Allegiance

I went to the Syracuse Chiefs game yesterday. It was a "for old-time's-sake" type of game as my daughter came along and it's the last game she will go to before moving out and heading off for college.

We've gone together to several Chiefs games over the last 10 years and for all 10 of those years, they have been the Triple A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

Next year, the Chiefs -- if they will even be called that -- will be the Mets' Triple A affiliate. The Mets bought the Syracuse franchise last year and announced it will play its Triple A home games in Syracuse next season. What happens after that is anyone's guess.

I welcome the Mets connection. Although I'm not a Mets fan, there are some teams that have character and a history and are easy to follow. The Mets are one of those teams. Most of the teams that have been around for at least 50 or 60 years are one of those teams. The Nationals are not one of those teams.

Although I like watching minor league baseball, it's not easy for me to get excited over a Nationals farm team. I feel no allegiance. I root for them very casually, meaning if I see a really good play I'll clap.

I tried to find a bond with the team when I first started going there with my family. In 2010, I even went to the souvenir shop and overpaid for the team set.

That was the year of Strasburg fever. I took this card and placed it in a top loader, separate from the other cards in the team set.

Two years later, Harper fever took over the land and again I overpaid for the team set at the souvenir shop.

But this time instead of separating Harper from his Chiefs teammates, I just kept him in the team bag with all the others. Although, mind you, he's on the top where I can find him.

Since then, we've gone to a few other Chiefs games and I haven't bothered to check for the team sets. Yesterday I briefly considered looking for the cards thinking that Juan Soto might be part of the set, but then I remembered he jumped past Triple A on his way to Washington.

But mostly the reason why I didn't bother with the cards is I simply don't care. The Nationals and their farm team sit way down the list in terms of interest. The only guys I recognized in yesterday's lineup were Victor Robles, Tuffy Gosewisch and reliever Tim Collins (I recognized even fewer players for the Chiefs' opponent Sunday, Gwinnett, although former Dodgers pitching prospect Andres Santiago started -- and got shelled. He is a hoot to watch hit, though).

In fact, the connection to the Nationals I'm sure has kept me from traveling the hour-plus to go to Chiefs games. I'm sure the Chiefs' administration is aware of their parent club's lack of appeal in Upstate New York. But it could be worse. They could be an affiliate of the Rays or the Marlins.

It doesn't help that Syracuse is a pretty weird city when it comes to rooting interests (well, it's weird in general but that's my problem). It's not a baseball town. It's a college town, which means it revels in stuff that means zero to me -- like college football and lacrosse and basketball. And the baseball stadium, which is pretty nice and much more my style than sitting in the stifling Carrier Dome, is sparsely attended.

When the Mets take over, I think they'll draw more fans because it's the Mets. I hope they continue to draw because I want a Triple A team to be around for when my daughter comes home from college. We can go to a Syracuse game and she can see what it's like when the stadium has more than 2,000 people in it.

You do build allegiance to a minor league team by putting in the work. They're not on the national news every day, they're not part of the city's DNA (there is a reason why I converted to being a Bills fan once I moved to Buffalo). If you want that connection, you have to keep going to the games, maybe get to know the players and care.

But for guys like me, who live far away with a full-time job and limited cash (even without the team set, it was still $120 for a family of three to enjoy the typical ballgame experience), we need something more than a connection to the Nationals to form an allegiance. The Mets offer some promise, even if their big league team isn't as good as Washington's.

Maybe next year I'll even buy one of those overpriced team sets. (Tim Tebow's presence will probably hike the price to $20).

My daughter is hoping the Mets affiliate won't have mascots. She's never liked them. (When she was little she used to hide behind me when the Chiefs' dual mascots ventured near).

I haven't told her about Mr. Met.