Mets fans. Wannabe Yankee fans. We have a controversy here in the Big Apple as the Mets have wantonly glommed on to two longtime Yankee traditions as way to validate their existence in the City That Never Sleeps. First, closer for hire Billy Wagner is using the song "Enter Sandman" to signal his arrival into the game. This is the same song that Mariano Rivera has used forever. A Yankee tradition, this Metallica song has become the equivalent of the Seminole war chant or the Hook "em Horns sign to Yankee fans as it announces the arrival of the greatest closer of all time. You can imagine the joy in Yankeeland when Billy the Kid surrendered the game winning HR last night! Equally agregious is the Mets purloining of the Yankee roll call in the top half of the first inning of home games. In Yankee stadium the right field bleacher crowd chants each Yankee players name in the first inning repeatedly until the player turns toward the bleachers and raises his gove or doffs his cap. Then they immediately go to the next player. Even the pitcher stops what he's doing when he hears his name and acknowledges the crowd. I've seen Posada walk out from behind the plate between pitches and take his mask off and wave to the bleachers. It is truly one of the really cool things about attending a Yankee game. Of course, for the Met fans to duplicate this requires a working knowledge of Espanol. I suspect half of their lineup is illegal aliens anyway :wink: WFAN sports talk radio in NYC has been ablaze with this controversy for three days now, Its the equivalent of the Hatfields and the McCoys. That's baseball... New York Style.
Im aware of the roll call. Cant believe Mets stealing the tradition. Its funny how fans develop traditions. In Boston its the playing of Neil Diamonds SWEET CAROLINE after last of 8th inning with fans singing along...and of course the playing and singing of the now famous TESSIE. jif
8) The tune looked familiar in today's Mets game too. Pedro hit a bunch of Washington Nationals and Frank Robinson came out of the dugout to threaten everybody...