Michael Kay grew up in the Bronx, where everyone cheered for the New York Yankees and hated the crosstown rival New York Mets.
So the longtime Yankees announcer went into full rant mode Friday on The Michael Kay Show when the talk turned to Yankees fans who are now cheering for the Mets.
The Mets, of course, won the decisive Game 3 of their Wild Card Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday night, thanks to Pete Alonso’s historic go-ahead ninth inning home run.
That led many Yanks fans to congratulate the Mets. That infuriated Kay.
“Is fandom different now? Why are you rooting for the Mets if you’re a Yankee fan?” an agitated Kay asked. “Are you out of your minds? Are you out of your minds? Like you don’t have enough good things to root for in the Bronx? Now you’re gonna root for the Queens players? It doesn’t make sense! It’s bizarro land!”
Co-host Peter Rosenberg asked Kay a reasonable question: “Why can’t you just accept that people are different now?”
“They’re different bad — they’re not different good!” Kay said. “It’s participation trophy era, ‘Oh, if the Mets win, it’s good for the city.’ Please stop!”
Kay is no stranger to getting worked up on his podcast. Just last week, he offered “mouth-breathing lowlifes” a $10,000 reward if they could prove he was a Yankees apologist (there were no takers).
But Friday’s rant saw Kay in rare form. The Michael Kay Show co-host Don La Greca tried to calm things down, explaining he understood the generational divide among New York baseball fans, and how younger fans might not be so antagonistic toward the other team in town.
“I lived in a world, Michael lived in a world, where the Mets owned this town,” he said. “When the Mets would draw a million more fans than the Yankees did, when the Yankees were thinking about moving to New Jersey. When it was all about Doc (Dwight Gooden) and Darryl (Strawberry). Michael remembers it. So if you’re of a certain age …”
But Kay wasn’t buying it, pointing out the Mets swept the Yankees 4-0 in the 2024 regular season.
“How did the Yankee fans feel this year when the Mets swept their backsides?” Kay said. “Did they feel good for the Mets?”
“All of a sudden though, Yankee and Mets fans, kumbaya. I am not buying it! And the ones that are, they’re not real Yankee fans. If they’re just reveling in the Mets having a great win, THEY’RE NOT REAL FANS!”
Michael Kay was incredulous about the notion that young Yankees fans… pic.twitter.com/5egjMetYhE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 4, 2024
Just in case fans hadn’t gotten his point yet, Kay reiterated that New Yorkers can’t be a fan of both the Yankees and the Mets.
“I think there’s more hatred in the world today than there’s ever been,” Kay said. “All of a sudden though, Yankee and Mets fans, kumbaya. I am not buying it! And the ones that are, they’re not real Yankee fans. If they’re just reveling in the Mets having a great win, they’re not real fans!”
[The Michael Kay Show]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.