I'm a reformed Mets fan - was a little kid in the mid-80s. My first game was Gooden/Valenzuela at Shea in '85. Dodgers won 6-2, one of Gooden's 4 losses that year (24-4). Went through heartbreak as an 8-year old when the Mets lost to the Cards down the stretch in '85, and then had the sweet taste of success in '86 as a nine year old. Dwight Gooden was my hero, and 16 is still my favorite number. They were hard to root for in the '90s, and when we got a team I became a Mets/Nats co-fan for a couple of years. I started going to a ton of games in '09, and very quickly became all Nats, all the time! I think the shift was accelerated by having kids of my own, because it's so much more satisfying to be invested together in the home team. I wasn't at RFK much, but have been to almost all of the most memorable games at Nats Park -- Stras's debut, some visiting achievements (Randy Johnson's 300th win, Pujols 500th and 600th homers, I think?), both home no-hitters, Max's 20 Ks, Zim's homer off Miller against the Yanks in extra innings, every postseason home game we've ever played, etc. (Was at the big comeback against the Mets in September, but left early. First week of school for kids.)
Having lived through all the elimination game defeats, I feel mostly hardened to the sting of disappointment, and anything we did this postseason was gravy. And I'm glad there's been so much gravy!!
