MLBSports & Politics

A Queens Man, After Spending 5 Months In Egyptian Prison, Is Told The Mets Won The World Series

A 27-year-old law student from Queens named Ilan Grapel just spent the last five months in Egyptian jail, imprisoned on questionable spying charges (in reality, Grapel was merely working with a legal-aid group following Egypt’s uprising this past summer).

Luckily, though, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens) was able to negotiate Grapel’s release, and he was recently reunited with his family at a teary press conference. But, in addition to possibly saving Grapel’s life, Ackerman decided to even things out by playing the cruelest joke ever on him: he told him the Mets had won the World Series.

At the time of Grapel’s imprisonment in June, the Mets were a not-yet-dead 32-33, so the World Series was still (technically) a possibility. And since he was, you know, locked up in an Egyptian prison, Grapel had no way of knowing what was going on in the world of sports.

Then the following back-and-forth occurred at his press conference.

“There’s so many people to thank,” he said, “and after being cut off for the past five months …”

Ackerman quickly interjected, “We told him the Mets won the World Series.”

Grapel, a sports fan, shot Ackerman a big smile — only to quickly feel the let-down most Mets fans are all too familiar with when he quickly figured out that the team had tanked — again.

That’s a cruel move by Ackerman. But also: Grapel, being any sort of Mets fan, should’ve known better, Egyptian prison or not.