Was it Something I Said?

When you're on television for three hours every morning, you're bound to say something that's going to rub someone the wrong way. I guess I did that this morning. And a very angry viewer let me know about it. 

If you know me, you know I'm a Mets fan. You could call me a glutton for punishment. But I'm loyal to my team, no matter how embarrassing they can be. That said, I'm not a Yankee hater. I give that organization credit for doing what it has done over the last 15+ years. It's impressive. Some of my best friends are Yankees fans. And we have fun talking about the relative successes (them) and failures (me) of our teams. What annoys me is fans who treat winning like a birthright. Fans who think the world stops spinning if the Yankees lose. That any other winning team is merely lucky. And a fan of any other team is clearly jealous of the Yankees.

So here's what happened. During the newscast this morning, I alluded to Monday night's game and the fact that fan-favorite AJ Burnett pitches tonight and asked, "How are you feeling, Yankee fans?" Was it a bit of a "tweak?" Sure. Was it "unprofessional" and "childish?" I don't think so. But a viewer - I'll call him Don - certainly does. He writes: "I always thought of you as a decent young man... until this morning." Don goes on to tell me I am "there to report the news, not your personal feelings, and not to satisfy a personal agenda."

Really? Dude, lighten up. Seriously.

Baseball is a sport. It's a game. It's a distraction - an often unwelcome distraction, when you're a Mets fan - from the rest of the "news" of the day -- which on this day includes a toddler mauled by three pit bulls, a man on trial for a killing a woman and her two daughters and a guy in court accused of stabbing his friend over something he saw posted on facebook.

He is right on one thing -- I'm not on television to "satisfy a personal agenda." But, c'mon... how is having a little fun with sports doing that? I'm not a robot. I'm a human being. And, frankly, I'm encouraged by my bosses to have some personality on the morning show. Part of that means being a sports fan. And you know what sports fans do? They have a little fun when talking about sports.

In his email, Don was kind enough remind me the Yankees have 27 Championships -- compared to 7 for the Red Sox and 2 for the Mets. As a result of that, he writes, "If the Yankees never another title it would not bother me a bit." That's great. I think I believe him. But I can't believe that me having a little fun on a morning show bothered him enough to send an email.

Let me say this, Don has every right to send me an email, and I'm glad that he did. I try very hard not to offend people. I try not to be unprofessional. I try to keep my childish antics to a minimum. But I'm not perfect -- no one is. And, if you are a viewer, I expect you will keep me in check. Afterall, without viewers, I won't have a job for very long..

But Don. Baseball is just a game (and a big business... but that's a blog post for another time).


Today's Title: This OMD song sounds kinda like their big (only?!) hit, "If You Leave"