Advocates trying to warn kids about the threat of online sexual predators trolling the Internet have a new ally - Mr. Met.
The mascot has been recruited to get the word out at the first-ever Internet Safety Day at Shea Stadium. The event kicks off before the 3:30 p.m. home game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
The program is part of a two-year, federally funded project by a task force from the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, with help from the Queens District Attorney's office and sponsor Time Warner Cable.
All kidding aside, this is actually a pretty good idea. As part of Internet Safety Day, the Mets are doing things like putting up scoreboard quizzes and handing out baseball cards with online safety tips for kids. It's unclear what the role of Mr. Met will be in all this, but I personally hope they deck him out in a pedo-stache and have him drive around the stadium in a bullpen car with "Free Candy" painted on the side of it to show kids just who they're giving their address out to online. Or, you know, just pass out the cards.
Mr. Met has apparently taken Jerry Manuel's "gangster" rep a little bit too far, as he is seen here giving the throat slash gesture to a young Yankee fan in the stands. Considering how big Mr. Met's head is, that's a lot of throat to slash.
It's Official! Kris Bensonsigns with the Phillies! Good for him. Have you seen the Orioles motto for this season? "THIS IS BIRDLAND." That's a great way to get fans into the park. "We traded away our stars. COME SEE THE BIRD, THE ACTUAL ANIMAL THE BIRD"
With the migration of Anna Benson comes the next chapter in a Dugout story that began in the long long ago before the darkness came about how Anna would sleep with everyone on the team including the mascot if she ever caught her husband cheating. The only way this could get better for us is if she got traded to the Red Sox and got to deflower Wally the Green Monster. She would have to go into the police force and get choked by Dmitri Young to be more Dugout ready.
Anna Benson wears a jersey around her cleavage like we'd never expect and Kris Benson gets into a plane crash and misses the '08 season with a dilated brain in today's Dugout, after the jump.
That's Mr. Met giving a brand-new meaning to the phrase "die-hard fan." But what would you expect when your namesake completely tanks on you. (Now do you see what you're setting your son up for, Mr. and Mrs. Fields?) At least he lived a full and happy life, as the links below can attest.
For those who missed it, Mr. Met was elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame. Mr. Met fell short to the San Antonio Spurs Coyote by about 2,500 votes in the online voting contest for pro team mascots, but the Mascot Hall of Fame Executive Committee inducted him in due to closing that gap from about 8,000 votes in a short period of time.
I bet you didn't think that a mascot could make an acceptance speech, but during Saturday's game, Mr. Met finds a way:
Of course, when you show up at Indian weddings to get your bhangra on, and risk life and limb in the enemy's backyard, any awards and honors you receive are well deserved. Congratulations Mr. Met for not only making the mascot hall of fame, but for bringing more honor to your franchise than the actual team has lately.
FanHouse's Top Five scans the sports blogosphere for the best posts of the last 24 hours so you don't have to. Got something for this feature? Hit us up at fanhouse@googlegroups.com. 1) People, it's OK to be stupid. Stupidity is fun. It's carefree. It's completely devoid of the concerns many have for this world, including "U.S. Americans" and "some people" like "the Iraq, and other people like, the such as" so we will be able "to build up our future." Because when intelligent people all trying to fix the world and such as get stuck, who will they come to?
Well, not Ms. South Carolina. But I've heard arguments for keeping the confederate flag on the statehouse that were less well-reasoned than this. (Great find, PostGameHeroes.) 2) Good friends the Mottram brothers got a shot of DeAngelo Hall's message for Chad Johnson last night, a haircut that said "I Own U 85" in considerably blocky letters. Unfortunately for DeAngelo, Chad Johnson had five catches for 83 yards and a score, and Hall got particularly burned on a slant-and-go that saw Hall leave the TV frame entirely while Johnson streaked down the sideline. It was only preseason, but it's time to get a haircut, Hall. Immediately.
3)Mr. Met is a thug. I know most of us like to apply that term only to basketball players, or football players (whichever sport you're trying to compare unfavorably to the college game that day), but far too often does the blatant thug-ism in Major League Baseball go unchecked. The latest example? Mr. Met goes on a Kyle Farnsworth-esque tirade and gets himself hauled away by stadium security as furtively as possible. What next? Mr. Met shows up at a random wedding and gets his freak on the whole night? Oh, yeah ...
4) It's a few days old now, but this Airing of Grievances post on the Rucker Tournament over the weekend is a must-read. Rucker remains a basketball pilgrimage I've yet to take, and in the meantime, posts like this will have to suffice as my experience. Great stuff. 5) I'm all for an appreciation of the fairer sex, but methinks Darren Rovell -- he of the usually detached, reasoned business sensibilities -- is really developing a crush on Ana Ivanovic. Like, really developing a crush.
Not only did the Mets take it on the chin on Monday night in Philadelphia against the Phillies, but even their mascot was hauled away by Citizens Bank Park security, albeit playfully, after trying to lead a hostile Philly crowd in song while the Mets were getting squashed.
Mr. Met was in Philadelphia along with some of the other mascots that are up for this year's Mascot Hall of Fame induction, which you can vote on here. The Phanatic is already in the hall as one of its inagural members. And right now, Mr. Met is behind the Spurs' Coyote by about 6,000 votes in this year's vote. Going into a rival visiting stadium, especially in Philadelphia, and risking your life should certainly be worth 6,000 votes ... or at least your vote. You have until September 1st to make your vote count.
If we've learned anything from Mr. Met, it's that the guy likes to get out and make his presence felt beyond the ballpark. (Remember these photos?)
Well, as the mascot proves in the above video, he is not just limiting himself to birthday party appearances. Why, just look at him busting a move on the dance floor here, at Pinty and Pooja's wedding. I bet it got pretty hot in that suit after a while.
The internet is full of creepy, seedy, sexual predators. There's so many out there that Chris Hansen just can't stop them all by himself, no matter how hard he might try. In the day and age of 40-year-old men picking up 13-year-old girls on the internet, the authorities are turning to the only person capable of stopping such a menace: Mr. Met. 
It's Official! 
