TUCSON — The Rockies are on the verge of being cool.
The way Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony are cool now. The way John Elway and Terrell Davis were cool back in the day.
On the East Coast, where teenagers proudly wear sweat-stained Red Sox and Yankees caps, baseball’s been cool for a long, long time. Becoming a baseball fan is a rite of passage in Boston and New York.
Not quite so much in Colorado.
For a short time, when the majors finally arrived in the Mountain time zone, the Rockies rocked. But those vibes faded years ago.
When this newspaper switched me from the Broncos’ beat to covering the Rockies, a common refrain from my friends was, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
But when Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Co. carried the Rockies to the World Series last fall, the Rockies were suddenly a hot commodity. That made them cool.
My 15-year-old nephew, Dylan, is going out for the freshman baseball team at East High. Before he heard the chants of “Tulo” on those frosty nights at Coors Field, and before he saw Holliday’s crash landing at home plate in the 13th inning against the Padres, he thought baseball was dull and boring. A lot of his buddies, raised on video games and football on TV, felt the same way.
But I bought Dylan a Tulowitzki jersey for his birthday. He wears it proudly.
Here at spring training, there are a lot more kids in Rockies caps watching batting practice and hunting for autographs this year.
That’s a good sign.
Let’s face it, in this day and age of text messaging and instant gratification, baseball can be a snore for those who don’t appreciate its beauty and its subtle strategy.
But the Rockies have a chance to make baseball cool again in Colorado. And once a kid falls in love with the game, he’s likely to love it forever.
