My initial reaction to the Wilpons selling off part of the Mets was trepidation but now that the first potential ownership group has emerged I’m very excited by the possibilities.

Martin Luther King III, Ed Kranepool and Donn Clendenon Jr. are leading an investment group acting aggressively out of the gate and BMF is lovin’ it.

Imagine MLK’s legacy, the all-time Mr Met, and the son of a ‘69 hero joining the organization as owners. It would instantly make the Mets the coolest team in town… at least in the ownership department.

We used to have cool owners when the Doubleday family was involved. Having descendants of Abner the man who invented the game was freakin’ cool… until Fred bought them out.

On the “cool owners” scale the Wilpons rate close to the bottom.

A couple of the cooler owners in sports:
 
• The Maloof Brothers - pretty cool owners

• Mark Cuban - sort of a tool but def a cool owner

• Al Davis - total psycho but still cool as hell

• Jerry Jones - acts like a dick but still cool 

• Hank & Hal - their dad may have been nuts but he was definitely cool - Hank and Hal are anything but cool yet they’re still light years ahead of the cool challenged Wilpons.

• The Maras - family helped make the NFL - very cool

• Woody Johnson - pretty damn cool

This ownership group seems to want no less than 50% but the Wilpons are initially looking for 25%. I doubt they’d sell anything more than 49% but you never know…

If you’re on the Mets list you got an awfully suspicious, email blast yesterday.

I think the Mets may have a major financial problem on their hands.

Select excerpts:

***
“Dear Mets Fans:

As Sterling Equities announced in December, we are engaged in discussions to settle a lawsuit brought against us and other Sterling partners and members of our families by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy…

However, to address the air of uncertainty created by this lawsuit, and to provide additional assurance that the New York Mets will continue to have the necessary resources to fully compete and win, we are looking at a number of potential options including the addition of one or more strategic partners…

Regardless of the outcome of this exploration, Sterling will remain the principal ownership group of the Mets…

We wanted to share this information with you concurrent with sharing it with all Mets employees and the media. Thank you for your ongoing support.”
***

This is obviously an effort to control the message before the media smells blood in the water which tells me the Mets believe there is a MAJOR issue brewing.

The line that trips me up is,

“…we are looking at a number of potential options including the addition of one or more strategic partners…”

Which to me sounds like, “We need money!”

If the Wilpons suddenly need to sell off part of the Mets ya gotta imagine they’re about to get hammered on all that money they “withdrew” from Madoff.

It’s gonna be VERY interesting to see how this unfolds…

Sorry folks don’t mean to be a buzz kill but one thing struck me while reading how Terry Collin’s Mets are expected to be “better prepared on defense” — what a bunch of bullish*t.

I heard the same thing when Jerry took over, and Willie and Bobby and Omar and pretty much every other skipper or GM the Mets have ever had.

At this point it’s become white noise, like a campaign promise by a politician on the stump. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s merely regurgitated soundbites that serve as something to say to the media while it’s snowing in January.

Is hearing that Collins is going to “instill confidence in his players” supposed to make me feel better about this team? C’mon Jerry was very much a skipper who built confidence in his players so this is no quantum reversal of philosophy.

No one is at fault here. What else is Collins supposed to say? “We’re gonna throw at batter’s heads go prove were the baddest mofo’s in the league”??? Of course not, although that would be refreshing (lol) 

And what else is the media supposed to talk about? Chin-lung Hu the skinny Taiwanese middle infielder we got from the Dodgers?

It’s just ridiculous to hear the Mets will be rededicating themselves to fundamentals or will be better prepared to run the bases or some other crap.

Honestly at this point I don’t want to hear anything from anyone. I just want to see this team compete on the field.

Can you tell I’m getting irritable waiting for pitchers and catchers?!?

Our boy Wally Backman didn’t get the Met gig but he did get one helluva consolation prize: manager of the AA Binghamton Mets.

I know Wally had his sights on the big league gig, and many of us were hoping he’d get the nod but the truth is Wally is still in his probationary period under the Wilpons.

The funny thing is Wally’s move from Short season rookie ball to AA is in some ways a backwards step. Of course the prestige factor is a couple of steps up but moving from Brooklyn to Binghamton can feel like exile in Siberia - lol.

But his chances of landing a big league skipper job have increased exponentially now that he’s in AA. And the AA manager often gets the inside track for his franchise top managerial spot since he’s worked with all the prospects coming through the system.

Good luck Wally hopefully SNY will carry some B Met games this year.

BMF was so disgusted by the first half of that game it’s ruined ALL of sports for me - at least for today.

I couldn’t even enjoy what was actually a helluva second half because I was literally sick to my stomach at 24-0.

To me its obvious the team came out flat because they played their emotional Super Bowl last week vs the Pats. They weren’t properly motivated until the Steelers embarrassed us for 30 minutes.

I love Rex but I don’t think he sufficiently game-planned against a letdown.

I hate sports.

Get this — 4 Met pitchers (Big Pelf, Dickey, Parnell and Gee) joined Jeff Wilpon (!) and went through official FDNY training exercises that included fighting real fire!

This KICKS ASS!!!

Ya’ don’t see the Yankees doing this kinda stuff - but they prob wouldnt want to get their white collars dirty and all…

Who’s cooler than the NY Mets???

The FDNY that’s who!!!