The cost of going to a Mets game is not for the faint of heart…or rather…faint of wallet.

EVERYTHING costs so much. I’m an intelligent person but I have not been able to figure out how a family of four is able to go to a game…decked out in Mets shirts, Mets jerseys, Mets hats…eating hot dogs, pretzels, ice cream…drinking beer…it’s mathematically debilitating. Perhaps they are all Steve Cohen’s friends and family? Are they all a part of the millionaire circle? I hope so…because I would hate to think they were some poor people who could really use the money.

EVERYTHING available for purchase is monumentally more expensive than anywhere else you could possibly purchase it.

The fact is that the cost of the tickets, the cost of the concessions, the cost of getting there, and if you take the car…parking there, is the cost of a short vacation. Everyone has their own perspective, and their own set of values…but what IS the value of what you are getting for your season tickets?

I have a 20-game package. I actually have two pretty good seats along the first base line. But factor everything else in…I am just not into experiencing it for 20 games a season.

The experience of actually being at a Mets game…at Citifield…is, at times, painful.

You know when they say “getting there is half the fun?” Well, it’s not. It is a struggle…no matter how you get there.

If you are driving…then you have to start out super early because no matter which way you go…TRAFFIC. Traffic all over the place. I live 35 miles from the ballpark. It is at least a two-hour odyssey especially for weeknight games because you are dealing with rush hour traffic. And then parking. Try getting out of the lot if you are staying until the end of the game. No way you’re getting home before midnight.

If you are taking mass transit…it’s no different. And you have to deal with all of the nonsense and crazies on the trains. The 7 train is so special that there is an entire club honoring it and the people who travel that line to the game. And there are a LOT of them. But it’s a mess…a crowded mess. And it’s another two-hour odyssey to and fro…because it’s not just the 7 train…but how you got to and from the 7.

Being AT the game is really what it’s all about, though. And after being at other places, other ballparks, the Citifield experience is far from what you would expect or hope for it to be.

At every other ballpark we have visited, fans are actually IN THEIR SEATS. During the course of the game at Citifield…if you look around and scan the park…it almost looks empty. That’s because the majority of fans are NOT in their seats…they are meandering around the stadium…beer in one hand…some kind of expensive food in the other…socializing.

And if they happen to actually GO to their seats…they are going while the action is taking place…ultimately blocking the views of the people behind them. At no other place, that we have visited, are fans permitted to trek down to seats during the action. Ushers are in place to hold people back until either the end of an inning or a break in the action…but they are there. At Citifield…I don’t know WHAT the ushers are doing.

I am all for tailgating…and having a good time. But the drunkenness at sporting events just ruins it. Having a beer, a hot dog, and Cracker Jack is all a part of going to a baseball game. But why do people have to ingest so much alcohol that it becomes a disruption that you just act like an asshole and impose upon everyone else?

I grew up going to Shea Stadium with my grandparents who were season ticket holders since the beginning. I absolutely LOVED going to the games…watching batting practice and seeing the greenest grass I had ever seen.

I loved seeing the old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and even Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Compared to all of those places, Citfield is the ultimate baseball disappointment. And that doesn’t even take into account the product on the field.

The product that the Mets put out on the field is just not appealing.

The Mets averaged over 100 losses a season for the first several years of their existence. And, yet, people still came. Why? Because those “lovable losers” were fun to watch.

Heck, the Brooklyn Dodgers couldn’t break through and win a World Series…except for one year – 1955 – and, yet, people still came. Why? Because “Dem Bums” were fun to watch.

These Mets are not fun to watch. There’s nothing fun about them. They don’t have to win a World Series to be enjoyable. My three favorite Mets teams that did NOT win a championship were 1971, 1999, and 2006. But that’s for another story.

Why in the world would I want to take all of the time and expenses to travel TO the ballpark, to put up with the nonsense and absence of self-awareness and courtesies, to see a product that is just simply dull and boring? You’re right…I wouldn’t.

Anyone interested in two tix along the first base line? No...I haven't been able to GIVE them away for free.