The Mets Police

Today I welcome back the real Howie Rose to the Mets Police.

This time last year I was quite frustrated with Mr. Rose as he would tell me every night that there were 40,000 people at Shea when there clearly weren't (and no he wasn't talking paid attendance.)

Yesterday, the real Howie Rose was back on the air.  The Howie Rose of my youth.  The Howie Rose that was such a thorn in the side of the Mets that they once had a rule where he couldn't be on WFAN until a half hour after  the game.

Yesterday Howie opened up the radio cast with a rip into the Mets.  I'm paraphrasing but it was something along the lines of "the Mets are actually wearing blue!   (sarcastically) Because when your official colors are blue and orange why would you wear blue?   It's the fifth home game and they finally got around to wearing their primary colors, although it's with the snow whites, maybe one of these days they'll wear their primary uniforms with the pinstripes."  (That's pretty close, I wish I had a transcript.)

Look at the two pictures on the left.  One looks like a baseball team, the other a softball team.   If they want to have Black Uniform Sundays, fine - I'll eat crow - but would it kill them to  look like a baseball team the other six days?   Lots of fans this week have sent notes agreeing.

Later in the game Howie took a preemptive strike about moving the fences in for 2010.   If you've been to a game at Citi you'll notice the ball doesn't carry all that well.  That's fine with me, the Mets have always been about pitching.  It's fine with Howie too, and he chided the Mets in advance for even considering moving in the fences.  This is our new home, let's figure out how to play in it and use it to our advantage.  We don't need games decided by luck and winds like the Yankees will at Sammy Hagar Stadium in the Bronx.   Pitching and defense.

Hopefully, the real Howie is back.   If we can have the uncensored Howie Rose in the booth it will be a great listen.  

Howie, I hereby appoint you leader of the No-Black Crusade.  Please mention it every single day.

For you kids that know nothing about the Mets prior to Mike Piazza...read this, Howie used to be quite annoying to the Mets back in the day.

www.metspolice.com
@metspolice

According to Chris Russo on WFAN, players on both the Mets and Yankees were told at 6:15 pm Friday evening that the game was going to be postponed. Russo himself found out and had left at 6:50.

Meanwhile the fans were the last to find out, not being told until after the scheduled 7:05 pm start.

How much money was collected by the Yankees in concessions to fans who braved the elements? How about the money from the limited parking?

And what about all the parents with children that sat in the rain while the players they look up to were already getting dressed and on their way home.

Once again we have another example of how the owners and management really don't give a damn about the fans.

I enjoy comedy radio. I also enjoy a good practical joke from time to time. But what Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo did on Saturday morning went beyond what anyone should consider acceptable.

Shortly after 10 am Russo, hosting on WFAN in New York, announced that the Mets-Yankees game scheduled for 1:05 that afternoon was being moved up to 11 am because of a threat of severe thunderstorms moving into the area at 4 pm. Given that they already had a rain-out the previous night that had to be made-up, the teams had to get Saturday's game in.

Russo continued to assert that the game was going to start early, giving stats and info on the games starters. He wasn't acting like Mad Dog (yelling, throwing out obviously absurd details, etc.) - he sold it very well.

As 10:30 approached Russo announced that Howie Rose had not arrived yet so he would host the pre-game Mets Extra. At 10:30 he played the intro to Mets Extra and went into a pregame show.

After dragging this on for over a half hour in total Russo finally admitted it was a hoax, but not before ESPN Radio had picked up the story and announced that the game was being moved up.

Now, the initial reaction may be to laugh and say that this was funny - however think about all the people that were going to be going to the game that day. I personally know several people that panicked when they heard the news, realizing they had paid a ridiculous amount of money for tickets to a game that they might not get to see. I received emails and text messages from at least half a dozen others. Who knows how many more ran out of the house in a frenzy trying to get to a game they were told was starting early on the OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP STATION of the Mets.

Seriously, Russo crossed a line on Saturday morning and on Monday he should be called on the carpet for it.