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Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and pitchers Mike Pelfrey, R.A. Dickey, Bobby Parnell, and Dillon Gee trained as firefighters at the FDNY Fire Academy training center on Randall’s Island on January 20.

Talk about battling some serious heat! The Mets players and C.O.O. strapped on firefighter gear to climb up FDNY ladders, battle a blaze, and rappel down the side of a building. Check it out:

And now some screenshots of the Metsies in action:

FDNY commissioner Sal Cassano with Mets pitchers R.A. Dickey, Mike Pelfrey, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, and Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, who took part in the Firefighter For A Day Challenge

R.A. Dickey climbs up a ladder

"Firefighters" Bobby Parnell and Mike Pelfrey

R.A. Dickey rappels down a wall

R.A. Dickey and Big Pelf fight a car fire

FDNY Commissioner Sal Cassano talks with Mike Pelfrey

Looks like a cool team-building event for several Mets players, or as my girlfriend calls it, “Really smart thing to do right before spring training!”

RELATED: FDNY training an eye-opener for Mets [mets.com]

In a Mets season that included an 8-game winning streak and numerous wins at home, but also K-Rod’s blown saves on the road, and whatever this mess of losses can be called in the last 2 weeks, this season has already had its share of ups and downs.

Welcome to the Mets Rollercoaster Ride! Hold onto your hats, Mets fans!

Welcome to the Mets Rollercoaster Ride!

I don’t know about you, but this year’s ride is just starting to make me sick. Come on guys, let’s try some consistency!

Wrigley Field

I’m a diehard lifelong Mets fan. However, I’ve always been partial to the Chicago Cubs.

Allow me to explain.

When you think about it, the Cubs are similar to the Mets in a number of ways.

As I watch the Mets play the Cubs at Wrigley Field, I am watching two teams that came into the 2009 season with great expectations, but which are both now far out of playoff contention.

The fans in Chicago are definitely upset with how the team has performed, but they’re still there in the stands. Mets fans are the same way, even if this year’s arrival of Citi Field means Blue Smoke ribs and Shake Shackburgers as an extra bonus for filling the seats.

And both teams are traditionally viewed as underdogs in a big city setting. As a New Yorker, I could see myself living a similar lifestyle in Chicago, purchasing a partial ticket plan as I have at Citi Field to watch the Cubs play at Wrigley.

Citi Field

And they are both underdog teams, which means that as a fan it becomes a super-exciting event when our teams make it to the playoffs. Unlike other teams that seemingly make it to the playoffs year after year where it is just part of the routine, I’d like to point out.

Both Cubs and Mets fans are shameless in expressing their dissatisfaction with underperforming players. Cubs fans today are booing their own outfielder Milton Bradley who has been very outspoken in letting everyone know he wants out of Chicago, despite having two years left on his contract. Then he commited the additonal sin of dropping a routine fly ball in rightfield. Fans in Chicago booed him just as loudly as us fans booed Luis Castillo’s dropped pop up that cost us the game against the Yankees earlier in the season. I could see myself continuing the booing in Chicago. Well, at least until the players get the team to the playoffs.

There’s just the same amount of cheering in both stadiums, as there should be. But the unapologetic booing is really what sets Cubs and Mets fans apart.

Mets were Amazin' in 1985

And then there’s the team colors. The Cubs have a very familiar shade of blue… called Cubbie Blue in Chicago. But I’m pretty sure its Mets blue in disguise. It looks very much like the blue I’ve been rooting on my whole life. And while its true that the Cubs other color isn’t orange, red happens to be my favorite color.

And I guess history has something to do with it too. The very first Mets game I attended back in 1985 when I was just a little kid was way up in the red seats at Shea Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. I watched Darryl Strawberry and Keith Hernandez play Chicago that day. Mets won, by the way.

So I’m partial to the Cubbies. And that doesn’t mean I don’t love my Metsies any less. It just means that as a Mets fan, I also follow what’s going on in Wrigleyville, whereas I really have no idea what’s going on in, say, Houston or Pittsburgh these days.

But then again, who really does?