Mets vs. Cowboys

I had quite a dilemma Sunday morning. The Mets-Braves game and the Cowboys-Bears game both started at the same time (10am Pacific time). Which game do I watch? Well, it wasn’t really a dilemma at all. Even though I am a much bigger baseball fan than football fan, the Mets season is all but over, the Cowboys season is just beginning. It was an easy decision. I watched the Cowboys and flipped over to the Mets from time to time.

My flipping was timely —  I saw David Wright’s home run, and I saw Derek Lee’s grand slam. Really, what more was there to see? The Cowboys game was just as lousy. But hey, at least both games were over at around 1pm, so I was able to go out and enjoy the California sun.

But it put me in mind of a Sunday a couple of years ago, a day that was perhaps my finest day of sports watching ever. September 7, 2008. The Mets, then in first place by two games, had a day-night doubleheader against the second place Phillies. The Cowboys opened their season against the Browns. And all the times aligned beautifully.

The Mets game started at 10am and ended at around 1pm, just in time for the Cowboys. That game ended at 4pm or so, allowing me time to run out and get some food before the 5pm start of Game 2 of the Mets-Phillies.

What a perfect day! Well, almost perfect — the Mets did lose Game 1. But the Cowboys won their game, and the Mets took the nightcap, keeping their two game lead in the NL East.

Of course, the joy of that day was short-lived. The Mets collapsed for a second straight season, and the Cowboys would lose three of their last four and miss the playoffs in an epic collapse of their own.

No such late season collapses this year. The Mets did that in July. And the Cowboys look to be doing it even earlier in their season.

Ah, but that day in 2008. A sports fan dream.