All bluster, no bite with supposed Rockies boycott
Apr 5, 2021, 3:50 PM | Updated: Feb 28, 2023, 9:15 am
As a sports fan, it’s hard not to be excited this time of year. Spring has sprung, or begun to at least, and the crack of the bat can be heard at ballparks across the country.
Indeed, Opening Day — which has now morphed into Opening Weekend — has been a sort of unofficial holiday to kick off the summer, so it’s no surprise Coors Field was bustling over the weekend.
During a four-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Colorado Rockies drew a Major League leading 81,989 people, nearly doubling the attendance of the next team down the list (Los Angeles Angels at 50,409).
With roughly 20,500 per game, Colorado averaged roughly a sell out every game of the series against the Dodgers.
So, no surprise Coors Field was bustling during Opening Weekend.
Just disappointment.
After what happened over the offseason, and what’s happened on the field over the past few seasons, many Rockies fans were — rightly so — frustrated with the direction of the franchise.
Cornerstone fan favorite Nolan Arenado? Gone, along with $50 million, to the St. Louis Cardinals. And it makes logical sense that Trevor Story, on the last year of his deal with the Rockies, is gone after (or before the end of) this season.
And aside from two seasons in which Colorado earned playoff berths — 2017 and 2018 — the Rockies have finished below .500 each year of the past decade.
So, Rockies fans did what they always: hem and haw about a boycott, spewing righteous indignations before spinning right through the turnstiles at Coors Field.
OK, sure, a limited capacity stadium fills up much quicker. And yeah, the defending World Series champions are bound to draw bigger crowds.
But, right now, as it stands the Rockies way outpace any team in terms of attendance through the first weekend of the season.
So, where’s the boycott? Because right now, it seems like all that talk this offseason was more bluster than bite.