Take Me Out Of The Ballgame

I've always liked the way my mother selects her rooting interests when it comes to the World Series. For so many years, she hasn't had to worry about any particular local franchise, so she watches as the playoffs begin to unfold, and she makes her determination based on a combination of gut instinct and a fondness for a good story. She'll do the same thing when the Super Bowl rolls around, providing that the Broncos are not a part of the mix. She feels it's important to take a stand, no matter how obscure that stand might be.
Which brings me to this year's World Series. I have chosen to be part of the crowd that cheers for the underdog Colorado Rockies. These expansion upstarts who shouldn't have been in the playoffs at all, save a furious September surge that put them right on the edge of elimination, and then San Diego opened the door just a crack and let them in. The Rockies didn't exist when I lived in Colorado. But since I brought the rest of my Colorado sports mojo out here to California, I might as well wallow in it while I can.
The problem is, it's already more than a little reminiscent of the first few trips the Broncos made to the Super Bowl. With each successive try, they set new records for futility, culminating in the most lopsided score in Super Bowl history, losing 55 to 10 to the San Francisco 49ers. Don't you guess that I heard all about that one for the years, living here in the Bay area, before John Elway finally notched a win in the big game. Now the Rockies have created their own version of the statistical hall of shame. Last night looked a lot like batting practice, for one team anyway. I kept wishing that I could just ignore it, but from my spot on the bandwagon I just couldn't tear my eyes away.
Tonight it looks more like the competitive game that we all might have hoped. And if it all goes south, well there's always Major League Soccer.