Bedtime for the kids at our house is simple: three books and three songs. My wife has a wonderful voice. As for me, I am tone deaf and can seldom string together the correct words to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Thus, I rely heavily on “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” This little piece of Americana was the first song my daughter could sing; her little brother isn’t far behind.
But sometime after last year’s baseball season, the fourth losing season in a row, I began to question the lyrics “Root, root, root for the Rockies.” Now, with the next baseball season approaching, I wonder if it makes sense to raise my children as Rockies fans.
Where you live usually goes a long way in deciding who you root for. That isn’t necessarily true in Colorado. Thousands of people over the past decade, like me, have chosen to make Denver their home. These transplants will decide whether to root for the local teams or keep their allegiance to their childhood teams.
I want to raise my children as Rockies fans. However, encouraging them to support a team that is not only a consistent loser but also seems to readily accept that lot is irresponsible.
Over the first 14 baseball seasons of this century, the Rockies have had 11 losing seasons. They’ve won more than 90 games only once in their history.
Our sports teams should bring us together as a community. They should represent our community values.
We still support the Rockies, which finished in the top half of attendance numbers in Major League Baseball in the past seven years, including top 10 finishes the last two years. This make sense: Coors Field is a wonderful place to catch your favorite team when it comes to town.
The problem is they’re not the “Colorado” Rockies and they’re certainly not “Our” Rockies. Instead, they are simply the Rockies, a baseball team that allows the large portion of Colorado transplants to see the teams they grew up cheering.
Having the Rockies has been great for Denver. In the past 20 years, LoDo has been transformed from a warehouse district to one of the country’s best downtown areas. While the Rockies can point to the economic boost it has helped provide, it cannot claim to be associated with any long-lasting civic pride.
Any fan can rant about a poor performing team; the Rockies problems run much deeper. Our Denver Broncos won only one playoff game between the 1999 and 2010 seasons. During that drought, there were never instances of the owner writing fans to tell them to cheer for other teams. Never did a star player attend other NFL games during a season. The Broncos have always espoused a belief in striving for greatness; the Rockies have asked their fans to accept losing and hope for mediocrity.
The Rockies should represent our community and espouse values we can be proud of. This is about earning the name Colorado Rockies. People move here to be a part of this state’s bright future, to attain their own personal excellence. The Rockies must strive to match that ambition instead of making easy excuses.
Continuing to support and cheer for a team that does not set excellence as its highest priority sets the wrong precedent for our children.
The Rockies need to be a part of what makes Colorado great, not just the place we go for peanuts and Cracker Jack. I want to raise Rockies fans, but the Rockies need to be worthy of that honor.
Teacher Brian Kurz is a father of two and a former Rockies season ticket-holder. He was a member of the 2014 Colorado Voices panel.
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