Sorry Met fans... I am writing another post about your team

I've not made many Met fan friends recently... partially based on the passing around of my "Better use of $18 million" post. But forgive me, I need to write something else.

I said the Mets are going to lose 90 games.
From the responses by Met fans, you would have thought I said "The Lakers are going to miss the playoffs."

After many comments about my weight, intelligence and sexual orientation, the consensus was that I am an idiot for thinking a team that lost 83 games last year will lose 90 in 2011.

Mainly because some of their players MIGHT come back and some others COULD have comeback years.

Now I have already covered the facts that the Mets improvements are cosmetic and that the Phillies, Braves and Marlins all have better starting staffs... but folks, I saw an article today that made me think "Oh boy... this is going to be a worse year than I thought for the Mets."

REPORT: METS LOST $50M IN 2010; 2011 MAY BE SAME

Yup. The Mets who play in New York and have a brand spanking new stadium and their own TV network could lose a combined $100 million bucks in two seasons.

Revenues are down and so is attendance.

And with the Madoff scandal hovering over the team (sorry folks, that elephant will be there until the team is sold) the Wilpons are almost certainly be forced to sell the team at one point.

So what do teams do that are on the verge of financial ruin, tangled in national scandal and will be forced to sell?

Do they make improvements to the team?
Do they acquire players to help them win the pennant?
Or do they start chucking bodies overboard?

Guess what?
If Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Francisco Rodriguez, Taylor Buchholz, Chris Capuano or D. J. Carrasco are healthy and productive in 2011, they will be shipped off for minor leaguers and smaller price tags.

Think David Wright won't be traded?

It's not probable, but we are currently treading in uncharted financial waters.

You can't look at this team like a typical rebuilding process. A New York team should never be in "Tampa Bay mode" and looking to shed its stars because of lack of revenue. But that is what we are looking at with this team.

Any player a Met fan is looking at as hope for improvement will probably be used to relieve debt.

It is not going to be a pretty year, Met fans.
Go to the games. Prove your loyalty.

And in 5 years when Donald Trump owns the team and they are contenders again, you can point to all the bandwagon Met fans and say "Hey! Were YOU at CitiField when they were crumbling under the Madoff scandal?"

A tip for the Mets… 10 better ways to spend $18 million

The Mets will have the 5th highest payroll in baseball and will probably lose 90 games in 2011, ergo they aren’t spending their money wisely.

A case in point, the Mets are paying Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo a combined $18 million to NOT play for them this year. Good money in a recession.

The staff at Sully Baseball can’t claim to be an economic think tank, but here are some helpful suggestions to what could be a better use of $18 million than spending it on Castillo and Perez.

BUY ALL 8 MILLION PEOPLE IN NEW YORK 2 PACKS OF GUM

For a few days, everyone in New York will have no excuse for bad breath.

SPONSOR 36,000 LITTLE LEAGUE TEAMS

At least the Mets will be paying them to PLAY!

GO TO A ROULETTE TABLE AND SAY “$18 MILLION ON RED!”

The odds of that money going completely to waste went down by 50%!

ERASE THE DEFICIT FOR NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL LUNCHES

Right now the $8 million deficit in the school lunch program is threatening some schools for cutting lunch all together. Pick up the tab on that and maybe spend the extra $10 million on something more nutritious than tater tots.

BUY 1,285,714 COPIES OF I’LL BELIEVE YOU ON AMAZON

Seeing the Indie film I directed become profitable is a much better story than paying for two players to go away. At least it is a better story for me.

DONATE $50,750 TO EACH PBS STATION

Maybe they spin it into “Tote Bag Night” or “Prime Suspect DVD Night” at CitiField.

HELP THE BUNNY WORLD FOUNDATION
SPAY OR NEUTER 1,800,000 RABBITS

Or are YOU going to take care of all of those bunnies?

BUY 818,181 CHOCOLATE COOKIE GIFT BOXES FROM THE LEVAIN BAKERY

Seriously, have you had one of the cookies from the Levain Bakery? They are so much more satisfying than anything Oliver Perez has done in a Mets uniform.

TURN 125 NEW YORK TEENS INTO MBA GRADUATES

Let’s say the Mets found 125 smart teenagers in New York public schools who couldn’t afford college. They pay for four years of Brooklyn College for all 125 (including student housing.) Then after they all get their Bachelors degrees, they pay their way through the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. By 2018, they will have 125 young minds with MBAs and inevitably ONE of them would be able give the Mets some sound business advice. (How could they be worse than the financial wizards who put them into this mess!)

THROW 18 MILLION ONE DOLLAR BILLS INTO THE HUDSON RIVER

Who knows? Some might float back to them.

Mets fans... just sit this one out

Seriously... just don't watch the World Series.

There will be no joy in it for you.

Sure I have talked to most of my Met fan friends and the consensus agrees with this Newsday article that most will be rooting for the Phillies over the Yankees.

But there is no way you can be happy with that! Seriously, you do that and suddenly you find yourself watching Jimmy Rollins jumping up and down celebrating back to back titles.

You'll look up and say "What have I done?" just like Alec Guiness in Bridge on the River Kwai when he realizes his efforts helped the enemy.

Trust your friend Sully on this.

After the Aaron Boone game, I decided to NOT watch the 2003 World Series. It was the only World Series since 1979 that I missed!

I knew if I saw the Yankees win, I'd be grumbling "Great! Another Yankee win!"

If I saw the Marlins win I'd say "Why couldn't WE beat them? Are the Marlins that much better?"

So seriously... I am not asking you to take the drastic stance I asked Cleveland fans to take and stop watching sports for the rest of the calendar year.

Just stop watching baseball.

Treat yourself.

Is there a restaurant you always wanted to go to in your neighborhood?
Go tonight.

Have your realized that you've never been to the top of the Empire State Building or to the Statue of Liberty?
Now's the time.

Have you never gone to the Met? The Guggenheim? Ellis Island?

Why not go this weekend? No reason to rush home to see the ballgame?

Do you have a significant other? Take a weekend trip to a place like New Hope... you'll have a peaceful weekend.

OK, maybe not New Hope... too close to Philadelphia... but maybe Connecticut.


Do you have a friend who has been bugging you to go see their jazz band? Or a neighbor who has a bookclub they've asked over and over for you to go to?

Go this weekend!

Plus if you go THIS weekend, they will ask you "Wait, wouldn't you rather be watching the game?"

And you can say "No... I'd rather be here."

And then you NEVER HAVE TO GO AGAIN! Because you will have bought so much good will from them! They'd say "you are such a good friend! You chose me over the World Series!"

And you can remind them of that if they ever invite you again.

Sure it will suck, but how could it suck worse than knowing that either Yankee fans or Phillies fans will be happy?