I am a die hard Philadelphia Phillies fan. The other author on this site Mike is a die hard New York Mets fan. Mike and I are very close friends and part of our friendship has been trash talking each others teams. I mean give me a break, Mike also likes the Giants, Rangers, and Knicks. I love the guy but he is brain damaged. Wait a minute, I am trash talking him again. Heck, MyTeamRivals.com came into existence from our love of debating sports and trash talking.
The rivalry between the Phillies and Mets has been a long time coming. The Phillies stunk when the Mets were good in 1969 through 1973. The Mets couldn't buy a win against the Phillies from 1974 to 1983 when the Phillies were in their hay day. It turned back to the Mets in the late 80's while 1993 saw the return of the Phils and the Mets fall off. Now here we are in the 21 century and finally, finally, these two teams that reside some 60 miles apart are both good at the same time and a great rivalry called the Turnpike Series is finally on.
The fans go at each other as neighbors and sometimes even family members are on different sides. The players have gotten into it with Jimmy Rollins starting it calling the Phillies the team to beat and more recently Cole Hamels calling the Mets chokers while Fransisco Rodriguez called the Mets the team
to beat in 2009.
Baseball is fun in Philadelphia and New York and people are hungry for these two great teams to face off. It is the off season but it might as well be July when we hear sound bites from our players. Unfortunately, "Little Larry" Chipper Jones does not like the trash talking.
Jones said, "We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can't keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It's Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game."
Maybe that is because they could only win 1 World Series in all of those playoff runs. Maybe it was because their teams did not have the leadership to step up and show confidence, or maybe Jones is just saying it because he is on the downward side of his career and his team stinks. Perhaps it is because he has no shot of going back to the playoffs this season.
Whatever the reason, shut your mouth Little Larry. We really don't care what you have to say unless you want to have some guts and declare your team a contender. Phillies and Mets fans, keep the talking going. Not only is it fun, but it is good for our teams. Ever wonder why the Yankees and Red Sox have payrolls, players, and success like they do? Because they can not stomach losing to each other. That type of rivalry between the Phillies and Mets could bring us all a bunch of pennant flags. I'll take it as long as the Phillies have more!
For full coverage of the rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, be sure to check out Phightin' Phils Phorum and Mr Mets Daily.
Comments