CHALK THIS ONE UP TO THE JOHNNYMETS MERCHANDISE JINX

The Norfolk Tides have ended their affiliation with the New York Mets, and the Mets will now have the New Orleans Zephyrs as their Triple-A affiliate. There's only one reasonable conclusion as to why this happened:

From johnnyjets.blogspot.com, September 16, 2005
I'm going to let you in on one of my dirty little secrets: I owned an Anthony Becht jersey. I know, I know, it was a stupid purchase. But I really thought he was going to be the next Mickey Schuler (I know, I know, that's not even a whole heck of a lot, but for a Jets fan, that's the comparison). But really, I thought he was going to be great. I still do think it was the wrong system at the wrong time - and if he was still around, it might have been him having a 100-yard receiving day last Sunday. Instead, he caught one pass for 7 yards in his Tampa Bay debut. But I digress. The point is, I had an Anthony Becht jersey (still do, as a matter of fact). It's my fault he didn't succeed as a Jet.

This is a curse. It's a curse I must live with. It dates back to about 1994. I read a great article in Sports Illustrated about Boomer Esiason and his son Gunnar, and I said, "I want a Boomer Esiason jersey. He will be my favorite Jet." (I was at a crossroads at this point about who my favorite Jet would be - among the candidates was Aaron Glenn.) Well, I buy the Boomer jersey - I remember it like it was yesterday - I went to Modell's on Steinway Street in Astoria, bought the jersey, wore the heck out of it, and was wearing it the night of Dan Marino's fake spike at the Meadowlands, when the Jets blew their big halftime lead, and their chance at first place, and lost every game the rest of the way to finish 6-10 and oh by the way who got burned on that fake spike - oh yes the other candidate for my jersey purchasing Aaron Glenn.

I didn't buy another jersey after Boomer for a little while. But then 1998 came. The Jets had a steal in the draft, I was convinced, when they took Boston College's Glenn Foley in the sixth round. He earned the starting job, and went 0-2, losing to San Francisco in Week One on Garrison Hearst's 96-yard touchdown run in overtime (remember that?). Anyway, after he lost in Week Two, he also hurt his ribs. Of course, we all know Vinny Testaverde took over, played for about 4 more years, and Glenn Foley took about 8 snaps with Seattle before retiring to a bar somewhere...being seen only on the free agent lists in John Madden football games (where I would sometimes sign him as a backup for old time's sake.)

So along comes the 2000 draft, and I say no to Shaun Ellis, no to John Abraham, no to Chad Pennington, I want the tight end's jersey. So I custom ordered from NFL.com an Anthony Becht #88 jersey. He's going to be a star! I convince myself. Well, it looks good for a while. When the Jets make their playoff run in 2001 he's a key part - catching touchdown passes and two-point conversions late in games versus Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Testaverde found him a reliable target. But he never matched those numbers (not even very impressive numbers, anyway) again. He even developed a big case of the dropsies. I think the one that sealed it was an October Monday Night Football game where he dropped a pass that would have given the Jets big yardage, and incurred the wrath of the home fans. Well, sorry, Anthony - little did you know it was probably my fault.

Anyway, after Becht was gone, I said I'm never going to get another Jets jersey. Why put anyone through what I put poor Glenn Foley and Anthony Becht through? Then, I had a better idea. Why not get a sure thing? What's more of a sure thing than Chad Pennington? And I had a string of bad luck with green jerseys - how about a white Chad Pennington jersey!? Foolproof. So for my birthday, good old mom got me a Pennington jersey. Well, we're 0-1. Sorry Chad.

Chad Pennington, of course, went on to win the next game, then in the third game of the season went down with a career-threatening injury and nearly lost his job as starting quarterback of the New York Jets.

As you may or may not know, for my birthday this past summer, The Wife bought me a Norfolk Tides hat. So the aforementioned jersey jinx has apparently now extended to all sports merchandise.

ON THE SUBJECT OF SPORTS MERCHANDISE: My mom, bless her, sent me a package in the mail today. I opened it up, and inside was my New York Mets Division Champions shirt. What a lady.

But the shirt isn't a t-shirt - it's got three-quarters sleeves. I know it's been a long time since the Mets won a division...but how long have they been going with these? They're not the most comfortable shirts in the world. I hope the World Series shirts are more wearable. And I hope the fact that I now own one of these shirts doesn't put an end to the possibility of me owning a World Series champions shirt. I keep tempting fate.

There IS a game tonight - the Mets are trailing Washington 3-1 in the seventh. But the loss by St. Louis on Thursday night clinched home-field advantage for the Mets through the playoffs, so there's not much left to play for but 100 wins.

Still no baby, by the way.