Last year, the Mets "choked." But what does that mean? What is a choke? We say these words, and we think we know what they mean, but what are they, exactly? The confusion here -- it's existential. I don't want to live in a world that can't properly identify when one sports team has sufficiently screwed the pooch (there's another one of these sports phrases) to qualify as a "choke." Fortunately, we have Cole Hamels to put these words into perspective:
"The word choke means you weren't able to fully come through when you were supposed to. I think the Mets had the top teams, they pretty much had the championships in the bag and they weren't able to come through. A lot of guys will perceive them as choking in the end and not, fulfilling their end of the bargain because they should have taken it. You know what, it really does show the strength and hard work and I guess the deep down guts that we have to take it away from them."For the record, this is the second time Hamels has used the c-word in reference to the Mets. The first time he did it, it caused Carlos Beltran to say he wanted to "kill" Hamels. On the mound. That wasn't actually a death threat, unless you consider an angry Beltran roping line-drives back at your head to be a threat to one's life. For the record, I do.
Anyway, Cole, give it a rest. We get it. You think the Mets choked. So does Jon Stewart. So does anyone with a passing interest in baseball. At this point, it's just getting repetitive and maybe even a little bit petty.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-23-2009 @ 6:03PM
kajti said...
maybe hamels has an obsession with choking on things
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2-25-2009 @ 8:22PM
dsjr said...
I think the Mets have that obsession covered
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2-28-2009 @ 9:56AM
gamedaydad said...
"Killing" Hammels obviously means trying to knock him out in the first couple innings of a game with no less than 15 runs scored while shutting out the Phillies --Anything less than this would just be a ball game--However this kind of chatter certainly will heighten the intensity of the pairing of these 2 teams---Hammels has not had 15 runs scored on him in 4 games let alone one Good luck with that New York -I guess we wont be seeing you after September again this year either
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3-15-2009 @ 12:37AM
frederick marcus said...
as a long time philly fan there has always been a strong rivalry with the mets. we don't like them and they don't like us. it gets like that in sports. i personally thought the mets were going to take the division the last two years. i actually think they are going to do it this year. with the additions they made they damn well better do it. they did choke the last 2 years. no one knows that better than us after what happened to us in 1964. if they do it again this year the word choke and mets will by synonomous
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