Editorial

‘I’m Going To Do It My Way’: New York Mets Owner Steve Cohen Doesn’t Care What Anybody Thinks Of His Madman Spending

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New York Mets owner Steve Cohen sat down with ESPN's Jeff Passan for an interview to speak about what baseball thinks of him, and quite frankly, he doesn't care. [YouTube/Screenshot/Public — SNY]

[YouTube/Screenshot/Public — SNY]

Andrew Powell Sports and Entertainment Blogger
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Holy shit, I love Steve Cohen.

I’ve blogged about New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and his big balla ways before (you can check those pieces out here and here), and I admire the hell out of him. This offseason in free agency, he spent a whopping $524,351,666 (that’s over half-a-billion) to build a championship team. I loved it, and I’m saying this as a fan of the Atlanta Braves, a Mets rival.

But despite my many immaculate blog posts explaining the beautiful flash and dash of Steve “I Have A Shark Tank, Not A Fish Tank” Cohen, he’s actually pissed off a lot of the baseball world with his madman spending.

Cohen recently sat down with ESPN’s Jeff Passan for an interview to speak about what baseball thinks of him, and the first question Passan asked was about comparisons between Cohen and legendary former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

“George seemed bigger than life and passionate about baseball and brought a lot of life to the game,” Cohen told Passan. “He made baseball interesting. And he did it his way. I’m going to do it my way. I don’t know if I’m making baseball interesting.”

Cohen then addressed his massive offseason spending spree.

“I didn’t know I was going to have to spend like I did,” said Cohen. “I actually was a little naïve in that regard. But once I got comfortable and realized, OK, what’s it going to take to put a great team on the field, I still had made a commitment to the fans, and to baseball, that I was going to come in and turn this thing around. I came in saying I’m all-in. And I keep my word.”

I can’t use anymore quotes from the story because it’s behind an ESPN+ paywall ($9.99 per month), but Cohen pretty much went on to say that he doesn’t give a damn what baseball thinks about his big balla ways and that he plans on continuing said big balla ways — this dude is a freakin’ kingpin. (I highly suggest the read, it’s fantastic!)

Sports fans are nowhere as fickle as fans of professional wrestling, but when it comes to ownership, they’re absolutely just as bad.

Fans will bitch and complain when an owner is being cheap and not spending any money to win, but in the same breath, they’ll attack Steve Cohen for not being cheap and spending money to win. And let’s just be honest here: it has nothing to do with owners spending money that fans have a problem with, it’s the fact that fans are jealous their team isn’t doing it.

Seriously, though, if you’re looking at everything through a clear lens (and like I said, I’m a rival Atlanta Braves fan who happens to love the shit out of Steve Cohen), then I don’t understand how you can’t love this guy:

Bad for baseball, my ass. This guy is everything that I want in an owner. Plus, I’d be a hypocrite considering the owner of my Miami Dolphins, Stephen Ross, is out here spending like a maniac to bring a Super Bowl to the 305.

I even have a T-shirt for sale celebrating the big-money success of Stephen Ross — the future is bright, baby.

I want my owners to spend money, and quite frankly, Steve “Big Balla” Cohen is making me a fan of the New York Mets (after my Braves and Miami Marlins, of course) with the massive swag that he’s pumped into his team. And I absolutely love his “I don’t give a damn” attitude. (RELATED: REPORT: Oakland Athletics Ownership Meeting With Las Vegas Strip Operators For Possible Move To Sin City)

Carry on, Steve. I’m loving all of this shit.