Adversity Shmersity

I remember it like it was yesterday.

“Robert Downey? Robert Downey? He’s going to be a horrible Iron Man!”

And I remember telling everyone I could speak to about this that he would be a perfect Iron Man because the fact is, in super hero movies, you don’t just play the super hero but you play the alter ego. Playing Peter Parker is just as important as playing Spider man.

They both share certain vulnerabilities because they are the same person, simple as that. So when the two characters seem different, it just makes it hard to believe either character, you can’t have your main super hero walking around with a case of mistaken identity.

It’s the same when a team loses its identity. Forgets what got them to the point where they were successful. When a team begins to lose its identity, it begins to falter and the whole suffers.

Carlos Delgado is no longer the feared hitter he once was. Jose Reyes during the beginning part of the season was afraid that his elaborate hand shakes and dance moves were making other teams angry so he decided to tone himself down.

The bullpen couldn’t make pitches when it needed to. Johan was giving up home runs on his fastball when his change up is his bread and butter. Pedro was absent from the club house because of an early season injury.

The 2006 team seemed to have an identity. A loose group that believed. A team that grasped the concept of actually being a better group than the ones that they were playing. Never needing a reason to feel optimistic, they were the guys that were going to play every pitch like they expected great things.

The 2007 team after June 1^st and the team that currently takes the feidl now, does not have that same feel. They are a tight group of players who have aged quicker than you can say contender. Fact is, the Mets have been wound up so tight, that you can tell that they are going to pop at any instant.

The great expectations that came from them winning in 2006 had a reverse effect on their psyche. They were suddenly out right favorites and were in the driver’s seat. Expectations came up on them and they were eaten alive by those who picked them to win.

Fact is, in NY, expectations can be the bane of a team’s existence. Every year that the Yankees don’t win a World Series seems to indicate that they were huge failures when things couldn’t be any less truer.

If this season is any indication, its that sports is about as predictable as the AL Central Champion. Who could have seen the White Sox being a first place team when the season opened? Balls bounce a funny way, pitchers suddenly come unraveled and things that were expected to happen (Johan winning 20 games) don’t seem like reality.

But the great thing about it is, that when you have a good team, things like that can be a distant memory. A few victories can set you on the right path. A bullpen that is not giving up so many hits can gain confidence once the offense picks up the slack.

A team that once seemed so divided when it lost, can seem like the happiest bunch of goofballs when they finally begin to rack up the W’s.

The Mets are prime examples of this. When their backs are against the wall, the Mets don’t play well. When they seem comfortable, and relaxed, and loose, they seem to magically play like they did in 06.

But adversity creates heart. So if anything, these trying times may be tough for Met fans to endure but remember that if anything, this is making the Mets tougher. They are hardening themselves up. When the Mets finally realize that nobody but themselves can right this ship, it will dawn upon them that they have the talent to do it on the field. That they needn’t look to trade away their entire farm system for immediate relief. That their strength truly lies within themselves and nobody else.

Now that’s one superhero storyline you’ve never read before huh?