Waiting For A Miracle

A few World Series thoughts of mine, while waiting to take another shot at tickets:

The Colorado Rockies could not possibly look more bush league right now. No matter what excuses are presented for yesterday's server meltdown (and for the record, I think blaming it on hackers is a concocted pile of bull-crap), the entire fiasco could have been prevented easily.

First, waiting until two days before the Series begins (and most important, after the opponent is decided) is the most asinine thing I've ever heard of. If you sold these tickets weeks ago you eliminate the bandwagon-jumpers, you eliminate many of the brokers, scalpers and speculators, and most of all, you eliminate fans of the American League team. The demand would have been a tenth or less what it was yesterday. I easily procured first-round seats because they went on sale more than a week before the end of the regular season, and I easily acquired NLCS tickets because, well, they were in Arizona and D'Bags fans are awful.

Second, tickets should have been available only through an online lottery. This was the method employed by every other team in the majors. Why did the Rockies feel as though they needed to reinvent the wheel here? I signed up for the Red Sox lottery weeks ago. I received three polite emails notifying me that I had not been selected to buy tickets for the ALDS, ALCS or World Series--not surprising, since I was one of tens of millions of entries. Had I been selected, I would have been given a unique code that would have allowed me to purchase tickets in a designated window of time. The system works, it's the most fair for everyone, and it does not cause an entire state to grind to a halt.

Third, a small number of tickets should have been sold to fans standing in line. If for no other reason than providing some better pictures for the media (yesterday's views of frustrated buyers sitting at workstations were really dumb), or giving those shut out a concrete view of someone who scored seats. Again, comparing it to the way the Sox do it--Boston sets aside a small number of (mostly standing-room) seats for gameday, in-person sale. As we speak there are folks waiting outside Fenway for a crack at these tickets.

Look, everyone knows that Rockies management has zero experience with this sort of thing, and we're all willing to cut them some slack. But fuck. Anyone with a brain in their head could have seen this disaster coming from a mile away. This team has a chance, with this magical run, to capture a generation of fans it had lost. And now it's basically shit on them with this mess. At least the 25 most competent members of the organization are wearing cleats.

As for the games themselves:

Colorado definitely has a shot in this series. They have the superior defensive club, a deeper bullpen and an excellent playoff lineup. That being said, I think their hopes rest on getting to Josh Beckett in Game 1.

In the Arizona series, the D'Bags' only clear-cut advantage was Brandon Webb. The Rocks negated it immediately and coasted in that series. If they can get some wood on Beckett and force Game 1 to the bullpens--even if they eventually lose Wednesday night--they'll have stripped Boston's one trump card of his invincibility.

My prediction is that the Red Sox win the series in six games.

I've been asked about a hundred times who I'm pulling for in this Series. I've made it clear over the course of the season that these are my two favorite teams, but at the end of the day you can flirt with a lot of chicks but only go home with one (unless you're Jeter). And I am married to the Red Sox, for better or for worse.

I will attend Game Three of this Series in full Boston regalia, but it will be an odd experience. I've seen the Sox at Coors before, and it's truly disconcerting to root for your team when you hold no malice whatsoever for the opposition. I mean, I love the guys in purple. I've been pulling for them all year. But it's different when you can't hate the other guys. I found it easy to hate Kenny Lofton. He's a fucking douchebag. But no one on the Rocks inspires any vitriol in me whatsoever. They're good Christian boys, and God bless 'em.

Update: Nobody got tickets. Nobody I've heard of anyway. So it's $500 scalped Rockpiles for Old No. 7.