Thursday, April 16, 2009

'Sweet Caroline' isn't so sweet to me

Well, that's a change - instead of winning Opening Day and staggering through the rest of April, the Yanks have won two series in a row, and end their road trip with a respectable 5-4 record.

The team looked pretty pumped up - not only did Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter have memorable games, of course, but everybody seemed excited. Joe Girardi looked like he was about to knock Tony Pena down with that high-five.

I feel bad for Xavier Nady, though - what a tough break for him. And I hope Chien-Ming Wang puts it together soon.

But all in all, the Yanks have to be feeling fairly good right now.

As Nick Swisher put it on his Twitter page, "New York! Opening Day! Can't wait!"

* * *

In other news, my cat C.C. and I were watching the Mets game last night. She wanted to see if that cat was going to show up at Citi - or is that Kiti - Field again. Apparently that feline frolic is the talk of the cat community.

While we didn't see any more cats, we did notice a few other things. Like them playing "Sweet Caroline."

Can I say how much I hate that? First off, "Sweet Caroline" is the Red Sox's song. It's bad enough that the Mets organization has stolen - oops, I mean, paid homage to - the Dodgers and Giants' traditions for the new stadium; do they have to steal songs as well?

Second, the origin of "Sweet Caroline" is really creepy. Neil Diamond has said he wrote it about Caroline Kennedy. She was all of nine years old at the time. Tell me, how is this appropriate to write this about a little girl?
Hands, touchin' hands
Reachin' out
Touchin' me
Touchin' you
Or this?
Look at the night
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two
And when I hurt
Hurtin' runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when holdin' you
Yuck.

Speaking of creepy, Don LaFontaine, that movie trailer voiceover guy, may have died in August, but he lives on in that New York Lottery commercial that was on about 20 times during the game. I guess that's an homage to him as well. Sheesh.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

It takes a lot of balls to argue that the Mets history is "creepy" because it is Dodgers and Giants history as well, while being a fan of the Yankees, a team that claims credit for everything that they touch.

The reason that the Mets pay homage to teams like the Dodgers and the Giants is because that is the history of the fanbase. A majority of the original Mets fans were young Dodgers fans and Giants fans, back when the franchises played in New York. I for example, have been raised a Mets fan. My father passed that along to me, and he was originally a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, having gone to a number of their games before they moved out west.

I'd also like to point out that team history belongs to the team, but moreso to the fanbase. So, when the Dodgers played in Ebbetts field, that was a part of Brooklyn/New York history, even though they moved. To see it any other way is a bit absurd. Otherwise, the Yankees could move to Duluth tomorrow...their fans in Duluth who didn't even follow baseball yesterday could claim 26 championships in their history, and mock you when you felt pride in any of them.

Anonymous said...

Talk about "stealers" the yankees stael evry good player they can find Opps "BUY" on the free agent list so take your mercenaries and go home

Ryan O said...

Its actually a Neil Diamond song i think.

Ryan O said...

I dont think the Red Sox wrote it.

Lisa Swan said...

Anon, I didn't say that the Mets history is creepy. I said that "Sweet Caroline" is creepy!

And there's a difference between paying homage and not having anything, other than the Apple and the old skyline, to represent the Mets history. Your team did win two rings, after all (one more than the Brooklyn Dodgers won). While I really liked CitiField, I think there should be more Mets stuff there, especially given that Shea was in existence longer than Ebbets Field.

Lisa

Ryan O said...

Anyways, my Citi Field experience last night was excellent. I sat in section 430 by the left field foul pole. Got there early and toured around the ball park. Almost caught a Sheffield home run in batting practice but a man WITH A GLOVE jumped in front of me and caught it. If your over 12 please dont bring your glove, you look like an idiot.

Went to the ball park fare and split some sushi and an italian hero with my dad...delicious and not terribly expensive. Beer was actually cheaper i think ($8 last year to $7.50 this year). What a bargain!

Views were great, scoreboard and out of town scoreboard were top notch, better than ive ever seen.

Best part were the people sitting next to us in our section. All big Mets fans who were also (like me) checking in on the Rangers score. And none of them got up to do "The Wave".

So in conclusion all was great except for the 35 year old with the glove, and the 60% of the people in the ballpark who still think "The Wave" is cool.

I give it 9 1/2 thumbs up.

Lisa Swan said...

Ryan - thanks for the report! Glad you had a good time. I agree with you about the wave.

Last year, Jon would have to drag me to non-Subway Series games at Shea. This year, I'm actually (shudder) looking forward to going back to Citi Field, even if they do spend too much space on the Brooklyn Dodgers.

They still need to ditch "Sweet Caroline," though.

Lisa

Ryan O said...

Haha your right Lisa, I just get defensive when people say we shouldnt or can't do something.

Bottom line is that song is overplayed and yes..."creepy" :)

I actually look forward to going to a Yankee game also this year.

Last time i went to one, its because a family we were friends with were close with Oddibe McDowell who was with Texas playing the Yanks. You cant make that story up.

Repoz said...

"Second, the origin of "Sweet Caroline" is really creepy. Neil Diamond has said he wrote it about Caroline Kennedy. She was all of nine years old at the time. Tell me, how is this appropriate to write this about a little girl?

Hands, touchin' hands
Reachin' out
Touchin' me
Touchin' you"

Lisa...I remember a Neil Diamond review in Creem Magazine from 1972 (it might have been Lester Bangs) where it just poked fun of the "Hot August Night" LP cover as it looks like Neil is polishing his extrapolated knobber.

http://www.pacdemon.org/files/hot_august_night.jpg

So, the whole "touching me" biz is just more added spunkla to his flaccid career.

Anonymous said...

I thought they were going to stop playing Sweet Caroline in lieu of playing "Im a Believer"

Anonymous said...

I agree for a much simpler reason -- the song has become overexposed. Heck, even the local AAA team played it the other night.

Leave it at Fenway where, correct me if I am wrong, the tradition of playing it began.

My boys should find their own theme song....but not "I'm a Believer". Why not "You Gotta Have Heart." It's a perfect tribute to that era in Mets ball, no?

JP

Ryan O said...

I like "Alive" by Pearl Jam. We can play it for all the games until we get eliminated from the playoffs.

Last two seasons we could have played it until the last game.

And it rocks.

Scott said...

Lisa,

The Mets have announced there will be more homage history at Citi Field including a Mets Hall of Fame located out behind center field.The two championship teams will get their honors. To some extent the stadium is still a work-in-progress. I understand Fred Wilpon's love of the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson since he lived in Brooklyn as a kid and a longtime friend of Sandy Koufax. If anything the Giants have been shortchanged in the nostalgia at the ballpark

Scott

NAM said...

I think the creepiness is in the mind. Writers are inspired and it starts a process. Not every word someone writes in book or lyric is directly related to the inspiration.

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