But how much do Mets fans really know about this year's National League champs? Mike Bordick is lucky to have a temp job, filling in at shortstop until Rey Ordonez is fully healed. Timo Perez first set foot in Shea Stadium less than two months ago. Rick Reed, who won 11 games for the Mets this season, is booed every time he gives up a run at Shea Stadium.

I hope all my colleagues from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida--anyone within a 1,000-mile radius of Manhattan who considers himself a New Yorker--enjoys the last seven games of the 2000 baseball season. I am ready to suffer through your happiness.

Don't bother wiping those stupid grins off your faces. Good luck to the Mets and the Yankees. But this ain't no Subway Series.

And if anyone wants to accompany me to this Sunday's sports board meeting, I'd appreciate it. There will certainly be a prowling crowd of wounded New Yorkers, all of them wearing hats adorned with the interlocking "NY," and I would feel comfortable with a few security guards present.