It's Mets For Me: Off-Beat, Tangentially Relevant Mets Ruminations

Off Base Since 2005! Mets commentary from the counter-intuitive to the unintuitive and all the intuitives in between. ** "Through the use of humor and gross inaccuracy...a certain truth can be gained." Rob Perri ** (pester me at:itsmetsforme@gmail.com or follow me @itsmetsforme on twitter)

Friday, February 04, 2011

Mets Make Off-Season Moves to Improve (Legal) Defense

 http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/Potsie.jpg
Is a Potsie scheme coming into focus?

Perhaps sensing that Metsfans are the only constituency who will accept at face value the idea that the Wilpon's incompetence could outweigh their mendacity, the Mets have started harassing me over the email with protestations of innocence regarding the Madoff lawsuit affair:
The Trustee's lawsuit is an outrageous "strong arm" effort to try to force a settlement by threatening to ruin our reputations and businesses which we have built for over 50 years. This is a flagrant abuse of the Trustee's authority and we will not succumb to his pressure. The conclusions in the complaint are not supported by the facts. While they may make for good headlines, they are abusive, unfair and untrue. We categorically reject them. We should not be made victims twice over - the first time by Madoff, and again by the Trustee's action.
The Wilpons may be involved in a Potsie scheme here, thinking Madoff was really cool just because he said: "Aaaaaaaaaayy." In any event, the legalese in this email strikes me as reeking of desperation. After what they done to me, I have a hard time thinking of the Wilpons as victims, at least a harder time than I do sympathizing with folks like Elyse S. Goldweber who lost their entire retirement savings. But is this whole thing one more bumbling episode in the Wilpon's reign? Or a catastrophe that may lead to a Wilpon endgame?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/05/business/dbpix-people-saul-katz-fred-wilpon/dbpix-people-saul-katz-fred-wilpon-tmagSF.jpg
The Mets three wisemen: what will they do next? (Photo: NY Times)

As far as I can see, it is entirely possible that in the coming months we will learn the Wilpons were in on the fraudulent scheme, as the lawsuit alleges. Compelling information could come out that the Wilpons were not the victims they have painted themselves as. I can easily imagine a whistle-blower emerging any minute now--surely someone in the Wilpon's employ must have seen something sensational that would get them a couple of bucks from the NY Post. Such revelations would be the kind of mother of all public relations disasters for owners that seem to have mastered the form.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44FqbfigRJwUdlYjKo6YQVWolfxR_0BTw-VI7HpJJL4dGN6g8PWGk6aOhv7WdNRZUa4u6vpjBPI4k6izzfFCWXaEpe14c4uRgZQqwEnHlMRUFU_wAEQzeZUKk1Ya4tWbRnL6cow/s200/Nelson+Doubleday+and+Fred+wilpon.jpg

It is also then possible that the Mets will need to be sold to a (hopefully more competent) ownership group, and potential buyers from the sublime to the ridiculous have started to poke the media.
"Martin Luther King Jr. died for the common man to do better in his life"..."That sort of legacy is going to take hold here." --Larry Meli, TV executive in group with MLK III interested in buying the Mets.
What are we to make of this quote? It is either highly offensive to the MLK legacy, or highly foreboding for the Mets future, I think. I guess there are worse owners than the Wilpons out there somewhere, but I admit to being curious about whether new blood would lift the 25 year dark cloud from over this franchise.

Some of my wonderful readers have been helping my self-esteem by clamoring for new winter content, but I really have no clue where this is headed. Is Madoff going to be remembered by Met historians as the man who broke the Mets, or the man who liberated the fanbase from a mediocre ownership? I ask you here: what do you guys think is going to happen?

Labels: ,

11 Comments:

  • At 5:47 PM, Anonymous cver said…

    Beware of False Profits!

    Cver

     
  • At 9:05 AM, Blogger I.M. Forme said…

    Fred's defense: "SEC yeah you know me"!?

     
  • At 11:58 AM, Anonymous Kate said…

    More like f-ing aaaaayyyyyyyy.
    They'd better sell the team before the end of spring training...I'm not going into the season being this angry, it's like going food shopping on an empty stomach.

     
  • At 9:21 AM, Anonymous =( Met fan =( said…

    They'll probably settle for an amount low enough that it'll allow the Wilpons to keep the team, but high enough that it'll "force" them to keep the payroll at $65million for the next 27 years...As a Mets fan you're not actually expecting anything good to come out of this, are you?

     
  • At 8:22 PM, Blogger I.M. Forme said…

    the wilpons do have lawyers themselves. and the backing of larry king.

     
  • At 2:33 PM, Anonymous cver said…

    Hi Mr. IMFM! What's up, buddy? No more Ollie nor Castillo! Hope you are well enough and have enough time to do some more posts on this and other subjects, since real live baseball is starting soon!

     
  • At 6:17 PM, Blogger I.M. Forme said…

    Hey Cver,
    i actually lost my password, or more accurately, my password stopped working for some reason. Trying to remedy this situation now.
    IMFM

     
  • At 6:52 PM, Anonymous cver said…

    Good, man - I hope I inspired you! The Mets world needs you right now!

     
  • At 7:01 PM, Blogger I.M. Forme said…

    well it's funny--i just figured out that my laptop remembered the password after seeing your note. I have some catching up to do, huh?
    And something of an announcement...this blog will be moving to NYC soon. We'll see how this impacts the quality of my coverage.

    thanks for waking me from my slumber.

     
  • At 9:55 PM, Anonymous =( Met fan =( said…

    I'm sorry to hear you'll be moving so close to the next inevitable Metastrophe, yet glad to hear this blog is back up and running. Welcome back! Let's go Picard!

     
  • At 10:46 PM, Anonymous cver said…

    Your back, baby!!!

     

Post a Comment

<< Home

 
This blog is meant completely and entirely in jest, unless you count the angst, and is not meant to offend anyone, unless you are a Br*ves fan. It's not affiliated with Sterling, the Mets, common sense, good taste, or anything really.