Those of you who have read this blog for four years now (officially today! really!) know that one concept I struggle with is who is the Mets rival. Is it the Braves? Is it the Phillies? At what point does being competitive with a team mean that we are rivals? When does the length of a “hatred” make it a rivalry?
Well I've had a change of heart now. With the consumer consumption culture associated with major sport leagues in the United States, I feel it is appropriate to declare a team is our rival when makers of products declare that we have a rival and we need to spend money to punctuate it (yes this oozes with cynicism). Anyway, feast your eyes on the crowning item that declares the rival of the New York Mets:
Source
Yeah. I'll admit. I'm completely fine with the Phillies being our rival, because now their is a knockoff of a childhood favorite board game declaring it (sarcasm again, but on another point, I will admit now that I do see Philly as a rival). It's a bit of a ridiculous item, but with all of the other ridiculous items out their in the world, for baseball and for board games, this product fits in, and has brethren.
