There are times when its flat out amazing to be a sports fan, but surprisingly these times are rare. A championship is an elusive mistress and because of that almost every sports season ends in disappointment. Our favorite teams can't win a title every year and truth be told, its for the best. No one appreciates anything that comes easy and part of being a fan comes from that bond you share with the team and other fans and that is only built through joint failures...and the occassional triumph. As a non-participant, sports fans typically have to enjoy those triumphs and victories at home in front of the TV, or if you're lucky enough to live in the same place as your favorite team, at the celebration parade. When the Broncos won their first Super Bowl in 1998 I was in the same predicament as most fans, I was sitting on my butt in Denver watching it at home. Then the following day, myself and 100,000 of my closest friends joined the team in the parade through downtown. The experience was one of a kind. Everybody was giddy, it was like Christmas Day for 100,000 5-year olds. It wasn't the same as being in San Diego for the game, but how often does someone get a chance to watch their favorite team win a championship? Probably once in a lifetime if they're lucky. Last night I was lucky. This long time Red Sox fan was able to watch his team win the World Series. What a night! Below is my running diary complete with free grainy pictures from a $5 disposable camera!
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Pre-game - My brother-in-law Dan and two buddies flew in Saturday from the East Coast for Game 5. We agreed to get together in LoDo before hand, mostly so I could rub it in that he'd flown out here for nothing. We hooked up at a bar just south of Coors called the Public House or Pubic Hose or something like that to have a couple of beers and grab a bite to eat. Once in town we found a place to park (only $30, I was shocked it was so low) and headed toward the bar. Right away I was struck by how many Sox fans there were. I knew Red Sox Nation traveled well but it seemed like every 4th person was wearing Sox gear. That's when my wife reminded me that hardly anybody that lives in Colorado is actually from Colorado. It was also my first of many reminders that this is really a football town, not a baseball town. When I go to Broncos games I see fans with visiting jerseys but not in these numbers.
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We meet up with Dan and his crew and they seemed to have picked the right spot. The Pats game is on a huge TV and there are Sox fans all over the place. This is a great opportunity for me to catch up on my fantasy football team (I have Tom Brady in both of my leagues, its nice to be me right now) and give Dan a hard time. Let me tell you a little bit about Dannyboy. I already mentioned the Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby voice but to top it off, he looks just like Ron Livingston from Office Space. Not only that but he went to an all boys Catholic school from Kindergarten to high school. He is a smart asses dream but today I feel sorry for him. He's much more of a diehard fan than I am and he knows tonight is the last game. Do I think about giving him my ticket? For about 5 seconds and then I remember what a selfish guy I am. He leaves Tuesday so him and the guys had talked about going to the Broncos/Packers game. Might as well see some sporting event while he's in town.
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We tearfully leave Dan and make our way to Coors. I had picked up my tickets from a guy on craigslist, only paying $250 a ticket (trying getting into the Super Bowl for that) but every time I buy a ticket from a person and not the corporate machine TicketMaster I get a little worried. When I bought them, I looked them over and they sure looked real but with technology the way it is, you never know. Thankfully they actually were real and we started our long walk up to the third deck in right field.
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Ahhh! My legs are burning! Who knew that when you're fat and out of shape that exercising would be painful. I think I need a beer and some nachos to ease my pain. We get to our seats early because the wife and I are so excited. The view is great and the weather is fantastic, its almost hot and now I feel the urge to tease the wife about bringing gloves, a hat, two sweaters, warm socks and a potbellied stove. Naturally I carried all of this in a backpack like a sherpa while she carried her small purse. Who said chivalry was dead?
The pre-game activities have started. There was about 5 "first pitches", the National Anthem sung by Tricia Yearwood and the chance to see the world's biggest Amercian flag but the highlight was Alex Rodriguez. The league was giving out its annual Hank Aaron award given to each league's best hitter. Hammerin' Hank received a standing O from the crowd and was on hand to present it to Prince Fielder and A-Fraud. Prince was cheered but A-Fraud, who for some lame reason wasn't there, was soundly booed. Even Rockies fans know what an ass he is, which he would prove again later by having his agent announce during the World Series that he would file for free agency.
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1st inning - The Sox are off to a great start. Ellsbury doubles, Pedroia grounds out but Papi drives him home, 1-0 Sox. As a fan in enemy territory, I'm looking around for other Red Sox fans. My brother (a Rockies fan) had me convinced that I shouldn't dress in Sox gear because I would catch hell. Evidently when he when to game 3 of the Rocks/Phillies series, him and his buddies were riding visiting fans mercilessly. Big difference tonight as the Rockies are on the verge of elimination, there are a ton of Sox fans here and I'm not in my early 20's. Most drunk 20 year olds pick on other drunk 20 year olds, not old guys like me, and even if they did, I've seen enough Jean Claude Van Damme movies that I can handle myself in a fight.
Innings 2-4 - Both pitchers have settled in and we're in a pretty boring stretch. So boring in fact that I'm noticing little things about Coors Field that drive me absolutely nuts. While their sound system is great and the music is enjoyable (its like being in a giant techno club), they treat their fans like morons. First by passing out those ridiculous hankeys/faceclothes/I-surrender-towels as you walk through the gate. I've seen these at other stadiums but didn't expect to ever see them in Colorado. Aren't we smarter fans than that? Isn't clapping and cheering enough? To make matters worse, the scoreboard guy doesn't think fans can think for themselves so he has to tell everyone when to "Wave Those Towels". Its embarrassing. There is also never a quiet moment. I know baseball can be kind of dull, but do we need music blaring between every pitching change, inning break, every at-bat, and sometimes even between pitches? Its an insult to a fans intelligence that they feel the need to fill every waking second of non-playing time.
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Innings 5 thru top of the 8th - Everytime the Rockies seem to get close, the Sox seem to have an answer. The Sox score in the 5th and 7th, Hawpe hits a HR in the bottom of the 7th then Kielty hits a pinch hit homer to make it 4-1 Sox. The air has been sucked right out of the crowd.
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As the Sox pull away I notice a few more annoying things, most notably the female Rockies fan behind me. Not only does she have a voice only Fran Drescher could appreciate but she gives every single Rockies player an annoying nickname. Hawpe was Hoppy, Holliday was Matty, Spilborghs was Spilly. The worst nicknames were Tulo for Tulowitzki (appropriate for how he was hitting) and pitcher Aaron Cook who she called Cookie. Cookie? Are you serious? If you're going to be nicknamed after a food, it should be something manly like hambone or t-bone or something, not something soft and sweet like a cookie. By the way, "Spilly's" at-bat music is atrocious, its "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani. That's right, Spilly has a chick song to pump him up before every at-bat. Check these masculine, inspiring lyrics.
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"I must apologize for acting stank and treating you this wayCause I've been acting like sour milk all on the floor. It's your fault you didn't shut the refrigeratorMaybe that's the reason I've been acting so cold""If I could escapeAnd re-create a place that's my own world. And I could be your favorite girl. Forever, perfectly togetherAnd tell me boy, now wouldn't that be sweet.
Why not just play, "Why can't we be friends?" by War? On the plus side, its great to watch a game without the annoying drone of Joe Buck or the moronic Tim McCarver. Every baseball fans collective IQ drops 10 points when those guys are announcing. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan should be calling every game on TV.
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Bottom of the 8th thru top of the 9th - Damn! Okajima gives up a two run homer to Atkins, but I can't say I'm surprised. He was looking a little worn yesterday and his fastball, which is normally in the mid-90's, is in the upper 80's tonight. His homer has made it 4-3 and for the first time during this series I'm just a wee bit concerned. Papelbon is coming out but he's been getting a lot of work as well. If the Rockies win tonight, they'll have a big mental boost not just from winning a close game but from beating our stud closer. That and who would close the game after Beckett gets tired in game 5? Definitely not the overworked Okajima or Paps and if Eric Gagne came out, the game would be a certain loss. I don't want this series to go back to Boston.
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Thankfully this isn't an issue as Paps comes in and gets the final two outs. The Mrs and I pack up our potbellied stove and head down to the first level, we want to be as close as we can when the game ends.
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Bottom of the 9th through Postgame - We miss the entire top of the 9th as the three Sox batters are all dispatched fairly quickly and it takes us forever to get to the opposite side of the stadium. Its been awhile since I've been at Coors and compared to Fenway, this place is the size of a football stadium. Once we get to the lower level behind home plate, we find a ton of Sox fans. Strangely enough I don't spot Ben Affleck but I do see Mike "Boogie" Malin from Big Brother 2 and Big Brother: All-Stars. He's the mooner on the pic above. Sadly this first class citizen was wearing a Red Sox jersey. My wife is baffled that I would recognize a reality show celeb from a program I don't even watch, so I remind her that one of my gifts is knowing more useless information than anyone on the planet.
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The crowd makes it really tough to see. We're not only behind a bunch of Sox fans but we're behind a gaggle of photographers with cameras that have lenses so big they could count the hairs in Paps nose. First Rockie up grounds out, I'm feeling pretty good. Second guy scares the crap out of me with a long shot that I initially thought was out of the park, but Ellsbury catches at the warning track. The need for a defibrillator has passed. With two outs, the final batter strikes out and the surrounding crowd goes nuts! Everybody is jumping up and down and we all breathe a sigh of relief.
After the Rockies fans have cleared out, the Red Sox fans work their way down and there are plenty of us. Looking around, there had to be close to 10,000 Sox fans cheering and standing on seats along the first and third base lines. The players are holed up in the locker room as the press and the players family and friends wait for them to emerge. After about 15 minutes the players start to come out. Mike Lowell, Scorsese power brows and all, comes out first hoisting the MVP trophy and makes his way over to his two hybrid cars. The crowd starts chanting "Re-Sign Lowell!" and "Don't Sign A-Rod!". Other players start coming out with the biggest cheers going out to Schilling ("One More Year!"), who was chugging a beer and waving to the crowd, and David Ortiz. Game 4 winner Jon Lester comes out with the trophy over his head and the crowd roars. I tried in vain to take pictures with my crappy disposable camera but people keep getting in the way.
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Other random stuff I saw - Matsuzaka came out and was immediately pounced on by about 50 members of the Japanese press corps, sucks to be him. GM Theo Epstein is hugging everybody and looks ridiculously young, great to be him. Soon-to-be-traded Coco Crisp has the craziest hat hair I've ever seen. Josh Beckett was walking around with some babe, another country singer perhaps? Dustin Pedroia, only 24, has a bald spot and is the spitting image of Giovanni Ribisi.
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We stay for about 45 minutes but its getting late and the crowd is starting to thin. I really wanted to see Papelbon do a World Series version of his Riverdance impression but its time to go. Its been an amazing night and the Mrs and I head to our car in awe of the whole experience. We've seen and done a lot of great things together but getting to see the final game of a Red Sox World Series win takes the cake.
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