For those that don't (or can't) remember, there were several reasons Cardinal fans thought of the Mets as "Pond Scum".

First of all, the Mets were supposed to be the dominant National League team of the 1980s, according to the national media.  (Yes, East Coast Bias [TM] existed even before the advent of ESPN!)

Never mind the fact that when the teams went head-to-head during the regular season as NL East Division foes, the Cardinals won three division titles to the Mets' alleged "dynasty" of one!

Add to that the fact that, well... the Mets featured several players that had the personal characteristics of (ahem)...

Keith Hernandez had admitted his cocaine abuse during the "Pittsburgh Cocaine Trial"... and while he had apologized to Mets fans for his transgressions, he didn't say a mumblin' word to Cardinals fans for snortin' snow while wearing the Birds On The Bat!  Didn't sit well with a lot of folks in Cardinal Nation.

Howard Johnson had inexplicably developed a tremendous power surge out of nowhere, instantly transforming himself into a home-run hitter.  Then as now, guys who suddenly started hitting the ball farther were assumed to be cheating... but in the 1980's, the assumption was that HoJo was corking his bat, along with several of his teammates.

For whatever reason, Gary Carter was also intensely disliked... I suspect Carter was a victim of what I call "Steve Garvey Syndrome"... simply too good to be true.

Darryl Strawberry carried himself with an arrogance that brought jeers and chants of "Darrr-yllll" anywhere but Shea Stadium.  Doc Gooden was scary good, before these two players became the poster children for "Wasted Talent."

Mookie Wilson (our own P-Dub's stepdad!) was the closest thing to a likeable Met on the roster... but he had to share time in CF with Lenny "Nails" Dykstra.  'Nuff said...

Those Mets were supposed to be a dynasty... but they weren't, and largely because of the Cardinals.

This year's Met squad is largely devoid of "hate-able" players.  Oh, Pedro's a headhunter, but he's hurt and won't pitch, anyway.  Guys like Glavine, LoDuca, Delgado, Valentin, and Floyd are all hard-working pros who don't "show up" the opposition.  I can't stand Beltran... but only because he's good, and not because of his personality.

But they still play in that dump of a stadium (I'm of the opinion that "Flushing, New York" would be a good idea on general principles...) and they'll still get all the pub, 'cause they're in Noo Yawk... so...

GO CARDS GO!  BEAT THE POND SCUM!!!"