Rockies win with a bang and I'm there with my gang

 July 3, 2004                         D-Backs vs Rockies Game 1                              

                                     Happy 4th of July To All   All pictures in this entry were taken by Robert Harmon. Thank you Robert and happy birthday brotha :)

 I love fireworks. Anything colorful, loud and in your face is teets in my book. The fireworks show at Coors Field is always a top notch show and my family and I were stretched out on the field happy as four pigs in a shitpile experiencing it.

Today we were one of the first few into the stadium for batting practice...Imagine that :)

Within a few minutes of assuming my position I was tracking an Iannetta homer that went a little more to my left than I anticipated. I wound up being one of many others chasing it after it took an odd bounce off a bleacher.

 I was a half-second slow and a teenager beat me to it.

Hunter was one of the few people to snag a ball at the shortened batting practice. A ball was hit directly below where he was standing and when Ubaldo walked over to scoop it up he tossed it to Hunter who caught it. 

Batting practice lasted about 30 minutes due to Mother Nature making a statement. The sky quickly turned black and as usual this "El Nino" summer a "freak of nature" storm cell settled over top of the Stadium. What followed was torrential rain and pea sized hail for about 40 minutes.

Maybe you think I'm exaggerating...Think again, this in your face lightning storm was piss your pants scary. At least it was from where we were positioned.                                    Check out the cool/lucky picture Robert took.

 The family and I were tucked away in a dry corner eating and waiting out the storm while  lightning was flashing all around us giving us one helluva show.

If Ben Franklin were alive today he'd of had a full fledged boner during this lightshow. 

Queen Geri of Usher fame came by and visited with us for a bit, thanks Geri. Good luck in your search my friend...You're good people. 

At one point we heard a boneshaking loud crack, then a sonic boom and it seemed like the super charged shot from the heavens hit within a few hundred feet of us.

That is some scary sheet man. Mother nature rules and I and everyone else in Coors field bowed to that bitch for 40 minutes today.

In between dodging miscellaneous lightning bolts Robert and I chatted with a couple of baseball fans visiting Denver from Wisconsin. They were two dudes named Jared and Tim.

Very nice guys except for one tiny thing.

I asked them if they knew who the Happy Youngster was and they both replied "yes". 

I'll leave it at that. Just know Happy,.... I did stick up for you and all snaggers brotha. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and on that note they're also entitled to hear mine :)

After the mile high typhoon passed we all headed over to the Rockies dugout to see what was seeable. I watched Todd Helton come out, warm up with Barmes and then when he finished he walked directly over to Hunter and signed his baseball.

                 I stood there proudly with my ball and pen and Todd didn't touch it.

No worries, Todd is the man and I respect that fact he signed for my boy. Thank you Todd!

I'd show you a picture of the autograph but my camera should/better be arriving from the Canon factory repair place on Monday. I can't tell you how lost I am at a baseball game or any sporting event without my camera.  

For the first time this season we watched the entire game from the Rockpile. Beautiful view of the City from there but it is a pretty good distance from home plate. In the end well worth four bucks but after the third inning I could feel my lower back dissolving as the benches have no back support. I made it though.

  Great game as we were able to watch the Rockies make blatantly obvious why the Diamandbacks suck by winning 5-0 on a beautiful post hail storm holiday evening. 

Have I mentioned I love beating the D-backs at home? 

Jorge De La Rosa was having a super good Jorge night. The man is a great pitcher when he's hot but not so much when he's not. Best thing about Jorge is you usually know what kind of game he's going to have by the first inning and if you're smart you adjust accordingly.

Game over time for fireworks. The Rockpile and Pavilion are emptied out and the fans in those seats are herded onto the field. Actually it went pretty smoothly.

            Check it out, it's really a sight to see everyone sprawled out in the outfield.

                          Here is a zoomed in picture of us. Can you spot my hat? We were one of the first couple hundred people or so let onto the field so as soon as we picked a viewing spot (close to the exit) we busted out our baseball and gloves and started playing catch. That lasted about a dozen throws and then we were told to stop.

                      No problem, rules are rules and it was fun while it lasted :)

I wore my new jersey the one from the last entry and received a lot of compliments that made me feel good. Not nearly as good as my "Zen moment" that hit me while watching the fireworks display.

Let me explain what a "Zen moment" is for me. Zen is when I can completely forget about everything pressing and focus on the moment. Sometimes my life can be extremely hectic and I live for my "Zen moments". Believe me I rode the wave on this one.

On a F'kn great note the Rockpile Rant came in # 6 in the MLBlogs Latest Leaders List for fan blogs.

 This must be my tenth time at # 6 so I'd say I own that spot.

I'm ok with that number because I have no pressure. I have my loyal readers and that is who I blog for. So a big thanks for stopping by and visiting my world whenever you have time.

   I promise cooler entries in the future. I'm a blogging trendsetter and I don't follow anyone.                           I'm a believeR and if you read this blog regularly you are too.

                                 Thank you my friends and be safe this holiday..D