The agony of defeat

I'm trying really hard today to adjust my attitude after last night's dismal performance by the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

They lost to the Boston Red Sox a whopping 13-1. I turned off the game in the second or third inning. I couldn't watch the Rockies, the team that has become the epitome of underdogs in the last month, get squashed so badly.

Mike is taking the defeat much more in stride than I am. He's in Boston this week covering the games. He found out Sunday night that the radio station he works for was sending him to be part of the World Series coverage. He told me yesterday that he knew this series would be tough for the Rockies. It's been kind of a tough trip for Mike, too. I won't go into all those details because we'll just sound like whiners . . . and Mike reminds himself that he's thankful just to be there.

One thing I've realized about myself in the last month during the Rockies' amazing run is that I really don't know that much about baseball -- not about the game, necessarily, but about the perseverance needed to be a true fan. I remember what it was like to be a Denver Broncos fan in the late 1980s, when they lost three Super Bowls. I remember feeling so dejected, as if I was the one who had failed so miserably, not a football team. By the time the Broncos went back to the Super Bowl in the late 1990s and won two in a row, I had come to my senses. I wasn't emotionally attached to how a football team performed anymore. I was sure happy when they won, but I wasn't going to put my hope as a human being in a sports team.

Now I might as well be 15 years old again, looking this time to a baseball team to give me hope. I keep telling myself not to give up too easily. I keep telling myself that it's only one game, that in spite of the fact that the Red Sox look unstoppable, the Rockies aren't out of this yet. I remind myself that the Rockies have surprised us all thus far . . . no one thought even six weeks ago that they'd be in Boston playing for a World Series title. Sure, they could lose it and lose badly. All the talking heads in sports have written them off already. They call the National League minor league baseball. I have to admit the Rockies looked like a minor league team last night.

I'm going to get to be at Game 3 on Saturday night in Denver. I'll be there with my dad, my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Sue, who are flying in from Chicago just to see the game. We managed to get tickets, although not through the online sales system that also turned out to be a debacle this week. We got our tickets through Mike's workplace, which had a bunch of season tickets and sold the World Series tickets to employees.

I sure feel blessed to have gotten the tickets -- the chances of getting them were so slim -- and I've resolved to be there cheering on the Rox no matter what, even if they do come home down two games in the series. The Red Sox endured the ridicule a lot longer than the Rockies have. And how about those Cubs? How long has it been since they won a World Series, and yet fans pack Wrigley Field game after game no matter how they play.

I leave this blog today with the following commentary from yesterday's Breakpoint by Chuck Colson, which a friend sent me. It's a good reminder after last night's disappointing loss that the Rockies are doing something more important than winning -- and what they're doing is worth cheering on wholeheartedly. Click here to read about it. For another related story about the character of the Rockies team, click here.

"God calls us to be people of inner substance, not just outward appearance. We are to demonstrate the reality of His presence in us by an attitude of humility." Marilyn Meberg