This past week I watched something that has not been done in 15 years, and since I was in elementary school: the Mets winning a pennant and booking a trip to the World Series. It has been so long since this happened that I can't even remember the 2000 World Series that fortunately the New York Yankees won against the Mets. The Mets played the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, with the Cubs being another team that has not won a world series title in a long time. It has been 107 years and since 1908 that the Cubs won their last World Series title. Unfortunately this year the New York Yankees drought of not winning a World Series title since 2009 will continue, making it six years since their last title. It has been strange having the Mets in the playoffs and the World Series since I have always known New York's other baseball team to be a franchise that has struggled and not succeeded in the regular season. It is also strange from a New York Yankee's perspective as on the one hand it is good to have a New York team competing for a national championship but on the other hand it is unfortunate that the New York team is not the Yankees. It is also strange when the Mets play because I want them to win and lose at the same time. I would want the Mets to win the World Series so that a New York team would win another championship but at the same time I don't want the Mets to have bragging rights and be able to say that they are New York's best baseball team, a statement that would be truly flawed as the New York Yankees have 27 World Series Titles to the Mets' two.

After the Mets swept the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) I went with my housemates, one of which is a big Mets fan, to a local sporting goods store in order to purchase their Mets championship gear. My only reason for going was to be able to experience what it would be like at the store immediately following a team's clinching trip to a national championship since that is something that I have never done or experienced before. I had no idea how crazy it would be, since it was 15 years since the Mets were able to sell championship gear, what the atmosphere would be like at the store, what the turnout would be, etc. It turned out that a lot less people than I expected came to the store to buy the gear and it was just another ordinary day at the store, not crowded at all, and no chants or excitement from the fans that showed up. I thought that there would have been a lot more excitement to purchasing championship gear for your team right after they clinch a championship berth.

While in the store, I couldn't purchase any Mets gear, especially as a Yankees fan even though they are representing New York on a national level by competing in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. Instead while my housemates were purchasing their gear I checked to see what kind of Yankees gear was available, even though sadly their season was long over. Hopefully the early exit from the postseason will give the Yankees a lot to think about and even more motivation to reach the world series next year, and bring another World Series title to New York where it should be, with the city's best team.