“You don’t get to move to a country and pick the Yankees" - John Oliver reveals the exact moment his son became a New York Mets fan for life

John Oliver, the comedian and TV celebrity best known as the host of the popular talk show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," has lived in the United States since 2006.

Oliver has always been quite fond of sports and is known to be a passionate fan of Liverpool FC from his days back home. Ever since he made the trip across the Atlantic, he has naturally taken to sports that are popular stateside as well.

Speaking to the press on Saturday, Oliver described his decision to start supporting the New York Mets as easy, especially as Manchester United, the bitter rivals of his beloved Liverpool FC, had a relationship with the Yankees.

"I came to America in 2006 to start working for the Daily Show, [and I] realized I had to pick the Yankees or the Mets. I realized that is no choice a human being should ever consider for too long; it would have to be the Mets. You don't get to move to a country and pick the Yankees without being an utter ar******," Oliver joked.

"Man United, a football team from England, they had a relationship at the time with the Yankees, so I already had a slight level of distaste for them," Oliver added.

Naturally, watching his dad support the Mets, Oliver's son, Hudson, is also a passionate Mets fan. Further in the conversation, Oliver revealed the exact moment he knew that young Hudson was going to be 'a Mets fan for life.'

"My son has just got into baseball this year, massive Mets fan. I realized he really loved the Mets when they're about five games into their slump, and this little six-year-old kid is looking at the TV and he's saying, 'What are they doing?' In that moment, he became a fan for life," Oliver added. [0:45]

The Mets are well-placed to give John Oliver and other fans plenty to celebrate about this season

Having gone through an extremely difficult slump in June, the Mets appear to have steadied the ship of late. With superstar Juan Soto finally looking like the man the club broke the bank for in the offseason, the Mets are looking to win their first NL East title since 2015.

In a title race that looks like it will go right down to the wire, New York finds itself in second place, a game behind the Phillies, who are also not playing their best baseball at the moment.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann