Everything I Consume: The Bad Guys Won!

Ever wonder why the New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series? Or, more precisely, why the Red Sox lost the Series? The answer is on page 223:

On August 1, 1985, two hours before an evening game against the White Sox at Fenway Park, twenty-five members of the Boston Red Sox held a closed-door team meeting to debate the pros and cons of a potential players strike. One by one the team's veterans defended Haywood Sullivan and Jean Yawkey, the Red Sox owners, who fancied themselves the head of a big, happy family. "I've been here for more than ten years," Dwight Evans said, "and they have our best interests at heart." As other old-timers nodded in agreement, one of the club's least popular members shook his head, a look of disbelief crossing his face. When it cam time to speak, Bobby Ojeda held nothing back.

"You know, fuck the owners!" he said. "The owners don't give a fuck about us!I don't care what you say. They're gonna try and pay us as little as they can. Yeah, if you're older you don't wanna miss a paycheck being on strike. But I'm young and I say fuck 'em!"

When the gathering ended Ojeda was confronted by several furious teammates one of whom cornered the pitcher and said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Fuck you," countered Ojeda. "And fuck your dumb-ass opinion."

Three months later Ojeda was traded to the Mets. He started two games in the World Series and the Mets won them both. Here's the box score of the second one. As Andy Bernard would say, maybe you've heard of it.

I haven't finished this book yet. I'm at the point where the Mets are about to fly to Boston for Game 3 so if you see a forty-year old guy in a loud shirt reading this book on the subway today or tomorrow and weeping in blissful recollection it's probably me.