the community of Bend, Oregon where I currently reside. In 1991 Colorado was announced as one of the winners of two expansion teams that would join Major League Baseball during the1993 season. In 1992, the previously independent team, Bend Bucks, became known as the Bend Rockies. The Bend Rockies were the very first farm team of the new expansion Major League team Colorado Rockies. It took some convincing to have the owners of the Bend Bucks change their name to the Bend Rockies, but eventually money and the promise of a better class of ballplayers won them over and the name was changed. The Bend Rockies did alright that first year, winning their division of the Northwest League, before losing the championship to the Bellingham Mariners. Of course, considering the Bend Rockies were taking advantage of using the expansion Colorado Rockies 13 1st round draft picks this was really not all that surprising of a feat. This team would only play two more seasons in Bend, before the ownership moved them to Portland in 1995 and eventually to Tri-Cities, Washington in 2001. The thing I find interesting is that the Colorado Rockies have always saw to it that the Northwest Farm team be named after its parent organization. That is until they moved to the Tri-Cities. First the Bend Bucks became the Bend Rockies, then the Portland Rockies, but since 2001 they have been the Tri-City Dust Devils. Ok, so despite all connections to the Northwest I must confess: I HAVE NO LOYALTY TO THE COLORADO ROCKIES AND I HOPE BOSTON WINS THE WORLD SERIES!!!
The Red Sox win tonight...One game down and three more wins will give them another World Series Championship. Needless to say I am just a little excited at that prospect. I recently have had a few people make the comment that they had no idea that I was such a Red Sox fan. All it took to convince them was 1) I do have Irish blood in me, along with a few other ethnic groups as I am a true American Mutt, however, I like to think the Irish is the stronger of the mix and 2) since I was born in 1979 the Red Sox have only been to the World Series three times now, and have only one once (2004) I am hoping by November 2nd I will be able to say I have seen the Red Sox win the World Series twice in my lifetime. So here's to that!! I think the fact that I am a history geek also has a little something to do with my appreciation for the Red Sox. This is a team with a whole lot of American History under its belt. This team is one of eight charter teams from the original American League, of course at the time they weren't known as the Red Sox, they were the Boston Americans. Anyone who knows me, knows I would have a hard time rooting against any team who was known as the Americans (for those of you knew me back when, did you ever see me root against the Tri-City Americans? No, I think not...especially when they were wiping the ice with the Kamloops Blazers). Ok, back to baseball. Now, I am not the Jimmy Fallon character from the movie FEVER PITCH, I don't watch every game all year long...but I do keep track, check records, see whose leading their division, who looks like they have a chance when the playoffs roll around. And yes, when the playoffs roll around I do follow the post-season games of baseball on TBS, TNT, and FOX...and yes if the Boston Red Sox are in it I am rooting and watching them until the end. GO RED SOX!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment