Real Estate in Denver and the Suburbs

by Steve Belt, Phoenix Real Estate 

If you've been reading this blog longer than a week, you know that Steve Scheer and I (Steve Belt) agreed to a wager over the outcome of the Colorado Rockies vs the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS series.  Today, is the first payment in that regard.

First, I have a confession to make.  Way back 1993, I professed myself to be a die hard Colorado Rockies fan.  I did this when I attended a spring training game between the Rockies and the Angels in Phoenix, during the Rockies inaugural season.  By the next season, in 1994, I was watching and reading as much Rockies info as was possible from Phoenix, which honestly wasn't that much.  It's tough to recall, but Al Gore had yet to invent the internet, so information was travelling a bit slower than it does today.

In 1995, I went so far as to take a trip from Phoenix to Denver to see 2 regular season games.  I brought with me some baseballs I had shagged during spring training games and was able to get several of them autopraphed.  The Blake Street Bombers were high on my list, and I was able to get Vinny Castilla, Eric Young, Larry Walker, Andres Gallaraga, Morgan Freeman, and many others.  Unfortunately, I've misplaced my Andres Gallaraga ball.

And even one by Dinger.  This, if nothing else, exemplifies just how die hard I was.

Being a fan of the Rockies in 1995 was a special treat, as they went on to go to the playoffs, the fastest team to do so as an expansion team. I continued to follow the Rockies faithfully, until 1998, when I got this ball:

From this day forward, I would be, for better or for worse, a DBacks fan.

And so I sit here today, a former Colorado Rockies fan.  The Rockies played a great series against the DBacks.  The baseball gods kept much needed balls in play, inches away from going foul and seemingly disasterous errors didn't get the team down.  The Rockies just kept playing hard, being patient, and taking advantage when opportunities were presented.  And perhaps most surprising to me, the Rockies pitchers really pitched well, and even better when they absolutely had to.

What I hope for the Rockies is that they win it all.  Colorado deserves it.  The national league deserves it.  And the talking heads in the national media deserve to get shut up (I hope Colorado fans have the same regard for the national media we do in Phoenix).  Hopefully it's a Rockies vs Indians series, that way the national media will spend the whole series talking about how no one is watching, and the local fans can soak up the joy of being in the world series.  Even better, with the media talking about no one watching, the players will be able to be as relaxed as is possible, with the attention on the fans, not the players.

Good luck Colorado.  I'll be watching.