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Haiku for You

I'm on vacation this week, with little to do other than a few fun mini-projects here and there. As such, my mind was wandering the other day, and it turned to a couple of friends of mine in New Jersey, Paul and Gregg.

Paul and Gregg are quite entertaining, far more so than I. They used to host a radio program in which they interviewed weird guests, made bizarre jokes, and played an occasional song or two. Gregg didn't like to go by his own name. He preferred to be known as "The Paragon of Excellence."

When Paul got married a couple of summers ago, Gregg was the best man and I was an usher at the wedding. Gregg is a weird guy. He's worked as a wrestling announcer among other things and presently is a practicing attorney, as well as an advocate for midgets and lepers rights (don't ask!) His baseball obsessions range from Eddie Gaedel to Win Remmerswaal. But alas, Gregg is pretty sharp too. Prior to the wedding, Gregg came up with idea that all the members of the wedding party should write haiku to be read aloud at the reception.

I took it as a creative challenge, as I do with most things. For those who don't know, haiku is a poetry form- three lines, five syllables on the first, seven syllables on the second, and five on the third. After toying with a number of ideas, I came up with this one, with the instant-messaging help of my friend, Jeff the bowler/attorney in Miami (my friends have an odd combination of jobs).

Marriage, like baseball
Requires a commitment
To win in the end

Paul's bride, Andrea liked it. I heard a few people in the background say "Awww..." so that made me feel good.

Anyway, that takes me to today, where my wandering mind decided it still had a few haiku left in the tank, and what better theme to haiku about than the rivalry between the team I follow and the team Gregg follows. There have been many memorable Mets wins against that particular squad, including a couple that I've written about here. Hopefully you'll enjoy the memories.

So without further ado, I present:

The Mets And The Yankees,
A 9-inning Haiku

Dave Mlicki won
It wasn't even that close
Six to nothing Mets

When Brian McRae
went wandering off first base
I was beyond pissed

Matt Franco was up
The Yanks had Satan pitching
Two-run single. Yay!

Clemens beaned our guy
What a piece of expletive
And what a grand slam!

Carlos Almanzar?
You have got to be kidding
Piazza crushed it

Estes missed his spot
But the home run sure was nice
Winning is revenge

One shining moment
A home run off David Wells
Mo should have quit then

Shane Spencer dribbler
A perfectly placed baseball
Sturtze threw home wildly

All hail Mister Koo!
First a triple off Johnson
Then that slide...he's safe!

True Metku know...Paul and Andrea's wedding took place on September 7, 2003 That night the Mets suffered a walk-off loss against the Phillies. Had Paul and Andrea gotten married a year earlier, they would have timed it to a Mets four-game sweep of the Phillies, but then I wouldn't have remembered it.

On that note, The only reason I remember the date of my friend Daniel Gordon's wedding (August 12, 2001) is because it came on the same day that Jason Giambi hit a two-run walk-off home run, allowing the Oakland Athletics to beat the Yankees and future Met Mike Stanton.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
The sweep in Oh Four
My how few and far between
Those great moments are
12:36 AM
Anonymous said…
In year two thousand,
The Mets LOST the World Series.
It was no contest.
9:46 AM
Anonymous said…
I was at Game 1,
So I hate Dave Mlicki,
But we won the rest.
9:48 AM
Anonymous said…
My wedding haiku
Were almost as funny as
Mark eating salad.
10:00 AM
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