To the Editor:

Shortly before the start of the 2005 baseball season, after the New York Mets had endured three consecutive dismal seasons, David Brooks declared his readiness to "switch my allegiance from the beloved Mets to the new team of my adopted town." He wrote, "I will become a fan of the Washington Nationals" ("Whose Team Am I On?," column, March 29, 2005).

Now that the Nationals have completed an awful season and the Mets are in the playoffs, Mr. Brooks has thrown a changeup, writing of the tortured life of an angst-ridden Mets fan.

Mr. Brooks now writes of the "true Mets fan." But he can't be "a true Mets fan." For true Mets fans, wherever we are in the world, and wherever the Mets are in the standings, during times of misery and times of euphoria, our allegiance is unconditional and eternal.

Joseph Schick
Flushing, Queens, Oct. 8, 2006