The Mets Are in the World Series. But What Does It Mean?

Last night as I was putting my 7 year-old to bed, as I went through my nightly ritual of explaining what was planned for them the next day. As a lifelong Mets fan, I excitedly shared that the Mets were playing in the World Series and had a chance to win it for the first time since I was his age, nearly 30 years ago.

My son smiled and then asked a simple question, "Dad, what does that mean?"

A simple question, but in that moment a million memories came flooding back. What does it mean if the Mets win the World Series? It means years of disappointment, broken promises, ownership miscues and a guy named Jason Bay will all be forgiven. It means that the unexpected has become reality in the most unlikeliest of seasons. It means waiting 30 years for another championship will seem totally worth it.

Now I couldn't explain all this to a 7 year-old so I simply replied, "It means that they'll win this huge trophy and there will be a parade in New York City for them."

And as 7 year-old's are known to do, he countered with "but what does that mean?"

He has no idea what this means. He's just at the beginning of an interest in sports. The Mets winning games is all he knows. How can a child possibly grasp the epic nature of this cosmic event that is the Mets in the World Series??? He doesn't know about Madoff, Shinjo, the Kaz Matsui experiment, the Charlie O'Brian era or Guillermo Mota. He didn't live through Dallas Green, Oliver Perez, Anthony Young and Adam Wainwright's hanging curve. He hasn't watched BLOWpen after BLOWpen squander away quality starting pitching or that a team can beat the Mets by only scoring 1 run. He doesn't recall the hope and disappointment of Ike Davis.

So I responded with the most simple reply I could think of: "It means they are the World Champions of baseball."

And with that, my son replied, "That's pretty awesome, dad."

Yes, it would be pretty awesome. Let's go Mets.