When Ish Grows Up

I envision this:
The Wall Street Journal envisions this:
That's according to their latest article How Yankee Fans Are Different From Mets Fans.

Some of the stats:

• Men who follow the Mets are slightly more likely to have stopped their education during or just after high school (30% versus 25%)
• Yankees fans are more likely to earn $100,000 a year or more
• Male Mets fans were 43% more likely than Yankees fans to drink beer
• Mets fans owned more guns (11% versus 5%)
• Mets fans worry less than Yankees fans (15% to 8%)
• Mets men have better support systems: they rated higher for marriage (51%) and pets (47%)

That's fine - I don't doubt the Journal's research and there's nothing wrong with being a doctor or working for UPS (or IPS - where Doug Heffernan works). However, it seems that everything in the state of NY is slightly skewed to favor the Yankees and place them in a glowing light - after all, it's easy to love a winning team with all those championship rings. But, how many of those $100k suits in the stands at Yankee Stadium are "real" fans? How many know the starting pitchers stats or can tell you what RISP stands for? How many are there simply because Big Giant Corporation has season tickets and passes them out to employees as a "treat" every once in a while?

My poor Mets - always seen as the lovable losers of NY sports. Now the Wall Street Journal is trying to paint us Mets fans with the same brush - as if everyone should feel sorry for us. Excuse me, but the last I heard, there was nothing wrong with being a blue-collar, hard-working, married man who likes to drink beer and hang out with his best friend Fido.

And maybe, just maybe, the make-up of the typical Mets fan tells the real NY story - work hard, have fun, enjoy life, and if you win a few games along the way, good for you.

So, to all my fellow Mets fans out there - this one's for you!

And PS: my dearest Ish - you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up. As long as you're happy and you make enough money to put me in a nice retirement home. Muah!