It146;s a fan146;s life

The Mets won,8221; I say, as I raise my hand in triumph and make my way to the breakfast table.8220;Again?8221; she asks taken aback by t...

The Mets won,8221; I say, as I raise my hand in triumph and make my way to the breakfast table.

8220;Again?8221; she asks taken aback by the news.

8220;And the Yankees lost.8221;

8220;That8217;s hard to believe,8221; she says. She continues, 8220;But have some porridge with melon that will cheer you up even more.8221;

The thing is that the baseball season in America is just a few weeks old the New York Mets my team, my team are flying and the New York Yankees, the hated cross town rivals, are slumping and the going hasn8217;t been so good for many years which brings a wide smile to my face every morning as I sit for breakfast after seeing the box score on the New York Times on the Net.

My wife is indifferent to baseball but not indifferent to my moods and she realises that how I kick off the day very much depends on what has happened thousands of miles away on a baseball diamond in New York when the teams are playing home games or some other part of the US when they are playing away.

My mood is sombre when the Yanks have won the previous night and the Mets have lost and before I even say it just by seeing my countenance my wife knows. So to cheer me up, she asks whether I8217;ll have two fried eggs. Seeing me hesitate, she adds, 8220;Sunny side up?8221; Of course she realises that that is the only sunny side I8217;ll see all morning. I readily agree and soon I get two orbs of the sun glistening on my plate with bacon on the side to boot. This, of course, relieves my gloom a little but not by much.

Then comes the casual thrust from my wife. 8220;If you care so much about the Mets that your mood is going to be affected by what happens 10,000 miles away why don8217;t you move to New York?8221;

8220;But I love Bombay,8221; I say as if that explains it and then, just in case it does not, I tell her that distance makes the heart grow fonder.

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8220;You8217;ve never gotten over your New York year 1986 8212; the only recent year the Mets won the World Series 8212; out of your system. She says and you should really spend a couple of baseball seasons in New York to get over the Mets. These moods are really ridiculous.8221;

8220;I would be constantly depressed in New York about Dada8217;s poor form,8221; I say, tucking into my fried eggs.