The Speech

In Hoosiers Gene Hackman's told his team to be the "best that you can be". Denzel urged his players to "respect each other" and "play this game like men" in Remember the Titans. Pacino compared football to life as a "game of inches" in Any Given Sunday.

Now, thanks to Alex Cora, the words "A little respect please. They stuck it up our ass!" will live on in sports motivation lore.

Cora's words of wisdom came when the Mets were laughing it up following Tuesday's brutal loss. Why is this good news for Mets fans? Because anyone who has ever seen a sports movie knows that the inspirational locker room speech ALWAYS sparks a team turnaround. And now that Cora has spoken, there is every reason to believe the Mets season will follow the same path as the teams in those movies.

With the Mets scuffling lately, Cora's outburst was a much needed wake up call. In fact, it has already begun to have it's desired effects. Unconfirmed sources reported that Mets players and coaches broke into a slow clap immediately after hearing the speech. Those same sources say the Mets came onto the field for yesterday's warm-ups chanting "We are the Metropolitans, the mighty mighty Metropolitans!" just like those Titans did.

Additionally, Mike Pelfrey stopped licking his hand and remembered how to pitch again. Oliver Perez even thought for a second about finally accepting that demotion to the minor leagues.

Even if those things didn't happen, "The Speech" will be remembered as the turning point of the 2010 Mets season. It takes a day to sink in, but look for the team to get back on track in Los Angeles. Thanks to Alex Cora, the Mets will no longer allow teams to stick anything anywhere.

P.S. We were so inspired by Cora that yesterday we bought the domain www.metskoolaid.com. Check back soon for more great changes to the blog!