They're not the Cubs, their futility does not go quite that deep. Cubs fans have a special brand of loserdom that is part of their very fabric.

Its the brand the Red Sox wore as a badge of pride for over 100 years until the past decade when they had their first taste of victory and they kind of enjoyed it. The Mets are more losers du jour. Back to back late season collapses followed by a season where everyone but Mr. Met landed in the hurt locker for most of the season.

Like every Mets fan, I come down with a case of cognitive dissonance every year around April, and somehow fool myself into thinking this is the year. I've been doing it for 24 years now. When I was just a young boy, at the age of 10, I was in the midst of experiencing a team that was playing at a level I wouldn't witness again. Straw, Dykstra, Mookie, Mex, The Kid, and McDowell and his Hot Foot lulled me into a false sense of superiority. Like a child raised by enabling parents, I was ill prepared for what the next 20 years would present me with.

So here I came again, to the shiny new stadium that replaced my childhood home of Shea, to dream again, to hope that I could somehow re-experience that magical season of 24 years ago. The Mets have the best Opening Day record of all time, and once again, lulling us fans into a false sense of hope, they went and won the damn game. They've already got me believing again, and that can only lead to heartbreak.


[1986 Mets theme song "Let's Go Mets" via YouTube]

Anthony De Rosa is a veteran blogger and long suffering Mets fan who has been developing and providing consulting for new media since 1996. He posts his opinions on a variety of topics, social media and politics in particular, at soupsoup.tumblr.com.