The New York Mets are having an online poll to see what tune should be boozily warbled during the eighth-inning sing-a-long.
They have some very odd selections.
Someone in the marketing department needs to pay closer attention to the meaning behind the lyrics.
For instance, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska isn't about Cornhusker football, and Streets of Philadelphia is not a tribute to Julius Erving.
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As the proud owner of a 16% Shea Stadium season ticket package (that’s five games for the mathematically-challenged), I was rather taken aback when the marketing-powers-that-be decided to play “Sweet Caroline” during the eighth-inning sing-a-long. Nothing against Neil Diamond, as fine a Jew as the borough of Brooklyn ever produced, but the Boston Red Sox claimed that particular ditty years ago.
My best guess is the “Sweet Caroline” Red Sox Nation phenomena began with Beautiful Girls, a delightful film that taught us not to mess with Michael Rapaport’s supermodels and that “old soul”/future Padme Amidala brings out the Ronnie J. McGorvey in the best of us.
Whatever the case, the song belongs to Boston and their charming fan base. It’s propelled them to two world championships and countless number of abortions throughout Red Sox Nation.
It doesn’t belong at Shea anymore than “Roll Out the Barrel” should be played at Safeco Field. During one game, in fact, I made the pronouncement that “Sweet Caroline” was an abomination and the Mets needed a song to claim as their own.
And that song should be “New York Groove” by Ace Frehley.
It’s a powerful statement about the rejuvenating powers of the Big Apple, a symphonic ode perfectly aligned with Shea's magic center field hat. Granted, Space Ace is Bronx-born, but KISS is where he made his bones. And since Paul Stanley is from Queens, Peter Criss is from Brooklyn and Gene Simmons can kibbutz with Israelis throughout the greater Long Island area, “New York Groove” is ideal for the multi-cultural Mets diaspora.
Plus, it’s jaunty, fun and direct, with easy-to-understand lyrics and not all of that cross-town “New York, New York” pretentiousness.
I’m back! Back in a New York groove. (Repeat.)
I was so fired up about this idea last summer that I even tried to register Makebackinanewyorkgroovetheofficial sheastaidumsong.com, but these internets are confusing and my quest collapsed like a seven-game lead with seventeen to play.
That’s why I was thrilled to find out that the Mets are taking an online poll to see what the new eighth-inning sing-a-long song should be.
This being Shea Stadium, the great thematically-appropriate rock anthem “New York Groove” isn’t one of the choices.
And “Sweet Caroline” is. Sadly, a permanent filching of the Sox tune would be better than some of the other choices. The crapfest includes: that unctuous Friends "I'll Be There For You" song (because the 1990’s were brilliant times to be a Mets fan), “I Love Rock and Roll” (because the lesbian sports crowd must go somewhere on Liberty off-nights), “Livin’ On A Prayer” (because…well, this actually makes sense but Jovi is a Yankees fan, so fuck him) and “Waiting on A Sunny Day.”
Wait, what?!?
Some of you may remember back to the 1984 Presidential election when Ronald Reagan tried to use “Born in the U.S.A.” to further his campaign. At a New Jersey stop, the Gipper said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."
Naturally, the ancient Reagan had no idea that the song was about a disillusioned unemployed Vietnam Vet, so Springsteen told him to get bent. One might think that his younger campaign people would have read the lyrics, but “Born in the U.S.A.” was everywhere that summer, and it’s mildly understandable that a cursory listen 
to the bombastic chorus might give the wrong impression.
“Waitin' on a Sunny Day,” though….not so much.
It's the third track off of Bruce’s post-9/11 work The Rising, an album with one song that could possibly be considered cheery. And that song is “Mary’s Place,” about the local bar where everyone is going to get liquored up and toast the friends they’ve lost. “Waitin' on a Sunny Day,” however, is about trying to chase away the sadness as it specifically relates to September 11.
Here’s the first stanza, pay close attention to the first line:
It's rainin' but there ain't a cloud in the sky
Musta been a tear from your eye
Everything'll be okay
Funny thought I felt a sweet summer breeze
Musta been you sighin' so deep
Don't worry we're gonna find a way
I'm waitin', waitin' on a sunny day
Gonna chase the clouds away
Waitin' on a sunny day
Let’s play two!
The crazy thing is that this song wasn’t a big hit or anything, so it had to be chosen by a knowledgeable Springsteen fan, or at least someone somewhat familiar with the backstory of The Rising. The wailing sax of Clarence Clemons gives “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” a bouncy optimistic feel, but this is no whimsical “great day for a ballgame” drunken eighth-inning sing-a-long ditty.
You’d think the Mets would know better than this.
Although, the dude who carried the Make Every Terrorist Suffer banner on that Sunday when the Braves knocked the Mets out of the 2001 playoff chase…that dude probably loves “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day.”
Because nothing says baseball like thinking back on 9/11.
Let’s all write it in together, shall we:
I’m back! Back in a New York groove. (Repeat.)
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