Mr. Met got into trouble when he gave fans the finger after the Mets lost a game. But what constitutes a middle finger on a four-fingered mascot?
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The New York Mets lost 7 to 1 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, but the real loser was their mascot, Mr. Met. Mr. Met has a huge white baseball of a head dappled with red stitching and embellished with a perpetual grin.
But as he left the playing field Wednesday night, Mr. Met flipped a middle finger to a group of fans who posted it on Twitter – busted, Mr. Met. The club apologized, and the team employee in the Mr. Met costume that night has reportedly not returned. There were reports that fans heckled him, which fans deny.
The Mr. Mets middle finger controversy poses a physical and philosophical question. Mr. Met has four fingers on each hand. How can you say that any of them is a middle finger? Anyway, flipping the bird in New York, isn’t that just how they say good morning in Queens?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SURFIN BIRD”)
THE TRASHMEN: (Singing) Well, everybody’s heard about the bird – bird, bird, bird, the bird’s the word. Well, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, bird – the bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, bird – the bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, bird’s the word. Well, bird, bird, bird – the bird’s the word. Well, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, bird’s the word. Well, don’t you know about the bird? Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word. Well, bird, bird, the bird’s the word…
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.