I Am Not a True Sports Fan

Contrary to what you might think after seeing the pictures that follow, I am not a big sports fan - especially when it comes to baseball.

I have been a true bandwagon fan when it comes to the Colorado Rockies. Truth be told, I didn't even know that they were setting the post-season world aflame until I caught some mention that they would be playing the Arizona Snakes - I mean DiamondBacks - for all the National League marbles. Suddenly all the Rockies SWAG I accumulated over the 12 years I lived in Colorado came out of closets and boxes and went with me to work, prominently displayed in and around my office. At least I could try to "look" like a true fan.

Of course once someone came by to ask me about the team and started talking details, the gig was up. I couldn't name a single person on the team. Last time I could actually name a player on the team was 1997 when Larry Walker and Dante Bichette were the only two names I knew because I picked up mugs with their likenesses over the course of a few weeks whenever I went to Arby's for lunch. I found out last night that Dante Bichette was at the park - but I thought that was as a player, not as a spectator who, as it turns out, played for both the Rockies and the Sox.

So why, one might ask, did I go to Game 4 of the 2007 World Series? So I could say I did.

Sherise and I have really enjoyed watching the last 8 games of the Rockies' postseason. In fact we were staying up later than we would normally, just so we could take in every minute of it. We got caught up in the euphoria - it was an excuse to call old friends in Colorado, just so we had something to talk about.

Another friend of mine, Jack (who has been my boss, then my customer, then my boss again, and now I'm his customer) called me on Wednesday to let me know he probably had an extra ticket to the World Series on Sunday and would I like to go? Sure, I told him, but let me check with Sherise.

When I told Sherise, she said "You HAVE to go!" I wasn't sure at first, but she asked "When will you ever have another chance to go to the World Series?" This got me thinking about that list of "Things I'd like to do before I die" and I realized that with mid-life crisis looming, now was probably about as good a time as any to start on that list.

Honestly, I don't think "Go to a World Series baseball game" would have actually been an entry on that list, but since I haven't ever assembled that list, this seemed like a great opportunity to start the list and summarily scratch off the first item straight away. :)

So it was that I found myself taking a VERY familiar flight from the SLC to Denver to see my favorite baseball team play in the World Series. Now, I should mention that I had actually been to several Rockies games over the course of the years I lived in Denver, and one of my best memories is sitting behind home plate on the upper deck with my two boys while Sherise sang the National Anthem at Coors Field with 100 of her best friends.

So enough with the narrative, here are the pictures of the highlights:

No event/attraction is complete without mimes posing for money.

And inside the park:

The national anthem with a big-ass flag. The bald head you see here belongs to a very drunk Boston Red Sox fan:

And what about the game? Well, I had imagined it to be something like the Mecca of the baseball world, the Holy Grail. Once I was there, well, it felt exactly like any other Rockies game I had ever been to. I enjoyed being there, but it didn't feel particularly special. It was kinda like going to Church with a friend who belongs to a different church than the one you go to. You know it's really important, but it doesn't "feel" important. I almost feel guilty for having gone but not breathing in every second, feeling like I was part of baseball history.

Maybe that's because they didn't win.