This past Sunday is one that I want to forget as quickly as possible. That is because the Bills beat the Jets and my favorite baseball team, the New York Mets, suffered the worst collapse in Major League Baseball history.
The Mets went 5-12 in their final 17 games, blowing a seven game lead that they held in the NL East on September 14.
Waking up for classes on Monday was not easy for me. I did not want to hear all of my friends talk about all the sporting events that happened over the weekend. Of course everyone in Buffalo is going to talk about how the Bills finally won a game and everyone knows I am a die-hard Mets fan.
The little boy in me came out after the Mets loss, as I watched highlights of the baseball game and a couple of tears started to drop from my eyes. I couldn't believe the season was over.
How did all of you Bills fans feel after seeing Scott Norwood miss his field goal in Super Bowl XXV? How about the "No goal!" game when the Sabres thought they should not have lost to the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999. The entire city was devastated, and that is how I felt on Sunday.
Baseball is everything to me. I love the feeling of going to the ballpark with family and friends and having a hot dog and filling out my scorecard. I don't know what I would do if there wasn't any baseball.
After the Mets lost this past Sunday, I said to myself that I wouldn't watch any postseason baseball.
After going about three hours into the night on Monday, I realized that my goal was not going to be reached. There was nothing on television so I watched the only baseball game that was on.
Watching the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies fight for their lives for the National League wild card and the last playoff spot, I saw something that I have not seen for a couple of months from the Mets: heart.
Both of these teams battled until the last out and did not want to go home. The Rockies continued their strong surge into October baseball by scoring three runs off one of the best closers in baseball of all-time, Trevor Hoffman, to advance to the division series.
The Rockies are a young group of ballplayers that have fun playing the game. You can see the enjoyment on their faces when they begin a rally and see their confidence that they are going to win the game.
They play baseball because that is what they want to do. They don't just go to the field because they have to because it is their job. They want to be there.
The Mets did not have that attitude this season. They assumed that they were the best team in the National League and automatically would make it to October.
They went to the stadium every day thinking they can just walk out onto the field and not play to their highest potential and they would still win. They were a cocky team that thought the rest of the teams in the league were a bunch of pushovers.
There were some games where they looked like the young Rockies team and were fun to watch. Then there were other games where they looked like they were sleeping while playing a baseball game. They just went through the motions and were an arrogant group of ballplayers.
It took them until September 30, the day when they learned that there was no October baseball, to realize that the team is not as good as presumed.
The four teams that made it from the national league are all well deserving to be playing postseason baseball. All four teams did not take the regular season for granted and played hard for 162 games. This was not the case for my Mets.
I like watching a team that plays hard for 27 outs every game. This is why I am rooting for the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series.
Not only because the Rockies are playing against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round, but also because their home ballpark is called Coors Field, with Coors being one of my favorite beers to drink.
You gotta love the "frost brewed taste that's cold as the Rockies."
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
