseball Met's fans. Finally the Met's get a real closer in the prime of his career for a reasonable amount of years and don't over pay (by baseball standards). I am very pumped, the Met's lost over 13 games last year when having a lead going into the 9th inning. Give K-Rod even 9 of those games and the Met's are in the playoffs. I am very, very excited for pitchers and catchers to report and get 2009 on it's way.

LAST CHILD - Next year 'teenage wasteland'!

They call them the 'sexy six', Miles and his 5 close friends celebrated his 12th birthday on Friday November 21st (his bd is the 22nd). They came over around 5PM and played board games - mostly twister, went out into the cold night for man hunt (some crazy game of tag in the pitch black) and then we had pizza and watched Ironman on the big screen. When I say big screen I mean it. I hang a king size sheet in my living room and set up my Mac to a high end projector plugged into the stereo system. It is a great way to watch a film. They had cupcakes, popcorn and candy and later watched AppleTV (mostly YouTube into 3AM). He had a blast and I must say the kids are great bunch; fairly polite and most of all they seem to really care about each other. I had a martini or two:) on the couch as I watched the movie with the boys and really thought about how great this was - watching my kids grow up is amazing. Being happy from their happiness! Next year – he joins his sister as a teenager – and you know what that means? R rated movies;)

Historic Week!

I shed many tears Tuesday night watching the United States elect it's first Afro-American president. I can not remember any time in my life I felt so passionate and proud of who we elected. I am always hyper sensitive to how the world looks at us and how our leaders reflect my sentiments. I find it unbelievable that other countries sometimes have a better sense of who is the right choice then we do for ourselves. In any case, Obama is a polished speaker, incredibly smart and his values reflect how I would want a foreigner to view us. Will he be a good president? Time will tell, but for sure he will put face on our postage stamp that says we can play in the sandbox with others (and don't under estimate public relations marketing).

I am surprised that some people I know didn't feel the same way I did. I understand voting for another candidate, but this is so much more. I know that if a republican minority candidate (a Powell like person) or a smart poised woman won, I would feel so proud of my country. I suppose most of the people I have come in contact with that felt distrusting or had misgivings about Obama would be the same people that were anti The Beatles and rock n' roll revolution. They look at the cover and rarely read the book!

Dippikill - 10 Years Gone!

For the last 10 years my friend Alan and all our kids have headed to the Adirondacks to SUNY Albany's camp Dippikill (Alan's best friend Matt has joined for 5+). This year was incredible, my perfect therapy session. We played, drank, listened to great tunes and talked politics. It is a magical place and holds memories for a lifetime.