Alright, now LISTEN.

I am a METS FAN FIRST AND FOREMOST, do you understand me??? But as I spent my college years in Baltimore, and fell in love with a Maryland dude and convinced him to propose, I became an Orioles fan, too. Seeing absolutely ZERO conflict in this whatsoever (this was before interleague play, yes I am old) I was at peace with this. There have been many Mets/Orioles crossovers since then. Lee Mazzilli — my Mets heartthrob centerfielder who lived IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD, PRACTICALLY — came to be the Orioles manager for a short (too short) time. Eventually, interleague play brought my two teams together to the same ballpark during the regular season, even, and I managed to enjoy that, hoping BOTH teams would win. I even went into labor with my first kid at Camden Yards, and Eddie Murray hit a grand slam right into the section where we were sitting. (Not why I went into labor.)

ANYHOW, yesterday's news of the Orioles absolutely most fantastic manager of all my days loving the Orioles (Earl Weaver was before my Baltimore days) — Buck Showalter — heading to Queens to manage my beloved New York Mets? I tell you, people, I'm dizzy with glee. How absolutely great for the baseball team of my heart.

I shot the video above, from my seat in the mezzanine section behind first base at a game in September 2015. Baltimore loved Buck. LOVED him. So much. Here he is after he charged out of the dugout on his way to take a piece out of that ump. We knew sh*t was about to go down.

And Buck will always have my respect for the way he protected Adam Jones, in particular, when Jones was the target of racist abuse by Boston Red Sox fans. Jones didn't tell Showalter about the abuse during the game because he knew what Buck would have done about it, and it turns out Jones' prediction would have come true. Showalter said later that if he'd known about what was happening during the game, he'd have pulled his entire team off the field in protest. THAT'S how you protect your players and stand against racism at the same time.

Please enjoy some of these other great Showalter moments.

I am so SO excited! LET'S GO METS!

***********************

Here's your TV line-up for this morning! Who's watching what? Is football in your future? Christmas movies on the horizon? Tell us in the comments!

• CNN“State of the Union”: Anthony Fauci … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) … New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu … Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
• FOX “Fox News Sunday”: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan … NIH Director Francis Collins … Morrill Worcester. Panel: Doug Heye, Jennifer Griffin, Gerald Seib and Mo Elleithee.
• ABC “This Week”: Anthony Fauci … Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Panel: Yvette Simpson, Sarah Isgur, Robert Costa and Rachael Bade.
• NBC “Meet the Press”: Anthony Fauci … Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. Panel: Donna Edwards, Amna Nawaz, John Podhoretz and Philip Rucker.
• MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) … D.C. A.G. Karl Racine … Martin Luther King III … Laurence Tribe … Sophia Nelson.
• CBS “Face the Nation”: NIH Director Francis Collins … Scott Gottlieb … DEA Administrator Anne Milgram … Hamdullah Mohib.
• CNN “Inside Politics”: Megan Ranney. Panel: Jonathan Martin, Seung Min Kim, Catherine Lucey and Jeremy Diamond.