Welcome everyone, and welcome Mets fans especially, to the Shea Bridge Report.

Mets fans, as a group, are seen in society, as a general rule, as lunatics. We root for a group of perennial losers, and our boundless optimism is unnerving even to the most devoted optimists. But while polite society – which banned us long ago – sees this unending positivity as pure insanity, we know better. We understand the lessons that true Mets fans have learned.

Mets fans take a lot of flack for putting too much stock in the history of their team, but we give out an equal amount of flack to ownership for not honoring history enough. We stand at the farthest extreme on the spectrum of nostalgia – while most casual fans are happy to see clips of their team winning a World Series, we flock like crazy to the nearest TV screen any time any chance appears of seeing 30 seconds of highlights, whether it’s a World Series win or an inning of a game from May 2004. Here at the Shea Bridge Report, history will never lose its meaning – our namesake, or the namesake of our namesake, should show you how we value history. The present is where our attention is focused, but how can we look at Noah Syndergaard without comparing him to Tom Seaver, Pat Zachry, Doc Gooden, and Bill Pulcipher? We must remember the past, if only to know where the present is leading us.

In our lifelong exercise in futility, Mets fans have also learned another important lesson: the need, as the original Mets fan Tug McGraw put it, to believe. The majority of Mets teams have been and, if history is any indication, will be, mediocre or worse. But Mets fans have a unique ability to find the good in any – and I mean ANY – situation. At the end of 2014, we were certain that when 2015 began, an upgraded shortstop would have been acquired. When it became clear, however, that this was less likely than Jason Bay winning the 2015 NL M.V.P., what happened? Lesser fans would have complained; they would have grumbled about management, the front office, and anyone else within grumbling range. But we are not a lesser fan base; we’re Mets fans.

At the Shea Bridge Report, good and bad are subject to change, and nothing is ever over: prospects will always be one step away from becoming stars, grisly veterans will always have just enough for one last successful hurrah, and a four run deficit in the ninth inning will always be just a few runs short of a win. Mets fans are not rational, or logical, or anything of the sort: after experiencing the miracles of 1969, 1986, and 1999, as well as the more miserable moments in 1977, 1988, and 2007, we’ve seen too much that defies logic to put any faith in it. We take the bad with the good, and if we can, we come out smiling.

That’s not to say, of course, that we don’t differentiate between winning and losing: we do, perhaps more than anyone else. As Mets fans, we take every loss, every strikeout, and every robbed home run like a direct personal insult. When Ruben Tejada boots a double play ball and costs the Mets the game, we turn on him with ferocity unmatched. But just as quickly, we wake up the next morning and take to our various media outlets, expressing our sorrow at our vicious jibes, and our hope that the source of whatever discontent previously existed goes on to atone for his mistake by coming up big and getting the Mets a win. We will, from time to time, become angry: that, when you’re around the Mets, can’t be avoided. We take it personally just like everyone else. The Mets fan difference, however, lies in the fact that we, unlike other fan bases, can – and will – eventually swallow our anger, offer forgiveness, and continue rooting for our guys – the Mets, each and every one of them – with all our hearts.

So, if you find yourself in our description, consider yourself welcome here. If you booed Chris Young when he came to bat but cheered when he got that elusive hit, you’ll be right at home. If you find yourself experiencing rapidly shifting emotions directed at certain young athletes based on actions none of us could perform ourselves, come on in. If you take it more personally than anyone else, but you always manage to keep on believin’, the Shea Bridge Report is the place for you.

Lets Go Mets!