Bryan Smith for New York Daily News
Although he made only a cameo appearance, some judged the Mets’ mascot, Mr. Met, to be the star of the teams 2013 holiday video.
Is there no end to the indignity of being a Mets fan? The only thing that is more embarrassing, evidently, is being a Mets player.
This holiday season I received an email from the Mets organization with “Happy Holidays from the NY Mets” in the subject line. My heart skipped a beat.
Was this the holiday present Mets fans have been waiting for? Did the Mets finally pry open the vault and sign a player of significance? After all, we Mets fans have been patiently waiting for a savior to appear.
As the Web page began to load, I was brought back to reality. It wasn’t the announcement of a free-agent signing as I had hoped.
Instead, I found it was a video holiday card sent from the Mets organization. The 55-second greeting featured various Mets players singing — and I use the term loosely — the holiday standard “Sleigh Ride.”
The chorus was led by sidelined phenom Matt Harvey and marquee player David Wright, with other Mets players following behind.
Now, I’m all for good cheer at this time of year, but this video brought more cringe-worthy moments than tidings of great joy.
Although I admire the pluckiness of this group, who are obviously used to taking one for the team, let’s just say the poor guys shouldn’t quit their day jobs.
At least they can hit the fastball, because they sure had trouble hitting an octave.
My heart especially goes out to David Wright. When he was asked to be the face of the team he could not in his wildest dreams have foreseen this!
The hits just keep on coming for him. First he watches as the Wilpons get dragged through the Madoff scandal, taking the team right down with them.
Next he ends up being one bright star in a galaxy of newbies and has-beens.
And now this. The final indignity of acting as the choirmaster spreading good cheer to the disgruntled masses who would much rather have had a marquee player in their stockings.
Ever the company man, of course he obliged. Not to be left out, Mr. Met also made a cameo appearance.
He was seen riding in a sleigh with recently resurrected Mrs. Met in tow, whose reappearance this year brought a sense of foreboding like the seventh sign of the apocalypse.
It was fitting that she should be joining in the merriment. Of course the famously mute mascot merely held up cue cards to deliver his lines, an idea that, after viewing their performances, the players must have lamented not making.
As one Met fan who viewed the video quipped, “Mr. Met was the best singer!” Another lamented, “That might have been the worst 55 seconds of my 32-year-old life!” Truth be told, it read like a scene from the 1989 campy movie “Major League.” It was that bad.
It’s not that the Mets don’t have good intentions, but they always seem to fall flat. Just look to the ghost of Mets’ Christmas past…Anna Benson as Santa. Ho, ho, ho, indeed!
As a Mets fan, you learn to take the good with the ever-increasing bad. However well-intentioned the organization is, their attempts at goodwill often become a mockery of what they intended.
Of course, shortly after the release of the video the Mets did sign Curtis Granderson to a multiyear contract. Let’s hope he is polishing his pipes for his starring turn in next year’s holiday card.
And as the new year approaches, raise a glass to new beginnings and in the hopes that Curtis can belt a lot of homers…or, at the very least, belt out a classic.
I don’t know which the Mets need more!
Liz Nacinovich is a lifetime Queens resident and a Mets fan.
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