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Purple haze all in my brain, Rockies aren't the same
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

I always thought that World Series and Colorado Rockies should not be said or written in the same sentence unless it is connected with the word “never”. The odds in Las Vegas agreed, saying at the start of the season that the Rockies were a 100-1 favorite to win the Major League Baseball championship. And at one point during the season the odds even fell to 300-1 when they were nine games under .500.

I know I was one of the first Rockies bashers to exile this team to the bottom of the standings and giving them next to no chance of competing for a winning record, let alone a World Series invite. Even on my college newscast, I took a minute and a half of time on the air to thwart the notion that the Colorado Rockies would be worth the price of admission, even in the Rockpile section.

But here we are in October, still watching Clint Hurdle and the gang playing important baseball in a town that has been burning for playoff baseball since the Rockies first played in the postseason in 1995.

As Troy Tulowitzki picked up that ground ball and fired it back to first base for the final out to complete the sweep of the National League Championship Series, I was stuck in my chair wondering if what I was seeing was real.

Everyone else around me jumped to their feet, cheering and hugging one another, and already making plans on where to watch Game One of the World Series. But I was still awestruck by the unbelievable occurrence before my eyes, and my brother had to grab my shoulder and shrug me a little, to kind of wake me from my state of disbelief, as he said to me, “Oh, it’s real, Eric.”

Later that evening I saw a small four-page newspaper issued by the Rocky Mountain News updating the city on our local baseball team heading to the big game. I opened it up to see something that threw me for a loop. On the second page, it showed a picture of the Rocky’s opening day issue, which showed three kids in a row in the stands with the headline reading “Root, root, root for the home team.”

I can recall the day I saw that cover and thought to myself how long a season that it may be for the Rockies. And I hoped fans weren’t getting their hopes up too much because this team lacked the talent and experience to make any kind of noise in the chase for the National League pennant.

“Boy, you were wrong” goes here, for those already uttering the words as you finished reading that last sentence.

But in retrospect, those kids on the cover emulated the youthful exuberance the Rockies’ players themselves showed throughout this season. Players such as Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Francis, Brad Hawpe and Tulowitzki, just to name a few, are all major contributors to this astonishing run, and all have three years or less of major league experience. In fact, 15 of the 25-man roster have three years or less on their resumé, minus the old veteran Todd Helton, who has 10 years of pro ball under his belt. But you couldn’t tell as he received the throw from Tulowitzki for the final out and screamed like a kid would after opening his presents on Christmas Day.

Well, Merry Christmas Todd Helton; I know this is what you wanted, and it is has been a long time coming for you.

Maybe with youth comes stupidity, or maybe ignorance is a better word, when they don’t realize that their team should not be on the biggest stage in the world of baseball. But yet here they are defying the odds from fans, experts, myself, and yes, even those in Vegas.