Former New York Mets' catcher Paul Lo Duca told Washington Post writer Barry Svrluga, as quoted in a post entitled, "Lo Duca, Milledge prepare for Big Apple", on Mr. Svrluga's "Nationals Journal", that when he thinks about his return to Shea Stadium, for the three game series starting tomorrow night at 7:10 pm EST between Lo Duca's new Washington teammates and his previous team, he thinks, "It's just going to be interesting," and whether Mr. Lo Duca is simply expressing the average opinion of a well-traveled professional ball player, or if he has genuine antipathy towards his old town, Mr. Lo Duca seems dispassionate and fairly blunt in stating that it:

"...has nothing to do with missing the Mets. It's missing the fans, and missing the security guards, the parking lot guys, the guys you became friends with for a couple of years. That's it. I could care less about missing the guys. We're going to see those guys, and my job is to beat them up. I could care less about that. That's not going to be emotional at all."

That's fine with me. It's the fans' job to be emotional, you don't have to hate the Mets, Mr. Lo Duca. Federalbaseball.com will do it for you. I don't know anymore whether it's from a lifetime spent in the midst of the Mets' fan that my anger has grown...so toxic, so venomous and uncontrollable, or if perhaps it's the times, when say, I was in the car with a Mets' fan, and I was forced to endure the stilted ramblings of a million arm-chair GM's and Managers phoning in to second-guess every decision, of every game that goes awry, or claims to share in the victory, in the sense of the universal "we", as in "...we really sh*t the bed last season, when we blew that enormous lead," or perhaps, "...we all thought we were going to the World Series in '06 until Wainwright's curve broke back into the zone," but whatever it is that's caused my dislike to boil over into rage, it's been unleashed...

And it is in that vein, that I present this "Refresher Course", or compilation, of a list I started just after the end of the Nationals' '07 season, just weeks after the Nationals had swept the Mets in Shea Stadium in September and sent them stumbling, and eventually spiralling out of playoff contention. (ed. note - "I've written and enjoyed that fact so often, it's almost a chore to compose still more variations.")

I began compiling this list on 10/19/07 with the #5 Reason YOU Can STILL Hate the Mets...

Reason #5 - In which I prove, (I believe), that the New York Mets had an agenda which involved consistently beaning Jose Guillen, who then patrolled right field for Washington, whenever the opportunity arose, strategically speaking, during a game, and in my "Argument in Six Parts", I provide dates and circumstances in support of my claims. 

Reason #4 - In which I recount the circumstances surrounding the departure of one Gary Edmund "Kid" Carter, who left Montreal for the bright lights and World Series victories in New York, casting a cloud of forgetfullness over the contribution Carter made in Montreal for an Expos' team that was offered a bit of respect in the end, when Carter was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a pinwheel cap. 

Reason #3 - In which I report, somewhat erroneously, on the interest Mets' GM Omar Minaya had consistently expressed in Washington's Flat-Brimmed Closer Chad Cordero. (ed. note - "My error was assuming Minaya was responsible for Montreal drafting Cordero, when in fact, I later read in Barry Svrluga's book, "National Pasttime", that the Expos' scouts had had to convince Minaya to select Cordero.") Anyhow, the interest on Minaya's part is well-documented here.

Reason #2 - It was at this point that I noticed, due to the increase in visits to the site, that some New York fans had found my list and where checking in daily to be insulted, and quite honestly it seems, baffled that a Nationals' fan had anything to say, or was in anyway aggressive in their feelings towards the Mets. By listing the "Mets' Fans" as the #2 reason YOU Can STILL Hate the METS", I'd hoped to make myself clear...

Reason #1 - ...and if it wasn't clear then, I checked in again the next day with Reason #1 YOU Can Still HATE the METS!!...and then failed to reward with a concrete reason that the hatred existed, instead leading the assembled Mets' fans through a byzantine collection of quotes from their brethren, their fellow New York fans...boasting, moaning, living and dying vicariously through their team's successes or failures, but really most of all just complaining, whining, cursing...well you get the point...

(ed. note - "I also learned a lesson here, 'Don't start a list of five things until you come up with five things.'") I also drew my Brother Scout, Braves' Fan and Source For All Things Baseball into the fray, as it was requested, and he provided, a list, "...off the top of (his) head," of reasons any NL East fan could HATE the METS...

1. Darryl and Dwight

2. Over-hyped Prospects

3. Shea Stadium

4. Mr. Met (ed. note - "..so far federalbaseball.com readers agree. See Poll>>)

5. That Stupid Dilapidated Apple

6. Piazza! (Just by himself, is reason enough!)

7. Annual Subway Series chatter

8. Keith Hernandez's personal anecdotes from his playing days. (Though he is otherwise insightful.)

Since then I've come up with a few more reasons...

Reason #6

Reason #7 

Reason #8

Reason #9

Starting tomorrow night, it's three games at Shea against the "Hated Mets" as the Nationals look to continue their winning ways after suffering nine straight losses that just barely came to and end with their win over Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. 7:10 PM start...