Idolator

I spent this afternoon at the Mets-Phillies tilt that opened Shea Stadium's final season (FYI to any Phillies fans in the audience: just don't), and the one thing I was looking forward to—aside from my thwarted hopes of a Metropolitans victory—was the eighth-inning spin of "Never Gonna Give You Up." Last week, the Internet had decided that Rick Astley's late-'80s hit was the choice for Shea's eighth-inning singalong, after learning that the Mets had opened the choice for said song to an online poll, and apparently that movement had been successful: According to statistics flashed during the eighth inning and confirmed to me by an MLB operative, more than five million people wrote in Astley's song as their singalong pick. Which would, in normal times, have made the song the winner. But the Mets, being as Internet-savvy as a Major League Baseball team could be these days, had a trick up their "Final Season At Shea"-patched sleeves! More »

Good news, Mets fans: Those of you who are, like me, personally offended at the way the Shea Stadium PA takes "inspiration" from Fenway Park and plays "Sweet Caroline" for the whole stadium to sing along with in the middle of the eighth inning may have a reprieve. Like the Nationals before them, the Mets have launched a balloting campaign where Mets fans can vote on their pick for the eighth-inning singalong, with the candidates including "Movin' Out," "Livin' On A Prayer," the theme from freaking Friends, and (sigh) "Sweet Caroline." Given my intimate knowledge of the Mets' demographics, I was pretty sure that "Movin' Out" would be the winner of this particular contest—that is, until I received an e-mail with the subject line "RickRolling Shea Stadium." More »