Citi Field Crumbling, Cyclones' Attendance Fall Bring Perverse Comfort to Mets Fans
The New York Post says Citi Field is falling apart: "Huge signs have collapsed, outfield drains have clogged and there are numerous faulty air-conditioning systems and electrical outlets." Also Jerry Seinfeld's luxury box was flooded and is riddled with mold, so it's an ill wind etc.
And the Mets' Brooklyn minor league team, the Cyclones of Coney Island, are having their own troubles: their season has just ended and they report their lowest attendance figures ever. Bad weather and, inevitably, the economy are blamed. A NYC & Co. spokeswoman is mystified; the Times says she mentions that "the city has been marketing Coney Island more heavily than ever." Of course Coney developer Joe Sitt hasn't been making the vicinity attractive...
The Mets these days are more celebrated for collapse than achievement. Designer Sean Engelhardt worked up an attractive and depressing chart showing a 2009 timeline of the Mets' injuries (at one point this season they had 13 players on the disabled list). Last week Times reporter Howard Beck went to Citi Field specifically to view the "dysfunction." "This is what I came for," he observed as a bloop single threatens the home team's chances, "a Mets meltdown." The Mets won anyway, allowing Beck to end on a cheerful note as manager Jerry Manuel's mike cut out during the post-game interview.
'Twas ever, or at least often, thus. The legacy of the Original Amazin's -- who in their earliest days were an emblem of baseball hopelessness -- is never far from their fans' minds, and provides them some kind of perverse comfort any year they don't do well.
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