The Mets’ Pride Night, As Witnessed By Someone Who Cared A Lot About The NHL Draft

QUEENS, N.Y. — My high school’s senior honor nights were always held in the auditorium, and kind of like graduation, it was a whole production. We had to have a rehearsal for it, and every student had an assigned seat on the stage to ensure that we’d be called up at the right time. I don’t remember a whole lot from my own senior honor night because, frankly, it was very long and boring. However, I do recall that they sat us in alphabetical order, with all the people at the front of the alphabet sitting, thankfully, near the back of the stage. I say “thankfully” because, concealed behind rows and rows of students, I could safely pull out my phone and watch the Rangers lose to the Hurricanes in overtime in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

If I’m committed to watching a hockey game, I will tune in on my phone from anywhere—school board meetings, frat parties, in line for a Mitski concert, even while covering the Columbia encampment. So when I found out that the Mets’ Pride Night was going to be at the same time as the NHL draft, I was, at first, a little conflicted. Would it be wrong to watch one sporting event while actually attending another? On one hand, I wanted to see if anything interesting would happen during the draft. How would I live if I couldn’t understand all the jokes in my Twitter feed? On the other hand, I had been casually following the saga of the Gay Grimace Mets, and I needed to experience the phenomenon in person.

Uh, the Gay Grimace Mets, you say? Let me explain. I am not a huge baseball fan, but even I knew that the Mets had a terrible start to their season. Despite having the most expensive roster in the league, it looked like they were en route to more disappointment even by the end of May.

Then, on June 2, the Mets changed their profile picture for Pride Month. Afterwards, they won three straight against the Nationals. Before they knew it, the Mets were winning a lot more than they were losing!