Monday, September 22, 2008

Rockies Web Site As Outdated As The Owners



In case you can't read the text in the image above, we quote it here:
Coors Field: Home of the Rockies
On Aug. 16, 1990, almost a year before baseball awarded Colorado an expansion team, voters from the six-county Denver area approved a 0.1 percent sales tax to fund a baseball-only stadium. The ballpark's total cost was $215 million.

Architects originally designed the park to seat 43,800. However, after fans set dozens of attendance records at Mile High Stadium (1993-94), Rockies ownership paid to increase inaugural Opening Day capacity to 50,200. In 1998, capacity was increased to 50,381 after the opening of new suites in right field. That year saw Coors host baseball's 69th All-Star Game. The park currently seats 50,445 fans.

The 76-acre ballpark stands at 20th and Blake streets in Denver's lower downtown ("LoDo") district. Fans sitting in the first-base and right-field areas are treated to a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains. Every year since it opened in 1995, Coors has been a league leader in attendance. On a clear Saturday night when the temperature is 72 degrees and 23 percent humidity, there isn't a better place on Earth.

Most of the stadium seats are green. However, the upper deck's 20th row is painted purple, signifying exactly one mile above sea level.

End of Quote from http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/col/ballpark/index.jsp

Did you notice the parts that were outdated? Well, anyone who has attended a game at Coors Field in the last two or three years would know that the "spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains" has been replaced by the less-than-that view of some high-rise apartment buildings or condos.
Next, the statement "Every year since it opened in 1995, Coors has been a league leader in attendance hasn't been true for several years, in fact, not even in the ballpark, so to speak, as they finished 13th in 2008, which was a World Series-based improvement from 2007.

Lastly, the statement "On a clear Saturday night when the temperature is 72 degrees and 23 percent humidity, there isn't a better place on Earth" sounds great, but probably doesn't happen more than once per season, if that. It's usually hotter than that, and drier, and because the idiots aligned the stadium for that mountain view that doesn't even exist any more, the sun is usually shining right in your - and the player's - eyes until the fourth or fifth inning.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hire Ryne to Replace Clint

There is an old saying for testing ideas: "See if it plays in Peoria". Hall of Fame player and future HOF manager Ryne Sandberg, the former second baseman Par Excellence of the Chicago Cubs, is now the manager of the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League. From all accounts, he is doing an excellent job there, and is already being touted by the Chicago media as the Cubs' next manager. What better place to be groomed for moving up to the Cubs than Colorado? Let him get his Major League managerial feet wet in Denver first, then move to the Cubs when Piniella is fired? If the Rockies act fast, like right now, they can beat everyone else to the punch and have a decent manager, for a while, at least.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Firing Clint Hurdle

The Denver Baseball Observer began life as the "Fire Don Baylor" site in 1994. Now we are returning to our roots by spearheading the effort to get Clint Hurdle fired. We affectionately refer to Hurdle as "Rube" because of his "aw shucks" demeanor and feigned slow wittedness. Maybe he isn't pretending. You sure wouldn't think so based on his actions from the dugout. Anyway, we are actually doing Clint a favor, because he made it to the World Series last year and it is painfully obvious that he won't make it this year, so he needs to fade into the sunset while people can still remember that he had a fantastic lucky streak and managed to go all the way once.
So, Clint must go!
We know, of course, that Clint was hired to be the hand puppet of the Monforts who thought wrongly that there was actually something they could do well. None of the previous managers would let the Meat Brothers completely control the team, so they got Clint. Now, they will make him the scapegoat and send him packing if there is enough complaining by the fans. So, it is up to you, the fans, to let the press know that there is a groundswell of support for terminating Mr. Hurdle and hiring someone who has actually run a team other than the Rockies in the past.
Or, bring back Baylor, or hire another Hurdle, we don't care, because this is the year of change for change sake. It doesn't have to make any kind of sense at all, change is enough, just ask the Democrats.
So, go to http://www.baseballobserver.com/ or http://www.firehurdle.com/ and vote for change you can believe in. And leave a post on this site explaining in great detail either why Hurdle should not be fired, or why he should.