Happy Opening Day!

Today is Opening Day, the start of the major league baseball season. And unlike last year, fans are being welcomed back into the ballparks, including Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, which will allow 21,363 fans through the turnstiles. I have not attended Opening Day for the past 4 years, due to the insane cost of those tickets. However, I was very surprised to see that this year, ticket prices are actually pretty reasonable, probably an incentive to come to the ballpark during a major pandemic. As for me, perhaps I will attend next year. The photograph on the left, by the way, was taken on Opening Day in 2016. Since Opening Day ceremonies at Coors Field haven't changed in over 25 years, I think it will suffice for today's blog.

The photograph on the right was taken exactly 20 years earlier, back on Opening Day in 1996, and shows, from left to right, myself, my sister Susan, and brother-in-law George.  This was the year after Coors Field opened, a season where the Rockies made the playoffs for the first time in their history. Expectations were high that Opening Day, as opposed to this year, when the Rockies are predicted to have the worst record in all of baseball. Since attendance at Coors Field averages close to three million people every year, no matter how good or bad the team is, there is unfortunately no incentive for management to improve the team. No wonder the announcer at the ballpark always refers to Colorado Rockies fans as the greatest baseball fans in the world. It sounds so much better than calling them the greatest chumps in the world.