Columns

Monday Briefing: Pardon us Mets fans while we celebrate in June

What a perfect weekend to be a Mets fan.

That’s not a sentence you hear too often, but today it’s one that can be said with pride.

The Mets are in a tie for first place, and although I know it’s only June, us fans will take it. That’s because one of the great joys in sports is to see a team exceed expectations.

Too often we find ourselves focused on the things we don’t like about sports. It can be frustrating after a long day to come home and watch a million-dollar athlete put on a lackluster show.

With this year’s version of the Mets — let’s pretend Jason Bay doesn’t exist for a moment — that hasn’t been the case.

This team is young and feisty, and filled with a desire to play the game right.

Sure, I recognize this team probably won’t win the World Series, and even the playoffs might be a stretch. But that won’t stop me and countless other Mets fans from enjoying these moments.

So excuse us, Yankees fans, as we celebrate our franchise’s first no-hitter like we just won a pennant. We’re only celebrating something we never thought we’d see.

• The Mets weren’t the only group of young baseball players I saw playing the game right this weekend. It was also a lot of fun checking out my first Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League game Sunday.

While Riverhead and Southold towns have had teams in the league for a few years now, Sunday marked the first game for the Shelter Island Bucks and they defeated the North Fork Ospreys, 2-1.

If ever there was a great place to see a small community gather to watch a collegiate wood-bat summer league, Shelter Island is the spot. Good luck, Bucks.