Hello and welcome to Flushing Transit Authority.  This is a Mets podcast.  I'm Jay Bushman I'm here with my co-host Will Stegemann and why don't we talk a little bit about what we're what we're doing here, what our what our goals are for this podcast.  Happy to do so.  Thank you for having me as your guest host it's a pleasure to be on Flushing Transit Authority.  So there are a lot of places where you can hear people talk about the Mets you can get game results you can hear about the win loss record you can hear about statistics and we'll talk about that a little bit but.  There are already places that do that very well what I want to talk about and what we're going to talk about is why are we Mets fans why are we've fans of anything.  Why did the Mets matter to us what makes being a Mets fan different then being a fan of that other team in New York.  That that other team that will remain nameless for now I'm sure will say their name a thousand times but not today not today yeah.  What we're going to do here over the next six months or so is once every two weeks we're going to bring new Mets stories because of the end of the day.  The narrative and the story is what matters yeah that's a really good really good way of phrasing it that we are first and foremost fans.  This is a team and this is a game that we've both followed since we were kids we both grew up in the New York area we now both live in Los Angeles thousands of miles away and yet we retain a connection to this game and to this team and to me it's really it's a question.  Of fandom and it's a fandom that's not that different than any other kind of fandom whether or not it's in movies or television shows or comic books.  The people that cause play at conventions are not any different than people who wear the jerseys of their favorite players when they go to games look we should point out right now I am wearing a jacket to groan the future got his name and number on the back there is little chance that I'm going to be called in to a game this afternoon yet you never know I felt the need to put on a Mets T.  Shirt while recording a Mets podcast which is a social for Paul on par with wearing the T.  Shirt of the band you're going to see.  Yeah and you know I will confess that as I have gotten older we are we are both in our forty's and I do confess that at times I wonder about wearing a shirt that has the name of a gentleman who is half my age who is going to make more money in one year than I probably will see in my lifetime and why why I feel OK about that or why I don't feel OK about that and when that happens and when that changes I don't have any answers for you it's just a interesting dynamic that I have noticed lately you will tear my Wilmer Flores jersey off of my dead body so yeah so Flushing Transit Authority we will be here throughout the season every other week is a plan to tell stories about the Mets stories about the twenty seven thousand Mets stories about the twenty A level in met stories about the one nine hundred ninety nine Mets stories about the set one thousand nine hundred seventy eight Mets of them are going to be stories that maybe you've got some familiarity with maybe we're going to talk about a gay.  Name that you went to you remember watching and some of them are going to be stories about ourselves and how we experience the Mets so as a kind of jumping off point to that let me let me ask you this well.  Why the Mets why specifically the Mets and not that other team or some other team I mean I can tell you from my from my background my parents were both born in the Bronx and even then they were trained from a very young age that you did not root for that team from the Bronx and so that was in cold K.  Didn't me I never had a choice in fact the first game I ever went to my parents took me to a game at Yankee Stadium I said the name they took me to get into the stadium could have been a soccer game I mean it took me to a game at Yankee Stadium and it just didn't take and then the next year they took me to a game at Shea and it was like falling in love so you know for me it was always sort of you know passed down from my father how about you you know I hate to sound cliche but for me the starting point with the Mets is the same thing it came from my dad my dad was seven years old when the Mets opened their first season in one thousand nine hundred sixty two and he immediately fell in love his father was not a baseball fan his father was a fan of boxing and pro wrestling a good dude otherwise but couldn't get into baseball my dad took to the Mets and when I was born he wanted me to take to the Mets My earliest memory is of sitting with my dad watching the match on a big.  Giant console of a T.V.  That sat in like a wooden crate on the floor and watching the game and not understanding what was happening but understand.  And the importance of the fact that my dad who was remote and distant could connect with me about this game and long after.  I moved away from first from my dad then from New York the Mets stayed with me when I think about it the Mets are the only constant in my life they're the only thing that meant something to me when I was six years old that still means something to me in my forty's I'm not into pixie sticks like I used to be.  I'm not into smokin behind the library like I used to be.  But I love the meth and you know what I shouldn't.  Actually know I take that back it's I should even though the Mets have no had no real material impact on me and they they probably and it's you know a little sad to say but you know we wouldn't be honestly delving into this if we didn't talk about this they don't care about us they really don't I and I don't know I've seen the way I'd like to think that when players tip their hat tip their cap after a homerun they're doing that for me and I've been to some big.  You know there is there is a.  There is an interesting interaction between the the players and the audience that sort of I think transcends the name on the front of the jersey and you know the story I'll tell about that and I will I will tell this whole story because it's it's a long one will save this for a later podcast but I was at the game on September twenty second two thousand and one the first game back after nine eleven the game where it might be out to hit that home run in the bottom of the sending to win the game and it was.  That story so one of the things we're going to be talking about on this podcast is what's different about the Mets version of that story.  There's a there's a level of a romance there's a level of tragedy there is this sense that with the Met.  The best laid plans of mice and men cetera et cetera and we're going to a lot of time to talk about that but first we're going to take a pause for a moment for one of our many generous sponsors it's not often that you get sponsors on a brand new podcast but we've been fortunate to get the backing of a few of them and we're going to let one of them talk to you right now.  Our engine blue apron is a home meal delivery service that gives you all the essentials for just a small fee per meal enjoy farm fresh ingredients and a liver to your door by a beloved math personality who will help you prepare the meal this month's featured recipe is chicken aisle akong delivered and prepared by iconic early eighty's met slugger Dave Kingman and you know Jay I tried Orange And Blue Apron myself oh yeah how did NOT go you know what it was great and I started out with the Bob Apodaca Apple Fritters.  Oh that sounds I got undervalued they were especially nice I also tried to be Raphael's and had a result a really good to tell you it was not the best result of ever had but it was good enough to get the job done that sounds that sounds just right and skip to Jason Bay Seasoning It's disappointing order your first box today go to Orange and Blue Dot apron and use the code Kong for ten percent off.  So we're back from break really excited about getting that sponsor I'm going to tell you I'm not the kind of person who would just show for a product but that is some really good stuff I got to tell you I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Dave Kingman because Dave Kingman as a player either always had a.  Home runner struck out but does that mean we struck out or hit a home run I guess the listeners are going to have to tell us so this would be a great time to remind you if you are enjoying the flushing transit authority then you know give us a like or review on i Tunes or Sound Cloud or wherever you have found this if you found this on the back of a seven train you know you can leave us a good review there also I you know as they say flushing Transit Authority the podcast with a warning track power.  I want that on a T.  Shirt.  All right well let's wrap it up then and we'll will be coming to you again in a couple of weeks when the baseball season will have begun Thankfully I feel about the season so far you know what I'm going to tell you I'm not a big believer in spring training meeting anything I'm just happy that players are getting through it healthy.  Looking forward to games that count yes games that count Hey love that right now you know we're we're in first place type of first high first also tougher last but you know but hey yeah all right thanks a lot we'll talk again soon Thank you Jay.