Gothamfreude

Of all the things in the sports world that bring me joy, watching New York teams embarrass themselves ranks second only to seeing Boston teams win the big games. Whether it's Eli Manning getting clocked and coughing up the ball or Isiah Thomas making yet another boneheaded personnel decision or some Islander goon smacking another player across the face with his stick, seeing New Yorkers make those foolish mistakes fills me with glee.

Now, it might not rank up there with blowing a 3-0 lead in the ALCS, but the latest collapse by the Mets is one which the New Yorkers won't forget for a while. The Mets led the NL East by seven games with 17 to play, yet lost 12 of those final 17 games, coughing up the division lead to the Phillies. As of yesterday, the Mets and Phils were tied for the lead, both needing to win to assure themselves of at least a single-game playoff for the postseason, if not a berth outright. The Mets' odds looked pretty good, seeing as how they were facing off against the 70-91 Florida Marlins with future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine on the mound. Yet, Glavine couldn't make it out of the first inning. He gave up seven runs but notched only one out before getting the hook. The Mets never recovered from the early onslaught and went on to drop the game 8-1, missing out on the playoffs altogether.

It's not just the fact that the Mets lost that makes me so happy, it's the fact that they crashed and burned in such dramatic fashion. If they played the Marlins to a close game and lost on a bad bounce in the late innings, it would be one thing. But the Mets were never in the game from the outset. Rank this one up there with Kevin Brown's oh-so-dismal Game Seven choke in the 2004 ALCS. Sure, it would have been even better if it were the Yankees, but the Sox will have a chance to take care of the Yanks themselves in a couple of weeks.