What is a success in 2013?

By: E.J. Stankiewicz
10/04/2012


Earlier today I posed the following question on Twitter:

I received many mixed responses, with a slight majority feeling just playing in that game would be a positive sign for the team

 To me this is an ultimate Catch-22. After the previous 4 seasons of irrelevance beyond the month of July, I can understand the fans wanting the opportunity to just see a packed ballpark enjoying a true playoff atmosphere. However I can also understand that tomorrow evening there are going to be two teams devastated that they only got to play in a one-and-done scenario, and their season only lasted one game longer than that of the Houston Astros.

Personally, I don't think I would sign for that today. My fanaticism for the Mets has taken me on many emotional highs and lows through the years, but I think I would rather feel like I do today (Indifferent to another lost season) than I did that fateful night when Adam Wainwright ruined my Autumn.


What do you think fans? Let me know @TheHappyRecap



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Happy Johan Day!

There are many questions surrounding this team both on the field and financially off the field, but this afternoon, I will have a fictitious appointment that will land me in front of a television to watch something I seriously questioned if I would ever see again.....Johan Santana pitching for the Mets. Thus far the man is defying science in his recovery and pitching with an attitude of a man who was constantly told "It's not possible" while refusing to allow that mindset enter his psyche.

I can't wait!

Single Game Tickets Day

     Could it be? A new blog from us? Indeed it is and I plan on making a more concerted effort this season to updating this blog more regularly when I feel there is something to actually discuss that isn't already being mentioned on the countless other Mets blogs. 

     Today I take to this forum to fondly remember a day I formerly treated as a holiday, and that is the day Mets Single Game Tickets went on sale. Prior to the days of multiple season ticket plan options, and a lottery system to win Opening Day tickets there was a time when the only way to secure these desirable games on a single game basis was to purchase them on the day they went on sale at 10am either at Shea Stadium, A Mets Clubhouse Shop or via telephone. Once I realized the futility of attempting to get through on the phone,s I took on an annual tradition of camping out overnight at the Mets Clubhouse Store in Menlo Park, NJ. Seeing as the sale date normally coincided with President's Day Weekend and temperatures were often below freezing, this was no small undertaking. 

     Security was always kind and allowed us to line up outside the mall the night before and this became an annual rite of passage for many of my fellow fans. We would congregate overnight with our blankets, winter gear, Thermoses filled with a warm (and often inebriating) beverages and recount the wonders of the previous season (It was the late 90s, a better time.) Vast speculation about the pending Spring Training (usually opening within the following days) and how the team would be composed would take place as well as the usual positional debates, think of it as Twitter....but in person. Around 1999 some brilliant soul thought to bring a Wiffle Ball and Bat with him and the entire experience reached another level. Over the years I came to forge One-Day-Per-Year Friendships with many of these people and still wonder why we never coordinated to meet at any actual games. 

     Unfortunately as technology progressed we became a much more instant gratification society, and soon this ticketing process became extinct, much like that particular Clubhouse Shop, and we now primarily purchase our tickets via the internet. However I will always look back on those sleepless nights of bonding with my fellow fans with fondness as I sit in a Virtual Waiting Room in an attempt to score Opening Day tickets.

Till We Meet Again

By: E.J. Stankiewicz
05/26/2011 

 Like most of the Mets internet world, I was shocked and saddened this morning learning the news that long-time Mets fan, author, historian and friend Dana Brand had passed away. Anyone who knew Dana, knew him to be one of the kindest, gentlest human beings you would ever meet with the ability to make a complete stranger feel like an old friend. Dana was as well versed in Mets history as anyone I have ever met and could recall specific games from a time before the internet existed as though they were just played yesterday. When I last had a chance to spend time with him we even discussed the logistics of him writing a blog recounting as many games as possible from a dreadful mid-90s Mets team, while both sharing a few laughs. 

It is no surprise that of the hundreds of days I spent at Shea Stadium in my life, Dana played a part in my all-time favorite. Having been able to spend a part of that day with him and his family (the only subject he spoke about more passionately than the Mets) will forever be an honor. As Dana recounted in his blog, there were forces at play that day beyond any of us. At one point we were both standing there staring at the nearly complete Citifield the way an aging executive looks at the newly hired VP 20 years his junior and Dana simply said "We'll see....." Over the past two seasons I have been very critical of the new ballpark, not so much because I dislike it, but because of how much I loved Shea. Dana understood this sentiment better than anyone. So much of the time I spent with him was relishing in good times at Shea

There was so much to admire about Dana, but for me his love the game and eternal optimism will always be a trait I will try to portray in his honor. I sat with him at a game last year when the healthiest Met was Luis Castillo and Dana's thought process was "Well at least we'll get to see what some of these kids can do."

Dana also played a critical part in The Happy Recap's development. When his first book came out we were a fairly young website just beginning to build a following, yet Dana happily joined us for the text chats we hosted back then to talk about all things Mets. One of the biggest and most rewarding surprises I have had during this endeavor on the internet was seeing him reference our site in his first book. He also became a regular poster to the message board which made him more than just an author trying to sell a book, he legitimately just liked having yet another forum to meet new Mets fans and get their impressions of the team (Although he did register, I could not drag him kicking and screaming into the Twitterverse.) 

2 years ago we began the radio show associated with our site and Dana was a regular guest of ours. After an appearance about a year before his second book was released we finished the interview saying to him we would have him back on to promote it, to which Dana replied "Guys, please have me back before then so we can just talk Mets." That was Dana, the man wrote two amazing Mets books, but at the heart of everything just wanted to talk about a team he so dearly loved.

My partners and I have been waiting for sometime before going live with this blog, and we are aware there is still some fine tuning to be done, but today felt like the most appropriate day to log our first entry. Dana was a phenomenal writer and we are blessed to have so much material of his we can go back and read, and I know that when we did finally launch, he would have been the first to wish us congratulations and offer advice. So while I can never deem to write at a caliber of Dana Brand, I hope I make you proud, buddy. I know where you are, you'll be watching from a very comfortable seat down the left field line, and I know that seat will be a Shea original, just like you were.