These Mets should make every New York fan proud
Manhattan: Re “Never-say-die Mets refuse to let this NLCS end at Citi Field” (column, Oct. 20): Yankees pinstripes have run in my family’s blood since the days of Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. I remember the late 1970s championship teams and the Core Four in the 1990s onward. I was at the stadium for Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run. My wife and I sat near where Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit (a homer) landed. But these 2024 Mets got my attention.
Maybe it was Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, the entrance music to closer Edwin Diaz or something so simple as Mr. and Mrs. Met showing up at our elementary school on the Upper East Side to sign autographs (no easy task with those huge hands). These Mets aren’t a motley crew of underdogs, as some suggest. They are a World Series champion-caliber team. After a slow start, the Mets were probably the best team in the National League since June. Most of all, they’ve put the fun back into baseball. The Pete Alonso home runs against the Brewers and the Dodgers; their awe-inspiring defensive double plays. As we saw Friday at Citi Field, they’re not impressed with the Dodgers’ trio of former MVPs, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Or the Dodgers’ ace pitcher Jack Flaherty in Game 5.
I reject the notion that your geographic borough determines who you root for, or the outdated cliché that the Mets are working-class and the Yankees are corporate. Both teams have mammoth payrolls. Both have that comeback fight and grit. I’m still a Yankees fan. Yet, after this season, it’s OK to believe in both of New York’s MLB teams simultaneously. Adam Silbert
Third go
Bronx: Who says three-peats have to be consecutive? Yankees-Dodgers: 1977, 1978, 2024. Maria Bonsanti
Lucky run
Brooklyn: Since the wild card has been added to the playoffs, I don’t think any team had an easier path to the World Series than the Yankees. First, they play the Kansas City Royals. If you take out their record against the pitiful White Sox, they were a .500 team. Then they play the Guardians, who have no starting pitching and a weak lineup except for Jose Ramirez. The Dodgers will put them in their place. Dennis Burge
Big win
Brooklyn: I am so thrilled that the New York Liberty have finally won the WNBA Championship! I’ve been following this team since its very start, and watched them get this close several times and fail. It was an especially sweet victory because some of the original team members and other former players were in the audience at the Barclays Center. Ladies, I congratulate you and I’m so glad you prevailed. You are inspirational! Ellen Levitt
What a ride
Huntington Station, L.I.: Just watched the Liberty take the first title in franchise history. Fantastic! What an amazing feat for these players and a gift to New York. They competed hard and now can bask in the glow of the newfound attention for women’s basketball. Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, all the Liberty players: you rock! The panel of women who covered the game on ESPN (shout-out to the network for the extended and excellent coverage) was outstanding, too: Andraya Carter, Elle Duncan, Carolyn Peck and LaChina Robinson. These women are highly professional, exhibiting a genuine love and knowledge of the game. I so appreciated their insight and analysis. Very fine work all around. Nancy Macri Kennedy
Faltering franchise
Sea Isle City, N.J.: Bye-bye, Brian Daboll. Like Dandy Don used to say, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” It’s time to go. N.Y. Giants need to clean house. You let Saquon Barkley walk down the turnpike to Philly, you didn’t sign Justin Pugh and your star left tackle Andrew Thomas is done for the year. It’s time that Steve Mara cleans house, or by December the stadium will be empty on game day, and it’s the general manager and coaches’ fault. Last year, you signed Pugh in October “straight off the couch,” and he played every offensive play for the rest of the year. What are you waiting for? You will be lucky to win another game this year and lucky if Danny Dimes makes it to week 18. Bring in Tommy DeVito. He can’t do any worse, he was 3-3 last year! Jim Fusco
Locker room talk
Chicago: As we approach the waning days of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has become more bizarre, even by his lowly standards. While in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania this weekend, Trump couldn’t resist dropping the name of Arnold Palmer, the renowned golfer and beloved native son of the Keystone State. But at no time did he mention Arnie’s prowess on the golf course or his sportsmanship off of it. Instead, he made references to the famed golfer’s manhood. Who does that in mixed company or, for that matter, even a closed locker room? Over and over again, the classless Republican leader said Palmer was the envy of every golfer who ever saw him exit a shower stall. So, what does that say about the Trumpster or his apparent lack of respect for his audience? Bob Ory
Losing it
Paramus, N.J.: Arnold Palmer in the shower? Really? Can you spell senile? Tom Greff
All apply
Wellfleet, Mass.: Psychotic, mad, crazy, paranoid, lunatic, nuts, maniac, insane, mental, crazed, psycho, deranged and looney are synonyms for the word “unhinged.” By all means, let’s have four more years of that. Mike Rice
Extreme expectations
Little Egg Harbor, N.J.: The Harris-Walz candidacy is the most far-left in American history! The American people have to wake up and realize that this duet will only be fulfilling the wishes of their radical donors, like George Soros. Donald Trump is certainly not a perfect candidate, but he’s not going to destroy America. The Democrats have been hijacked by radical, leftist socialists whose only aim is the destruction of the America we all know and love. Wake up, America, before it’s too late. James J. D’Amico
Appeasement policy
Manhattan: I believe that those who applaud Trump for having had no war in Ukraine on his watch are giving him undeserved credit. Given his apparently obsequious devotion to Vladimir Putin, it seems obvious that the latter would have met with no resistance from the U.S. if he had chosen to invade Ukraine at that time, and his rationalizations for doing so would have been readily accepted by his longtime friend. Thus, Putin could have pulled off a relatively easy invasion and perhaps should be regarded as having been decidedly shortsighted for not taking advantage of such an opportunity! If Trump is back in office, he will no doubt seek to broker an agreement that allows the Russian aggressor to keep sizable chunks of Ukrainian territory, thereby rewarding Putin for his murderous actions and further alienating us from our NATO allies. Ronald Reagan would have been appalled. Denise Fortino
Switched sides
Brooklyn: He is a moral disaster, America’s Hitler, a cynical a-hole, a total fraud, he doesn’t care about regular people and is reprehensible. These are the words of JD Vance (Trump’s vice presidential choice). The only thing that changed is that Vance now belongs to the cult. Trump has not changed. Don Adler
Extreme negligence
Manhattan: There are reasons that a 4-year-old weighs 19 pounds and dies (“Harlem struggles to understand why,” Oct. 20). That incompetent District Attorney Alvin Bragg should’ve brought murder charges based on depraved indifference instead of criminally negligent homicide. Even a first-year law student would know that. Al Sharpton and the kid’s “beloved” grandma are more jokes. She’s in the paper, on his arm, crying. Where was she in those four years? Now she wants custody? She should be lucky not to be indicted. The ACS workers should be indicted as well. They are guilty of endangering the welfare of a minor. The crocodile tears of the grandma are disgusting — and Sharpton abetted it. There will be no justice for little Jahmeik. Daniel Jean Lipsman
