Fred Wilpon

Euphoria lasts only so long.

The giddiness and amazement that existed with the New York Mets' fall wonderland was pure bliss for a franchise that had for too long operated without a semblance of a care for on-field winning.

At this point, it's no secret the involvement of New York Mets' owners Jeff and Fred Wilpon in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme will have a deep impact on the nature of the ball club. The club has already received a $20 million loan from Major League Baseball.

And although they have roughly $50 million coming off the books after the 2011 season, financial uncertainty has the entire Mets franchise in a state of worry, if not panic.

For as long as most of us can remember, the Dallas Cowboys have been America's Team. 

A lot of that has to do with the teams locale, the dearth of professional teams that existed in America's heartland when the 'Boys broke onto the expansion scene in 1960.

The Wilpons may be forced to sell the Mets as early as this season.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Major League Baseball will not loan any more money to the New York Mets. This comes after the league loaned $25 million to the team last November to help the club "meet operating costs." 

Several reports have surfaced that the Wilpon's have reached out to Donald Trump in regards to purchasing a minority share of the New York Mets.

Mets owner Fred Wilpon owes lots of people lots of money. According to published reports, his total sports-related investment debt exceeds $1.5 billion dollars. Add to that a $300 million-$1 billion exposure in lawsuits filed against him by the victims of Bernie Madoff, and he finds himself in a significant hole.

As a die-hard New York Mets fan, I was not surprised at all when Fred and Jeff Wilpon announced on Friday that they had to explore selling a minority ownership of the Mets. For the past two years, the Wilpon family has repeatedly denied losing money from Madoff; they have always seemed to skirt from the truth. This time around, the team is claiming that they will need to give back their profits to recover lost funds from other investors.

Free agent pitcher Cliff Lee agreed to a five-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies Monday night, just the most recent example of Major League Baseball being incredibly cruel to New York Mets fans in recent years.

Like The Who said, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

Technically, your New York Mets have yet to officially name Sandy Alderson as the new General Manager, but that’s mostly out of respect for the World Series than anything else. Mets fans everywhere can rejoice as the hiring of Alderson is set to start a whole new era of Metropolitan baseball.

Or is it?

You can find more Mets analysis at The Shea Faithful

Well Mets fans, it’s finally that time. We knew this day was coming, we could see it from a mile away.