Winning brings out the fair weather fan.

In the early nineties when I was a Yankee fan and the team was losing, I actually used to enjoy going to games quite a bit.

It wasn’t fun watching them lose but, the people who were at the ballpark were the ones who really liked the game of baseball and really were the true Yankee fans.

Then, the team got better and started winning.

Out of the woodwork came the groups of guys, going to the ballpark to get as drunk as possible and have that male bonding type experience, one trying to outdo the other in bad behavior motivated by the “he who can consume the most alcohol” syndrome.

It got so bad I can remember two incidents vividly.

One, I was sitting in the upper deck having taken a woman I worked with to the game. A few seats over was a group of men (about 8 in all) who actually had the ability to embarrass me with their use of language (and I believe I am unfortunately known for my own colorful use of language). I was embarrassed mainly because it was so off putting to the woman I was with.

The second was during a game when I was sitting in the lower deck seats in right field and a man had taken his young daughter to the game. He at one point felt compelled to make a rather long and colorful commentary on Ricky Henderson’s parentage – Ricky an ex-Yankee has heard it all I’m sure but, it amazed me a father would behave in such a way in front of his young daughter.

Anyway, what prompted that little trip down memory lane was this little tidbit in the news that ran today:

After two straight last-place finishes, the New York Mets kept most ticket prices unchanged and lowered some others for the 2004 season.

Yep, losing will do that to you.

A couple of years back I had a Saturday plan (a Mets Saturday plan). It coincided with the team doing well and I got to go to another World Series game because of it (my first being the Yankees/Reds series way back when I was a teenager).

I had the plan for about two years and the first year was a dream. The people around us were really nice, you got to know them and they were really good people. The second year we got a bunch of new people. It was akin to having a house and having really bad neighbors move in.

They got Roberto Alomar that off-season and did a bunch of other things I wasn’t happy about so, I chose not to renew. Last place, two years in a row.

Might be time to get another Saturday plan, I bet all the fair weather fans are gone now.