When I perused my twitter feed this morning an interesting thought came to mind when
I saw this tweet from @TheHappyRecap noting that of the four New York sports teams he follows, the one that had a starting wide receiver
accidentally shoot himself in the leg while wearing sweatpants was probably the least embarrassing. Because I went to sleep fairly early last night, it was after this that I saw that Francisco Rodriguez had gotten himself arrested last night after
apparently taking a swipe at his father-in-law at Citi Field following the Mets 6-2 loss to Colorado.
Man, I love this team.
With the Mets set to conclude their three-game set with the Rockies this afternoon, reports are coming out that K-Rod
is still being held in police custody at Citi Field, and while I'm sure, in the long run, this incident will start to fade from memory, it brings up an interesting question of which team I follow, or perhaps in a larger context, which team in general, has had the most embarrassing history. The Mets are making themselves strong contenders with this latest dust-up piled on top of a litany of others --
The Wilpon-Madoff Connection,
The Adam Rubin Incident,
The Midnight Massacre of Willie Randolph,
The Mo-Licious,
Mark Corey being unable to handle his Pot,
the Vince Coleman Firecracker Affair, that whole
massive collapse in
consecutive seasons thing, just to name a few -- but why stop there when I have plenty of other reasons to be embarrassed by the teams I dedicate so much of my time to?
Because make no mistake, the Mets have some strong competition.
No discussion can really start in this without the Knicks, who have put their fans through what might be the most embarrassing five years of sports mismanagement any organization has ever endured with the circus that was the Isiah Thomas era.
Sexual harrassment scandals,
players trading sex for influence and
dealing two unprotected first round picks for career-long lazy wastes with a known heart condition are just a few of the highlights. It is not unusual for a sports franchise to suffer one or two black eyes, particularly ones that get magnified in the media spotlight of New York City, but few are so dramatic that they actually
inspire fans to rally outside the team's arena in support of
firing the man in question.
The only way to understand how Isiah Thomas could have been in charge of the Knicks for so long is to assume that he must have had some sort of dirt on completely inept Knicks owner James Dolan. How else could we explain the recently embarrassing news that New York was
bringing Thomas back into the fold as a consultant just two years after he completed running the 'Bockers into the ground? Naturally
this didn't go over well with most of the fan base, and fortunately for all of us, NBA bylines deeming the deal a conflict of interest with Thomas' day job as the head coach at FIU
have saved us all from those best laid plans.
By comparison, the Giants' struggles with Burress and their
stunning loss to close out Giants Stadium last season, or the Devils having the largest move in team history
blow up in their faces are downright positive developments.
But, like I said, this isn't just about the joke-a-thons that are my favorite teams. The
Jets,
Rangers,
Nets and
Islanders, a team once
nearly purchased by a man with no money, have all had more than their fair share of misery both on the field and off over the past few decades.
So as I sit here, I'm going to make a rare plea to my four readers and ask you to submit some comments and ideas. Of all the teams, not necessarily in New York, which has had it the worst?
If you're a pained, suffering fan, you'll know what to do.
