Enraged Mets Fan Rewarded With Private Car & Pills Instead Of Improved Transit

We have all, at one point or another, been Mets fan Frank Fleming, screaming to anyone within earshot about how public transit has in some way screwed us over. Unlike Frank though, most of us have probably not gone viral (this is actually a blessing, don't ever let it happen to you) and had our bad fortune rewarded by corporate America with free pills.

Quick-thinking PR people at Excedrin, who like many others presumably read Gothamist dot com's coverage of poor Frank's odyssey to catch the Mets womp on the hated Braves, stepped into the viral vacuum and have rewarded Frank with two tickets to Friday night's Mets game, a private car there and back, and oh what's this, why also some FREE Excedrin ($9.99 value).

"We're giving Frank tickets to Friday night's game, a private car and some Excedrin just in case his opening day headache remains. While we can't guarantee a victory, we can guarantee he won't have another headache trying to get there," senior brand manager Scott Yacovino told the News.

Speaking of marketing, Excedrin's co-owner Novartis once paid the United States government almost $500 million for illegally marketing a number of their drugs for off-label use, including bribing doctors with "entertainment, travel and meals," according to the Times. Fun!

Of course, ultimately, this innocent bit of brand extension would never have happened without an NJ Transit derailment that left Frank and so many other people totally in the lurch. While I'm not one to point fingers or suggest public officials be put in stocks for their gross mismanagement, it's worth remembering that Chris Christie's legacy may very well be the gross mismanagement of NJ Transit. Whether you're talking a slashed maintenance budget, an increased amount of delays, higher fares to go with reduced service, or just rerouting transit money to go to roads instead, New Jersey is looking at a future of Frank Flemings whose ability to catch a goddamn train somewhere was sacrificed on the altar of Chris Christie's presidential aspirations. With any luck for them though, soon Christie won't have any choice but to listen to sports fans like Frank scream at him for five hours a day.