Emergency at Shea Stadium

Tom Suozzi (Wikipedia)

Monday was a big day for the Mets, as they rallied back late in their home opener to beat Jimmy Rollins, his big mouth, and the Phillies.

But the Mets were not the only ones who enjoyed a good time in Queens Monday, as Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and his 9 year old son took in the game in a field-level box. Suozzi claims he paid full-price for the tickets and that the Mets had invited him to the game and there is no reason to doubt this. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with taking your son to Opening Day and I actually encourage it to everyone who can afford it, which is a dwindling number recently.

So where does the problem lie? Suozzi's transportation to the game. Did he take the LIRR or the 7 train to the game, like the Mets website advocates? No. Did he drive and pay a ridiculous price to park in the limited parking lots? Negative. He decided that he would have the taxpayers of Nassau County pay his way, as he took not only a county car there, but a detective for a detail, too according to a Newsday article published yesterday.

What was Suozzi's reasoning for needing both a car and a detective? He claimed that he did not make the decision and that he is a high-profile figure who has enemies lurking in the world. So who made the decision for Suozzi? Why, the detective who joined Suozzi and his son to Shea.

To tackle the first point: while people may not like Suozzi (especially after this little incident), a Nassau County Executive has never been assassinated nor assaulted in recent memory. Also, if someone were plotting to assassinate Suozzi, Shea Stadium would be the worst place in the world to do it with cops crawling all over the place, especially on Opening Day.

For the second excuse: of course his detective felt that he needed special protection during the Opening Day of the Mets, because he not only got to go with Suozzi and his son, but also got paid for it. "Oh, but he had to stand," you might say. So what, pay me what the detective got paid to see Opening Day from a field-level box and I'll stand to watch the game. There is no reason that a regular officer already on detail at the stadium could stand behind Suozzi and his kid, protecting them from all of those crazed lunatics who a) know who Tom Suozzi even is and b) dislike him enough to want to physically harm him. A pretty clear waste of taxpayer money.