By Christina Kelly
The pictures in my house of my grandfather, mother and father holding me in a Met's onesie before I could even stand are proof that I had no choice when it came to a baseball team preference.
Like most Metropolitans fans I criticize, curse and clamor at the team at the end of each disappointing October and vow to give up my allegiance. Yet somehow, at the beginning of every April for reasons that I'm still not sure of, I find myself donning the blue and orange apparel once again.
When rumors were first heard that third baseman David Wright was coming to Hofstra for a Topps baseball clinic, I received numerous phone calls from friends and family urging me to find a way to get an interview with the poster-child of the franchise.
I knew it wouldn't be easy to get in touch with Wright's "people." But I never anticipated that contacting the star during the off-season would be more difficult than getting up close to the presidential debate held here last month.
I started out logically by clicking the "contact us" button on the Mets' Web site about two weeks before Wright was scheduled to appear at the University in hopes of a helpful reply.
After about five days I received a one-line e-mail from the organization telling me to contact Wright's agents.
I searched for Wright's representation and through the power of Google, I found the name of the agency. This eventually led me to his actual agents.
A secretary answered my call, saying that I should send an e-mail formally stating who I was and what business I had with Wright.
After sending the e-mail I waited. I may have re-sent it once or maybe even twice. Just to make sure they received it. With each passing day, I found my inbox empty and my hopes diminishing.
Four days before the camp, I got up the nerve to call the secretary once more. I was as nonchalant as possible as I followed up with my e-mail. She told me that she had forwarded it to Wright's agent but that I could re-send it again.
I felt as though my cause had been lost, but I figured, one more time couldn't hurt.
About an hour later, I was sitting in my philosophy class when my phone began to vibrate. I ran up the stairs to get service, but as I opened my phone, it read "One Missed Call." Wright's agent and I played phone-tag until we got in touch two days before the camp.
Wright called me Saturday morning, promptly at 8:30 a.m., and was in no rush during the interview. He answered all of my questions fully. I thanked him and pushed my luck a little further. I asked if there was any way I could come down to the clinic to get some pictures. He said that would be fine and to make sure I "introduce myself when I got there."
When I arrived at the camp, I didn't want to bother Wright but I think the infant with her Mets onesie on inside of me pushed me to go over and say "hi." Wright and his agent were extremely friendly and Wright even joked, saying that he heard I was very "persistent."
While the journey may have been long, finding out that this three-time all-star was a genuinely nice and regular guy was well worth the persistence.