I was ready to brace myself for that eventual fall when the national sports cynics said the law of averages would catch up with the Rockies. And even though they were quickly dispatched in the World Series, it didn’t matter. They had come so far. The positives far outweighed the negatives.
Even in February as I dropped down more than $100 for a set of seats to two games of Opening Weekend, I tried to be realistic. There was simply no way the Rockies could repeat the sheer glory of clinching their first pennant on my birthday.
Is it actually possible the Rockies miserable start to the season has defied my lack of expectations? How can someone who expected so little be so utterly disappointed?
This season has been like a bad musical. First, the pit orchestra doesn’t show up and then the lead actress breaks her leg when she falls through the stage apron.
The first is inexcusable. The second is just mere bad luck.
Prepare the barrage of rotten tomatoes.
So, it is with the Rockies who got off to a horrible start and now have been decimated by a spate of untimely injuries. I thought I saw the mascot hobbling around on crutches the other night.
Still, I try to wrap my head around what went wrong with the Rockies. Round up the usual suspects, shoddy pitching, lack of clutch hitting and expensive hot dogs (sorry, a personal gripe there).
But this is essentially the same team from a year ago. It is the same team that captivated so much of this state.
And yet it is not. If it hadn’t been for last year’s glimpse of what the baseball season could be, it would simply be another bummer season that we have all came to expect.
In my deliberation, it came to me.
This is also the same team that was once mockingly referred to as “God’s Team,” in a Time magazine article that spotlighted their Christian-like clubhouse atmosphere.
Of course, God, in his gracious mercy, had granted the Rockies only one playoff berth and scant winning seasons.
So, sometime around the middle of September as we all began to turn our attention to the Broncos, the Colorado Rockies, in Faust-like fashion, made a deal with the Devil.
In that story, a downtrodden Faust makes a deal that he will serve the Devil in exchange for experiencing the zenith of human happiness. At that point, the Devil may take his soul.
Retelling that story almost makes me wonder if the gig was up when they made us suffer through that horrible online ticket fiasco.
There is only one hope in the tale of Faust as this inexorable season grinds along.
God intervened at the last moment and the Devil didn’t get Faust’s soul.
Lord help us, or it’s going to be a long, long summer.
