Painful goodbyes

What a way to send off two historic baseball stadiums, wouldn't you say?

At a point this baseball season, it looked like Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium could have hosted the World Series in another Subway Series.

Sadly, both stadiums will remain empty this October as New York fans say goodbye to these old, but classic venues.

Is anyone as upset as I am about the way they are being sent out?

I find it embarrassing that the first Yankee team to miss the playoffs since 1995 is waving goodbye to Yankee Stadium. And it's even more embarrassing how the Mets closed Shea Stadium's doors.

The 2008 season for the Yankees will be remembered as a year of goodbyes and grief. The inconsistency that plagued the team all year eventually had fans looking forward to football season. Failing to keep up with the Rays and Red Sox, the Yankees turned their fans, failing to grasp why their storied franchise couldn't defeat even the worst of teams, into the "Bronx Boozers."

With the playoffs already unreachable, Yankee Stadium's last game turned into a celebration of the past. The legends, like Yogi and Reggie, were back to watch the mediocre Yanks take the Bronx field for the last time.

After a win against Baltimore, the 25-man roster went to the center of the baseball diamond and saluted the Yankee faithful.

Honestly, seeing a bunch of overpaid, inconsistent players wave goodbye to the most historic baseball stadium and its fans made me want to vomit. I would have rather seen Babe Ruth's and Lou Gehrig's corpses thrown on the field during the last moments rather than seeing guys like Jose Molina and Carl Pavano salute the unpleased crowd.

This season had such hope for the Yankees, and quite frankly, they owed Yankee Stadium a send off worthy for a king. Not seeing Yankee Stadium in October will be extremely awkward.

As for the Mets goodbye to Shea Stadium, the less historic but still significant stadium in New York, after collapsing at the end of the season for the second straight year, what more can you say?

The last home runs at the stadium by the Florida Marlins' Wes Helms and Dan Uggla against the dreaded New York bullpen put the Mets away and cost New York's second team another postseason bid. They lost 10 of their last 17 games to blow their chance to extend the life of Shea Stadium.

Mets fans deserved better than this. Their team hasn't treated them very well with only two World Series championships in the team's 44-year history and closing the stadium with a loss to miss the playoffs just broke their hearts all over again.

After the painful loss, fans experienced a "goodbye celebration" of the stadium. Fireworks went off, historic moments were played, but the champagne in the Mets locker-room stayed corked.

What a moment that must have been for the fans that went to the game. They had their hearts broken, only to turn around and celebrate the good times (the few and far between) that took place at Shea. The opening of Citi Field can't come soon enough.

In the end, both stadiums won't be remembered for the unfulfilled, stadium closing seasons that took place in them, but they won't be remembered for the playoffs that closed them either.