Mourning time is over. The season that wasn't is over and gone and if we don't get the gears rolling, the Apple might be over and gone soon too. By this time next year, our Mets will be in the World Series and the Apple will be making it's final appearances at Shea Stadium.

In the next few days, we are going to be updating a lot of information on the website, including:

• A lot more information from and about the Applefather
• As a number of people can tell you, we've had some major problems with the web store (major may be an understatement). We have taken it offline for the time being while we sort out how best to proceed. But as soon as we've gotten it squared away, the store will be back with more items and better organization. We want to offer you the best t-shirts possible and we are doing everything we can to make sure that happens.

  That said, for those of you who we failed, we can not apologize enough or express how terrible we feel. Please know that we are working as hard as we can to fix the problems with the store and get everything moving in the right direction again.

• Now, on to lighter news...

  
  Contests!!!!!

  We want to hear from you about your ideas on how we can Save The Apple. So, it's contest time!... Contest #1. E-mail us your best ideas on what we can do to help Save The Apple with the subject: "SaveTheApple.com Contest #1 - Apple-Saving Ideas" at contest (at) savetheapple [dot] com. We will pick the 5 or 10 best ideas to put up as an online poll. The winner of the online poll will win a free t-shirt of their choice plus a ticket to sit with the SaveTheApple crew in the upper deck in 2008. Please be sure to include your name and full mailing address or we will not be able to consider your entry.

  T-shirts T-shirts T-shirts. Contest #2 is design your own SaveTheApple.com T-shirt. The Best t-shirt or shirts will be made available in the webstore and the winner(s)) will get a free copy of their t-shirt design AND a ticket to join the SaveTheApple crew for a game in 2008! T-shirt designs should be submitted by e-mail as a JPEG, GIF, or PNG image file to contest (at) savetheapple [dot] com with the subject line: "SaveTheApple.com Contest #2 - T-shirt Design". Please include your first initial and last name as part of the filename so that we are able to easily find your entry and also include your name and full mailing address.

  The Top 10 Reasons to Save The Apple are... Contest #3. We want to create a "Top 10 Reasons To Save The Apple" t-shirt, but we need your help. If you have a reason to Save The Apple, please e-mail us at contest (at) savetheapple [dot] com with the subject: "SaveTheApple.com Contest #3 - Top 10" and your idea. Again, please include your full name and address. The Top 10 ideas will make it on to the t-shirt and will receive a free copy of the t-shirt too!

  LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO
  By submitting your idea, image, design, and/or content to SaveTheApple.com, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

  Rights - You forfeit all rights to any idea, image, design, and/or content submitted to SaveTheApple.com and you agree that you no longer hold any legal rights to the idea, image, design, and/or content.
  Copyright Violations - SaveTheApple.com prohibits the use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates the copyright owner's rights. In general, this means that you should only submit your own original idea, image, design, and/or content on which you have natural copyright.
  In cases where copyright is disputed (usually as a result of plagiarism or unauthorized copying), entries will be immediately removed.
  Users should also be aware that there is significant personal exposure if they are found to be in violation of copyright laws. Individuals who violate copyright law are legally liable and subject to possible fines.

  Disclaimer - Finally, SaveTheApple.com reserves the right to modify any idea, image, design, and/or content as we see fit. It's unlikely that we will do so, but we must preserve our rights.

• To recap:

  Contest #1 - New / Different ways that we can all help to Save The Apple.
  Contest #2 - Design a SaveTheApple.com T-shirt.
  Contest #3 - Submit a Top 10 Reason to Save The Apple.

The contests are now officially open, so get designing, we look forward to your entries. Please note that deadlines for each contest are pending and will be announced once we have worked out the logistics on our end.

It's time for us to get back in to the swing of things. Look for more frequent updates to the site and hopefully some more press coverage.

Let's go Mets! Let's Save The Apple. As always, don't forget to sign the petition!!!