I love baseball road trips. I really do. They keep me grounded and focused. They give me respite from a busy life. I owe a lot to the experiences I have had traveling around this great country seeing the national pastime. This past road trip to the great state of Colorado was a great way to start the 2012 season and will definitely rank amongst my most favorite trips I have ever taken.
Looking back on what happened those three days is almost a blur, but, for the first time since I started baseball road tripping, I feel that my focus was more social than baseball. Usually, when I'm at a game, my sole focus is the game. On this trip, however, I felt I interacted more with the people around me. I was aware of what was going on with the game and all, but I got to know the people I was with so much more. I hadn't seen the people I went to the games with in so long, and I really felt like seeing them was MORE than half the fun. So often I go on road trips by myself that I had forgotten just how enjoyable it was to share the experience with another person or persons.
Denver and Colorado Springs were both beautiful cities. I would certainly rank them up amongst my favorite locales like Vancouver BC, Portland, San Diego and Pittsburgh. The towering mountains and sweeping plains coming together creates a place of immense beauty and splendor. However, with all of these gifts, both of these cities are suffering from the plague of suburbia. Traffic-choked urban sprawl made some parts of Denver and Colorado Springs look like Orange County or suburban Phoenix. It really is a shame to see these beautiful cities succumbing to this type of urban planning. It really is a shame.
Coors Field was a great ballpark. Amongst the newer Major League parks, I would rank it fairly high. I think it is a better field than Busch Stadium and Angel Stadium, but I wouldn't quite put it up against San Francisco or Pittsburgh. The effort the Rockies are putting into making it a unique downtown park, like the Mile-High seats and the Rockpile, meet with my approval.
What puzzles me the most are the Rockies fans themselves. Sure, I went to night games on a Monday and Tuesday against a bottom-tier opponent, but I got the sense that people in Denver just really weren't into the whole baseball aura. The two games I went to were sparsely attended and the majority of the fans were families. The crowd didn't really yell anything and hardly ever responded to sound effects. This created, at least for me, a real intimate atmosphere in the stadium. Coupled with the incredibly, almost freakishly so, nice people, Coors really appealed to me.
There has been talk in a number of different circles of having the Colorado Springs Sky Sox move because of the inadequacy of their ballpark. Security Service Field is a perfectly suitable venue, for Double-A. As a Triple-A park, I have to agree with those circles. At the level which the Sky Sox are, Security Service field just doesn't stack up against some of the other Pacific Coast League parks I've been to in Tacoma, Sacramento or Fresno. It certainly doesn't compare to Durham in the International League. One more thing...why is it so far away from everything?!?!?! Walking three miles after an hour bus ride to get to the park ten minutes before first pitch was just plain ridiculous.
I do have to give credit where credit is due, though. While at Security Service, I was relaxed and comfortable, there were no obnoxiously drunken fans, and the seats were really close to field. I've been to some parks that failed in all three of those aspects, so I must commend the Sky Sox organization for utilizing what they do have to make things work.
After taking some time to reflect, it is now time to look forward to the next road trip. It will be in a little more than a month over Memorial Day weekend when I take the train up to Seattle and Tacoma to see the Mariners and Rainiers play.
This trip had it all. Great company, unique adventures, fun ballparks...you name it. I know that whenever I remember this baseball road trip, I will definitely smile.
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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