Mets Continue to Diss the Deaf

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Tradition Field, Mets Spring Training,
Port St. Lucie, Fla., March 15, 2008.
Photo by Tom Willard.

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The New York Mets have played only two games this season but have already lost one of their ace pitchers to what could be a serious injury. To which I say: Serves you right, you rat bastards!!

I was a Mets fan for 40 years, starting in 1968 when I saw a game at Shea Stadium with my Cub Scout troop, but as of now I truly hate Mr. Met and all the rest of them. I root for the team to lose every game, I root for every player to suffer a career-ending injury, and I root for Citi Field to burn down before it opens next year.

How did I go from being a dyed-in-the-wool Mets fan to hating the ground they walk on? Simple. The rat bastards won’t caption their games.

Mets games are broadcast on SportsNet New York, a station owned partly by the Mets. Normally SNY would be required to closed-caption the games under Federal Communication Commission rules. But SNY, which launched in March 2005, is intent on squeezing every last cent out of an FCC loophole that gives new stations four years to comply with captioning rules.

This four-year loophole was designed to give small stations time to get their act together. It was not meant to be exploited by megabucks corporations like the Mets.

I contacted The Caption Center in Boston to find out how much it would cost to caption the Mets games. Less than $500 an hour. With most games under three hours, you’re looking at $1,500 to caption a game.

I then dug up some stats on Johan Santana, the star pitcher acquired in a winter trade. I learned he throws around 3,400 pitches per season and will be paid $20 million this year. Thus, every time he throws one pitch, the Mets pay him about $6,000.

You can see where I’m going. For what the Mets pay Santana to throw ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PITCH, they could caption the ENTIRE GAME and benefit tens of thousands of people.

It truly boggles my mind that they won’t do just that. Don’t bother asking them about it. I’ve called, I’ve emailed, I’ve left messages, and they don’t even have the decency to reply. To me, that only makes things worse. All SNY offers is an old note on their FAQ page admonishing us to be patient.

I had my fingers crossed all winter, but on Monday I turned on the season opener and was let down yet again. Like a dinosaur-era relic, the Mets continue to lumber along without captions, sticking out like a sore thumb on TV and in the Major Leagues and certainly not presenting a good image for a city that thinks it’s all that.

The greed and selfishness and stupidity that allow this situation to fester year after year is truly astonishing and shameful. The problem could be solved so easily and inexpensively, yet the Mets are intent on saving an amazingly small amount of money at the expense of tens of thousands of hearing-impaired fans who depend on captioning to enjoy TV.

But what do you expect from rat bastards?

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See also: Karma is Cause of Mets Collapse

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