Believing In The New York Mets

As the New York Mets shake off last year’s World Series defeat and gear up for the 2016 season, actor/comedian and die-hard Mets fan Jim Breuer believes the orange and blue faithful should anticipate years of competitive baseball—and they shouldn’t be shy about it.
“This team is the real deal. That dream everyone was talking about with the young pitchers, it’s real,” said Breuer, who recently wrapped up a two-night stay at The Paramount in Huntington. “I didn’t walk away last year sad or disappointed that they lost, my thought was, ‘wow, we are in it for the next four or five years.’”
Breuer shared the pain of losing the World Series with the rest of the Mets fan base through game recap videos he began posting on Facebook after an opening day win over the Washington Nationals. From that emblematic victory through the heart-breaking loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the World Series, Mets fans connected with Breuer’s enthusiasm, criticism and post-game intensity.
“Being a Mets fan means having endurance and faith. It means loyalty—because being a Mets fan, you are not bound to win all the time, just like in life,” he said. “We stick to it through thick and thin. I see a Mets fan and I see a person who knows how to endure pain and work through it without giving up.”
And it was that brand of fandom that inspired Breuer to record his game-by-game reactions in the first place. In 2014, Breuer’s father passed away. Then six months later, his sister died. Two months following that, his wife was diagnosed with cancer for the second time—she was enduring chemotherapy when Opening Day 2015 rolled around.
In the game, Bartolo Colon out dueled Washington ace Max Scherzer to jump start the Mets’ season.
“She was watching the first game of the season with me and of course she had no energy because of the treatment,” he said. “She’s smiling and laughing at me and I’m like, ‘what’s so funny?’ She tells me, ‘this is what you should be making videos of—as the die-hard Mets fan you are.’ Nobody shows this kind of passion—don’t be hokey, just be yourself.’”
After reviewing the sum total of the 2015 season, Breuer believes this team belongs with the league’s elite.
“Take the pain of losing the series, watch them get their rings and raise the banner on opening day, feel the fire in your belly and know that we are out for blood this year,” he said. “It is World Series or bust.”