October 16, 2007
Rock N' Roll Part 1Posted by Bryan
I have been a fan of the Colorado Rockies since before day 1. I was never really a baseball fan prior to the news of the Rockies coming, because there was never a local interest for me. I had a passing interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates, because that was the favorite team of my maternal grandfather, George Horgas. However, Grandpa George died when I was five years old, so I don't have a lot of memories of him, much less any real "bonding moments" around baseball.
Yet, when Denver was awarded a Major League Baseball team, I was immediately hooked. Partly because my mom and dad had often talked about how Grandpa George had always hoped that he would one day see MLB in Colorado. The Mile High City had long enjoyed the minor league franchises of the Bears and the Zephyrs (and maybe others prior, I'm not a historian, though). But for me, it was a part to be a fan from the beginning.
So I rejoiced when we signed David Nied in the expansion draft. I was there at the first game ever, at Mile High Stadium. I was there to see Eric Young's home run at the franchise's first at-bat.I proudly mimicked the emcee's growling staccato of "Walt Weiss." I saw the first bench-clearing brawl between San Francisco thugs and our own brave warriors. I made a poncho out of a trash bag and waited in two hours of freezing rain at the first rain-out in team's history. I was at the first night game (both in team history and in Coors' Field history). I was on board with the marketing of "The Blake Street Bombers:" Larry Walker, Andres Gallaraga, Ellis Burks (today considered by some as a comparative "fifth Beatle," but I count him as genuine), Dante Bichette, and Vinny Castilla. I don't remember many wins, but I remember the pride of having "my team" out on the field. And I was among the throng when they found a way to the wildcard in 1995, even though they were quickly dispatched by our nemesis, the Atlanta Braves.
It was similar to being a Broncos fan, but better, because I had born into being a Broncos fan. I was a Rockies fan by choice, though. And in those first four years, the wins and losses really did not matter to me. I went to the stadium (and then later to the field) just to soak up the atmosphere and I reveled in the moment of being a young man who suddenly appreciated baseball for the sport that it was.
In year five, I wrote an article that was published on an official online Rockies site that compared the Rockies to a child we were sending to kindergarten. And that was really how I had felt. For the first four years, these were our infants and toddlers. The team was learning how to walk and run, literally. Of course they were also learning how to hit and steal, so the picture I painted was not ideal. Nonetheless, I remember thinking like a parent, "I've invested four years in you, and now it is time to start seeing you learn some of the lessons. If I don't I'll be disappointed in you."
And that marked the beginning of the tween-to-adolescent-years relationship. It was a period known by its disappointments. I was repeatedly let down by a lack of effort (most often by management, it seemed), by a preponderance of repeated mistakes when they should have known better, by a defeated attitude that seemed to accept defeat even before the season began. For ten years, I headed into each season feeling like we were ten games out before the Opening Day Pitch.
And in those days, I would grasp at anything. Sign Bonds (eep!). Give whatever you have to for Maddux, Glavine, Woods (Tiger? Kerry? Anyone?). Even at the dawn of this season, I have thought on more than one occasion that we might as well give Alex Rodriguez the keys to the Rockies Vault because if you cannot have a winner, you might as well have the guy who erased Bonds' tainted love from the record books.
After fifteen years, though, my Rockies grew up.
Seemingly within the span of 22 games.
Like the problem child who escapes his mistakes to earn a degree and make a life for himself, the Rockies have made history. They have done things that few teams have ever done, and they have even done a few things that no teams have ever accomplished.
It sure is fun to be able to say that.
Regardless of what happens next week (although late nights are destined to be part of the agenda, thanks to the worst programming schedules in sports), we'll be there, despite not being able to be there. Win or lose, we will root, root, root for the Rockies and we will thank them for giving us a season to remember and a reward to sticking with them from the beginning.