the summer of not

I am bored, kinda hung-over, kinda still drunk, and I am thinking about how I NEVER got to watch my favorite team as a youngster. I didn't get to watch the Mets play on TV until 1988 when they got beat out by Orel Hershiser and the Dodgers in the NLCS.

The worst part about that whole disaster is that by then, my favorite player, and perhaps the greatest pitcher to grace the mound was already half-way down his downward spiral.

So I read a few columns this morning about the "Summer of Doc". Kinda rehashing over the whole thing. I re-read a column that Bill Simmons wrote (link) for ESPN.com.

"...watching Gooden was like watching Mozart bang out a new piece every five days. Only Gooden's work kept getting better. His music gave you chills, and all you could think about was hearing it again."

"You planned your calendar around him; every five nights you made sure you were by a TV."

Freaking town kids probably got to watch some of that. Granted, during the summer of '85, I was 5 years old. But even if I WAS old enough, you know that a kid living in bumfuck Iowa who can only tune in four channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS) on his TV has no chance of seeing Doc Gooden pitch. At least not in those days.

What happened with Doc after that? Well, you know the rest of the story, but if not it reads like this:

• Doc pitches in his first World Series, does OK
  
• Mets win World Series
• Doc overslept and missed the victory parade
• Doc fails a drug test the next spring
• Doc is never the same
  

Fast forward 20 years or so. I have no idea where Doc is now. But I know that I can watch my Mets play.

This week we played a four game series with the Cubs. (Mets won 3 out of 4) There is a channel on DirectTV (#640) that shows all Cubs games. Since we are in their market, I got to watch all four games. I get to see phenoms Reyes and Wright at the top of their games. How awesome is that?

If I could figure out a way to get all Mets games without being in their market, without getting blacked out 90% of the time, I would be golden. Till then, I will wait for the big match-ups, wait for the Midwest teams to play em, and wait for the playoffs.