The Citi Field Sheas

by 2 March 31, 2013 0 Comments

I heard about the "Citi Field Sheas" back in 2011. A fun crew of die hard Mets fans beating to their own drum. I strolled up to section 513 to see what their crew was all about and was welcomed in with open arms. They are about having fun at ball games; exactly what my goal has been since a kid. Smiles all around, cheering, chanting, drinking and hollering. I completely loved it and decided to be a plan holder with them in 2012 and will be again this year for 2013. They've been bringing the group atmosphere way before our "The 7 Line Army" was even a thought. Quite a few of them helped spread the energy with us during the final home game of 2012. I'd never want to take credit for their creative chants and wanted to catch up with "Coach" before the 2013 season officially kicks off. Sit back and read about the Citi Field Sheas..... Name: You can use "Coach" as my alias. In reality its what I do for a living so it fits. How long have you been a Mets fan? Since about 1997. I was 15 years old and had just moved to Long Island from Queens. Long story short my family is Eastern European so they still to this day have never been to a baseball match, I didn't really have the little league and "AMERICAN" upbringing.  Upon moving to LI I befriended Fred who lived 6 houses down, and so began the sports experience he took me to my first, hockey, basketball, baseball, football, etc. matches.  From then on we began a tradition of cutting high school or signing each other out and since Junior year of 98 we have not missed an opening day.  I remember seeing Shea stadium for the first time and turning the corner of the upper bowl to see the grass I would literally get chills.  I still do to this day every time I first lay eyes on the field I get a goosebumps cheesy I  know but true nonetheless. How did the Citi Field Sheas begin? We started with four of us then with brothers attending and friends it began to grow.  I would say if not for Fred, my closest friend, sparking my passionate addiction as a sports fan I probably would never have gotten into it at this level. I also grew up originally in Queens so as a Long Islander I was easily attaching Shea Stadium and fan-hood with QUEENS and that was a piece of me that I would never let go. I even moved back to Queens for this reason and currently live 5 minutes from Citi Field.  I remember seeing people chanting, laughing, drinking and just enjoying baseball when I was younger and I was like "wow one day we will be those guys having a blast at the game leaving all your worries at the gates and just enjoying life for 9 innings TOGETHER!" Not to get too deep but when we had 8 of us sitting together at Shea we would always come up with little chants and personal jokes about players, each other and it became our little niche. When Citi Field was built I was so disappointed in the volume, fan-hood, I felt like it was buried behind with the rubble of the blue Shea! So after attending some soccer games and just seeing the passion for the game, I started to call ourselves the Citi Field Sheas.  A CFS is someone who doesn't forget the days of old at Shea when the "hollerin, cheerin, and jumpin in your seats was never frowned upon!"  We love to bring fun to the game of baseball by chanting and singing for each player, they obviously cannot hear us from all the way up in Upper Prom section 513, but we put as much passion into our support as we hope the baseball players put into their playing ability. How many fans are in your crew?  At one point there was about 14 of us however, over the past years it has changed, and many have not been able to financially re-join and so I would say many of the original crew has moved on. Disappointed to say that, however we have met so many new fans and now friends that have come over to sit with us because they enjoy the chanting and energy we bring to the game.  Of course on the flip side there will always be haters who don't condone what we do, but to each their own, this is how we enjoy baseball and don't think for a second that amongst our group we do not watch every game and every play while all the shenanigans take place.  In any event right now I would say there is a solid 18 that will be sitting with us this season, however there are close to 40 Citi Field Sheas, some retired, some cant take off from work, some just moved on with LIFE!  I am happy to meet new members, sit and share experiences with other Mets fans. We have met so many good people right there at Citi Field doing what we do best.  We have chants and songs for every single player, and when in doubt, no worries, we pop them out instantly being that we have a ton of creative enthusiastic fans that sit amongst us. We throw around chant ideas and when they stick...its on.  I have a vast knowledge of soccer chants, and many other sports songs, etc so although many may be borrowed or tweaked at times, we create new ones every night on the spot. I still do my share, however I can recall everyone boys and girls included that have created new ideas throughout the course of our short-lived existence, which I would estimate is 7 years sitting together. Are you the "leader" ? I honestly wouldn't say that. I cannot control what choices others make in our section. Sometimes I lead the chants and sometimes I don't. I take initiative in organizing the meeting points and emailing the group about certain events and themes so do I try to LEAD? I guess so. My career basically entails "leading" a lot of people and so it may come naturally, but I stay humble and never consider myself the ONE in charge because the ultimate joy for me comes when we all chant, cheer, and bring energy TOGETHER, we even usually sing on the way out and down the stairs TOGETHER! Do you have a favorite game?  We have so many memories both as Mets fans and as Citi Field Sheas, however my favorite two moments as a fan would have to be the 9/11 Mike Piazza HR which lifted our souls and spirits, and of course watching the no-hitter in section 513. I do not mistake coincidence for fate. We only chose 14 games to attend together and of those 14 we happen to be there for the HI57ORIC event, it was meant to happen. As a Citi Field Shea our most memorable chant was for Jose Reyes that I will forever miss. We've had some classic entertainment throughout the years. Bow-ties, vuvuzelas, sperm balloons, drums, chest hair fires, and the never-ending string of laughs. As I think back to some of the best Mets games ever, many of the walk offs, and classic games that we've been to, our group somehow "coincidentally" happened to pick that game?? Just saying, every year we usually have a winning record in terms of the games we attend! Any future goals? We have cleaned up our acts so much since moving into Citi Field. I mean we have matured in the sense that all of our chants tend to be PG-13, yes we may toe the line of decency at times, but we have been joined by so many families and kids. We have our share of supporters who enjoy what we do and like I said before, some do frown upon our antics.  My goal was ultimately to have an exclusive section dedicated to fans that enjoy this style of baseball cheering, I have met with higher ups in the Mets organization about his idea in the past. I have even met with them about bringing back the fan-hood to Citi Field, and unfortunately I was shunned away because of the actions of some people in our sections in the past. This is why we worked hard on keeping it clean in the FIVE THIRTEEN. Granted I am so happy that you have landed THE 7 LINE ARMY, which potentially looks as though the Mets have finally stepped up and understood the need for a section of this nature.  I will be sitting with The 7 Line during opening day and then it's back to our section for the remainder of the 15 games posted on our website www.citifieldsheas.com The CFS are proud to be sitting with The 7 line Army and maybe one day we move away from section 513 where we focus on a joint venture where we help bring the chants and songs into THE 7 LINE ARMY section. Either way, we are Citi Field till we die, and the memories and bonds we share together are unspeakable. It's been a really rough road as a 31 year old Met fan who wasn't alive in 69 and didn't really experience the 86 championship for what it was worth. In a "YANKEE" world I have to say I am proud to be a Mets fan. "Great moments are challenged by adversity, that builds character & forms a respect to the true value of life. " As a Mets fans we can say our day of redemption is at hand; a "METS dynasty" will return. "Ya Gotta Believe!"  We must enjoy the journey to get there even if it hurts to do so. Excited for 2013, the All Star Game, Opening Day with The 7 Line Army, and all the fun the Citi Field Sheas will have in our HOME.  Please feel free to come up and say hi to us, we usually stand out because we wear our soccer-esque Citi Field Sheas scarves; hit us up on twitter with new ideas for chants or special announcements @CitiFieldSheas  Men, Women, Kids, we welcome you all to a different way of watching baseball, open your minds and have fun, but most importantly stand your ground and support your team!  

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