Trade Nolan Arenado for peanuts on the dollar. Thumb your nose at loyal Rockies fans. Get awarded the All-Star Game by a fluke of divisive politics in Georgia and the hard work of local organizers in Colorado. Rake in the bucks from a summer windfall expected to be worth in excess of $100 million to our community.
Is it great to be Dick Monfort, or what? Only in America can we reward a man who has done the Rockies and Colorado wrong, all because commissioner Rob Manfred decided to punish the Braves for the crime of living in a state still fighting the Civil War.
Out of the blue, when we all really needed a reason to stand up and cheer, the All-Star Game has been moved to Coors Field.
“Colorado has really knocked one out of the park!” Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday.
Let me be the first to say: I am so pumped up for everybody in Denver … except Monfort, who has broken the civic trust inherent in being owner of a baseball franchise that plays in a ballpark built by taxpayers.
By July 13, when we have reason to believe our fight against COVID-19 will largely be won, it will be awesome to see 50,000 fans in LoDo salute our old friend Arenado and give a fitting farewell to shortstop Trevor Story before he becomes the next Rockies star to be unceremoniously shipped out of town.
“I don’t think it should be lost how controversial it is to move the game. It’s a big deal,” said Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, disappointed the game is being moved out of Atlanta, where his baseball roots run deep.
After too many months when LoDo has felt like a ghost town ravaged by a pandemic, it will be good to hear healthy laughter and the joyous clank of frosty mugs. Both Denver mayor Michael Hancock and Polis predicted current vaccination efforts will allow the All-Star Game to be played in front of a capacity crowd at Coors Field.
“Like Christmas in July!” said Chris Fuselier, owner of the Blake Street Tavern.
Bravo to Denver civic leaders, who had already been pitching the idea of returning the All-Star Game to Colorado in 2024, for stepping up boldly when Manfred stripped the suburban ballpark the Braves call home of the Midsummer Classic after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill activists slammed as making it harder for people of color to vote.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred said. “Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support.”
While Manfred was at it, maybe he should’ve also taken a no-tolerance stance against the Tomahawk Chop and told the Braves to change their nickname.
Atlanta’s loss is Denver’s gain. But rather than feeling smug about how progressive we are here in Colorado, maybe it would be more conducive to the healing our divided country so desperately needs to feel a little empathy for the $100 million economic hit taken by the hard-working people of Georgia.
“It’s a crushing blow to Atlanta,” said Blackmon, who grew up not far from Atlanta and played college baseball at Georgia Tech. “Everything that’s so great about Denver getting that (game) is what’s so bad about it leaving Atlanta. It’s going to really hurt those people.”
Blackmon loves baseball in no small part because the sport rewards participants for their individual skills, rather than judge them on the basis of their ethnicity, gender or skin color.
“Everything that makes Major League Baseball great is also the greatest part about our country,” said Blackmon, unafraid to consider far more complex matters than the rotational spin of a curveball. “I think it’s important to have the right to vote. Absolutely. That’s the epitome of the dream that founded our country. To have the ability to vote and have that vote mean something.”
I’m probably not smart enough to know the definition of irony, but it feels like a crying shame to see baseball’s showcase event of the summer played in a great sports city where Monfort is either unwilling or incapable of putting a major-league quality team on the field. What message does Manfred send when he gives the All-Star Game to a team that doesn’t value its own stars?
It will be a national showcase for the joke Monfort has made of the Rockies.
While Hancock and Polis didn’t hesitate to crow about landing the All-Star Game in Coors Field, here’s hoping they also won’t be shy about applying pressure on Monfort to either field a competitive product in a taxpayer-funded stadium or sell the Rockies to somebody with the money and vision to do Colorado proud.
"reward" - Google News
April 07, 2021 at 08:30AM
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Kiszla: Denver richly deserves reward of All-Star Game. Rockies owner Dick Monfort? Not so much. - The Denver Post
"reward" - Google News
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