Pet Shops, Pop-Tarts and pounding the Braves

It was pretty sweet to walk past the newsroom television Thursday and see the Mets and Braves playing. It was even sweeter to see the Mets scrubs beating the snot out of the Braves starters.

But sweetest of all was finding out that my wife found the game was on and recorded it, which meant that I could stop finding excuses to walk past the newsroom television and could enjoy the pounding at my leisure.

The only thing that would have been better? If Tom Glavine had been on the hill when the Mets bench gang was circling the Disney World bases so often they probably thought they were on the Teacup Ride.

Hopefully we’ll have that chance during the season. Until then, we can proceed to the Deezo Friday Five.

1) I got my hands on “Meet the Mets 2008,” and it’s a little hard to figure out what exactly it’s supposed to be. At 112 pages, it seems more like a magazine than a book. But $12.99 is a bit steep for a magazine.

But it’s a neat collections of reviews, previews and history. Contributors include Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing and Jon Springer and Matt Silverman of “Mets by the Numbers,” so you know the quality is going to be there.

Matt’s story about the top 25 moments in Shea – and some of the sweet historic photos – is worth the price of admission alone.


2) A guy from Texas paid $1,300 to buy a cornflake that someone thought was shaped like Illinois. Incredible.

But I’m excited because I found a Pop Tart that’s shaped like Colorado. Bidding starts at only $500.


3) Check out this new Topps Heritage card of Johnny Estrada. He’s pictured in a Mets uniform, which is pretty neat because, as we know, he’s never worn one.

And that’s not some spring training deal where he was signed in the off-season and will be making is Mets debut this week. Nope, we traded for Estrada after the season was over and then cut him loose a couple weeks later.

But I’m still pretty happy to have this card because it remains a reminder that Guillermo Mota – who went to Milwaukee in the deal for our phantom Met – is no longer on our roster, and that’s sure to bring a smile to all of our faces.


4) I know far too much about Littlest Pet Shop toys. My daughter and I cruise the aisles of Target and Toys R Us eagerly anticipating the newest arrivals. She’s already rounded up all the kitties, and our epic search for a “Sugar Glider” – a flying squirrel – came to an end at Justice, a store that my son refused to be seen it.

The Pet Shops are so cute it hurts, so I was stunned when I saw the new, limited-edition Punkiest Pets Shops. Seriously, I thought it was some parody when I found them on the rack.

You just know that if the Ramones traveled with pet lizards, they’d look like our little mohawked friend.


5) “Pearls Before Swine” is becoming my favorite comic strip. It’s pretty sick, especially Thursday’s panels, which show the wimpy Ted from Sally Forth looking to get Rat, working as a concierge, hire some companionship for him.

And the best part is that in the Sally Forth world, Ted and Sally are right now staying in a hotel in New York, where, as we, know, such behavior will force you out of the governor’s mansion. The only thing that would be better would be if he were eaten by the crocs next door.

The two strips above can be found on the Comics Crumudgen blog, which is must reading for all fans of the funnies and is almost as twisted as Pearls on most days.