Can it

Recently I was recommended a book by a Phillies fan about the 1986 Mets (put that one together). They were notorious for their off field antics as they were for their on field dominance. The book was called "The Bad Guys Won" by Jeff Pearlman.

First off, I'm not much of a book reviewer and I've not had any experience dealing with that to know what it entails or how I should go about it, so I'm going to just throw my opinion out there. As my friend said "you don't have to be a Met fan to like this book." Which is very true.

I told one of my friends who happens to be a girl that they should read this book. She did what most girls do and started complaining and giving me reasons why she would hate this book before even reading a single word. I told her that she did not have to be a fan of baseball to enjoy this book and could find this book very entertaining on the long subway rides that us New Yorkers have to suffer through.

The book is more about the hijinx and the crazy cast of characters that embodied the 1986 Mets more than it is about the actual games they competed in. Of course, you can't have a book about 1986 without mentioning Mike Scott (who nearly ended their season by himself) and of course the infamous Red Sox series immortalized by the ball going through Bill Buckner's legs.

The writing is great and it keeps you thoroughly satisfied. It uses some great quotes. Now, here is where my opinion comes in about the 1986 Mets. I came to this country when I was four so I was a year and change removed from that historic Met team that went on to win the World Series. I didnt appreciate baseball until the early 90's and that was because my older cousins would watch it.

For immigrants who are not used to baseball and football, it was hard for us to have long standing ties to any sport. Especially when India's major competitive championships are in Miss Universe pageants and they refuse to field a decently competitive team in any other sport other than field hockey. That gets about as much press coverage as regular ice hockey does in the states.

So I grew up in Queens and I took to my local team because I could claim them as my own. Sure the Yankees were around, but even in my feeble and weak minded nature as a kid, I could cheer for the Yankees but I could not love them like I did the Mets. The Mets just seemed to embody something that I could not put my finger on, even to this day. So I favored the Mets more than the Yankees, though even then, my friends tried to get me to switch allegiances. I was stubborn by nature and so I decided that if society were to demand I pick a certain team, I was going to make my decision and stick by it. I was ten at the time.

In High School I got more and more flack for being a Met fan because I entered high school in 1997, just as the dynasty was getting its legs. I admittedly rooted for the '96 Yankees because the Braves had made the life of the Mets miserable and I wanted the Yankees to beat them, and so when they came back to win it, I was ecstatic, yet still, I was a Met fan.

In 1999 when Kenny Rogers threw what is still to this day the worst pitch in baseball history, I decided that the Yankees had to beat the Braves. I could not stand the Braves. I can still not make up my mind as to who I hate more, the Yankees or the Braves.

In 2000, I was in heaven when the Mets fianlly reached the promised land. I was convinced our team could beat that Yankee team. Of course, that fell right on our face. It ended up being one of those 5 game sweeps.

I really liked those Mets teams because of its wild manager and its cast of characters. But then I read this book and I was upset. I realized that this team would've made me go baseball crazy. They were the right team for the era. They were a team with an arrogance and an attitude that made fans go crazy for them. They had just enough guys with their screws loose that you could make a case that some belonged in mental institutions.

The camraderie and things that they did together made you feel like that old cliche of "I would go to war with these guys" was actually true.

Reading this book though made me realize that the '86 team would've drove me insane. The swift dismantling of the team, the unfulfilled promise of Doc and Straw, and the breaking down of its veterans just made you think of what could be.

While the Mets are about 50 years and a monumental trade (even though the jury is still out on the Scott Kazmir trade) from being branded with a "curse", or even deemed a sorry franchise, the 86 team holds such a huge shadow over any team that is to come for the Mets. No team will ever be like those group of guys. This book truly captured what it was like to be on that team with those group of players.

This book pissed me off, because I could have told Yankee fans that we won more than just two championships. That we had our dynasty already.

That team had a stacked farm system, had a great core of young guys and that we had money to pay for the cycle of veterans to fill out the clubhouse. Davey Johnson managed to be the pre-Moneyball era manager by computing matchups and playing line ups accordingly.

I truly thought of GM Frank Cashen's glassy eye retelling, when asked in 2002, about that Met team he had helped build when he said "they should have won championships." I just realize that the Mets are one of those teams that will inevitably break your hearts more than they will make you happy. They are that girlfriend who all your friends tell you to stay away from but you can think of alot of happy moments, albeit on one hand, and thats enough for you to hang on to. The Mets in the long run will upset you by making boneheaded trades (Kazmir) and just make you want to kick yourself in the 'nads by your star $100 million plus CF strike out looking to end the 7th game of the NLCS.

That team made you understand that winning a World Series is tougher than you think. That there are unforseen circumstances that make teams lose all the time. But the Mets make you upset because they had it. They had it and they lost it.

Just to complete this here are the top 5 reasons the 86 Mets didnt last:

5. Mel Stottlemeyer- How does a former Yankee ruin everything all the time? He thought that it would be good for Doc Gooden to learn a change up. He figured there was fixing needed for his mechanics. What once was an effortless dominant stretch, Doc began to think and pitching didn't feel natural anymore. He was not the same pitcher in 1986 as he was in 1985. Although they won, Doc was a shell of his former self EVEN in 1986.

4. Destruction of the Farm System- Years before the Yankees were the pimps selling their young goods to other teams for broken down veterans, the Mets perfected that art and ended up giving away what was a stacked farm system for veterans on their way down. Its always a dicey proposition mortgaging your future for immediate success, but the Mets proved that even in the 80's they were Kazmir-ing their way along.

3. Preferential Treatment- Davey Johnson was not a babysitter and to his credit, no manager should ever be blamed for another man's mistakes. But Davey allowed Doc and Straw and the rest of the stars to play while their lives were falling apart.

2. Trading away everyone- Does this not explain everything? Keith Hernandez, Nails (Dykstra), Wally Backman, Kevin Mitchell, Ray Knight, Ron Darling were all victims.

1. Cocaine- Its one hell of a drug and it did in both Straw and Doc. What i found pretty incredible was the snitching done by both about each other when both had a problem. I blame this single dumb mistake by both for doing them in. You can win around young talent, and had they remained drug free, they could've continued on paths of dominance.

Enough about the Mets. I need sleep.