Baseball: Where My Loyalty Lies

My favorite sport, one of my biggest passions, is baseball. As the great Babe Ruth said, "Baseball was, is, and always will be to me the best game in the world."

^My 25th birthday cake that my family had made for me!^

Growing up in NY, I've had the love of baseball instilled in me since I was a little girl. As far back as I look, a lot of my favorite memories can be connected to baseball. My dad started taking me to baseball games when I was young. Throughout the years and the many games of baseball I've seen in person, my dad has always been the person sitting in the seat next to me and I wouldn't want it to be anyone else.

All of my life, I've always rooted for both the NY Mets and the NY Yankees. My dad took me to many Yankees and Mets games throughout the years. Naturally, I rooted for each team at each stadium.  I've watched & rooted for both the Mets and the Yankees throughout championship seasons,  playoff runs, epic collapses, great moments, unbelievable plays, terrible plays,  injury riddled seasons, epic highs and lows.

When I became a teenager and really started to follow the game on a regular basis, I still couldn't pick one of the NY teams and root solely for them. To me, it felt like I would be choosing which child I loved more by deciding to root for one team over the other. I just couldn't do it. I've felt this way throughout my teenage years and into my twenties. I'm currently in my late twenties and it's been these past couple of years that I've realized I've become more of a die-hard fan of one team over the other.  I figured it would happen eventually. When both teams play at the same time, which team do I watch? Which stadium would I rather go to when I go home to NY to visit? Which team do I always find myself reading about/etc.? 

Credit: Buzzfeed.com

 If you ask me today, what team is "MY team", I can honestly tell you, it's the Mets and not have a shade of doubt about it. Out of the 162 regular season games, for many years, I've watched almost all of the Mets games on TV (I get the MLB Extra Innings package since I don't live in NY anymore), went to Citi Field/Shea Stadium more often than Yankee Stadiums (both old and new), worn orange & blue more often, and have more Mets items (clothes/memorabilia/etc.) than Yankees. I read articles about the Mets and follow them on a daily basis. The past 3 years, the only Yankees games I've watched are when they play the Mets during the Subway Series.

As I am and continue to be a lifelong fan of the game, I have made my loyalty known and I'm a die-hard Mets fan.