This being the first year I have lived out-of-market for my beloved Mets, it's the first time I’ve heard Mets games called by the other teams’ announcers. I caught the Mets v. Braves game on Saturday on TBS, called by Chip Caray and Joe Simpson. I feel almost guilty saying that the following exchange was the funniest thing I’d heard all day:

Noting that Mets fans were starting to leave in the seventh with the team down by six, I believe it was Caray who said, “Even Mr. Met, well he’s still there behind the Mets’ dugout, but he got up like he was going to leave. A tear on his cheek. His big ‘ole baseball cheek.”

Which would mean it was Joe Simpson who added, “It’s very hard to see a mascot cry at a big league ball game.”

Caray: “That smile on his face, but it’s a fake smile.”

At this point, the camera was trained on Mr. Met, who was blithely “talking” on a fan’s cellphone from the box level.

Mr. Met is the first, and in my opinion best, mascot I have ever known. My college team didn’t have a mascot--we had a color. The fact that Mr. Met’s smile never wavers, not even during times like the mid-‘90s, is just another demonstration of why he’s the best mascot out there. Those SportsCenter commercials with Mr. Met are some of my all-time favorites. I have never heard announcers make fun of the big bobble-headed guy.

He doesn’t cry.

But, as one of the announcers pointed out, I believe it was Caray, “That’s an antenna head, anyway. He gets great reception.”

See? Best mascot. Ever.