Rockies owners must go
<!--subtitle-->Monforts should do the right thing and sell the Rockies
<!--byline-->By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
<!--date-->Article Last Updated: 05/22/2007 10:18:38 AM MDT
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Even as the Rockies mounted a futile comeback against the Royals on Sunday, there were few fans at Coors Field to witness it - as usual. (Post / Brian Brainerd)
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With love and money, we built the field for a baseball team now owned by Charlie and Dick Monfort. In return, they have slowly destroyed our dreams of seeing the World Series in Colorado.
The Rockies, who lose out of habit and lack the proper funding or expert leadership to win consistently, have crumbled at the feet of the Monfort brothers.
It's time for Coloradans to pick up the pieces and rekindle the dream.
From bummed-out fans tired of a last-place team to disgruntled local movers and shakers who diligently worked to bring the major leagues to Denver, a grassroots movement to pressure the Monforts to sell the struggling National League franchise has begun.
"The problem with the Rockies starts with the ownership," said Denver businessman Neil Macey, the first executive director of the Colorado Baseball Commission and author of state legislation that channeled sales-tax revenue into the construction of Coors Field.
"We have the best fans and the best ballpark in the country. To have a team like this one is just a disgrace. We paid for the stadium. We pay for tickets. We pay for hot dogs. We gave the owners everything. We deserve far better for our money."
At a ballpark that was expanded before it opened in anticipation of huge crowds, attendance is barely 50 percent of what it was during those giddy summers of the 1990s. After reading a newspaper plea for spectators to boycott Rockies home games, a stadium employee recently thanked me for pressuring the Monforts to sell.
Despite being burned by hefty contracts to pitchers Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle years ago, the Monfort brothers inexplicably kept the faith in general manager Dan O'Dowd, who cut those bad deals. Instead of firing O'Dowd or dumping manager Clint Hurdle, team ownership has steadfastly refused to pay the going rate for a competitive roster since 2005. "The owners hired a general manager who clearly
doesn't know what he's doing. The owners haven't produced the funding to get top-quality players. Without top-quality players, you're not going to win," Macey said. "We haven't had a winning season since 2000, and we aren't going to have a winning season again this year."
What seems to have incensed paying customers more than the Rockies' desultory 10-13 home record is the insult of rewarding Hurdle and O'Dowd for poor performance with contract extensions before the first pitch was thrown on opening day.
But what can any one man do as an effective protest? Jason Gilligan is a 26-year-old University of Colorado graduate who lives six blocks from where Todd Helton plays first base for the Rockies.
"I've got nothing against the Monforts, and they have more money than I ever will, but in this day and age it seems like you need to be a billionaire to own a competitive baseball team," said Gilligan. He grew up a Cubs fan, so he knows pain. The Rockies, however, have become too much to take.
"I'd like to see (local sports mogul) Stan Kroenke buy the Rockies. He's got the money and drive and passion to bring quality sports products to Denver," Gilligan said.
So, on May 14, a dissenter who refuses to quit launched a website: www.monfortsmustsell.com. The idea must have struck a nerve. In its first week of existence, Gilligan claims his site received more than 4,000 hits. "If the Internet could basically launch a
presidential campaign for Howard Dean," Gilligan said, "then why can't the same thing be done to find the Rockies a new owner?"
A large part of baseball's beauty is the sport moves to its own timeless rhythms, being contested to the final out without a clock.
As caretakers of a baseball team, however, the Monforts have run out of time, failing miserably to uphold their end of the bargain in what has been a partnership with local taxpayers from the day Eric Young circled the bases with that unforgettable home run in April 1993.
Charlie and Dick own the franchise.
But it's our team.
The taxpayers are the true landlords of Coors Field, and the Monforts have broken the public's trust by fielding a team whose hope is lost.
"I don't know how Todd Helton gets out of bed in the morning," said Steve Kaplan, the attorney for the city of Denver when financing for a $215 million ballpark was negotiated. "This is a baseball organization that does not know how to win. It's time for a change in ownership and leadership."
Winning at the major-league level is a game too rich for what the Monforts are either willing or able to afford. Any way you cut it, the friendly meatpackers from Greeley have overstayed their welcome on Blake Street. If Dick and Charlie truly want to see a World Series in this state as much as the rest of us real baseball lovers do, the hapless franchise owners must hang a "For Sale" sign on the Rockies.
http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5952567
<!--subtitle-->Monforts should do the right thing and sell the Rockies
<!--byline-->By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
<!--date-->Article Last Updated: 05/22/2007 10:18:38 AM MDT
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript> var requestedWidth = 0; </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> if(requestedWidth < 200){ requestedWidth = 200; } </SCRIPT>
Even as the Rockies mounted a futile comeback against the Royals on Sunday, there were few fans at Coors Field to witness it - as usual. (Post / Brian Brainerd)<SCRIPT language=JavaScript> if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } </SCRIPT>
With love and money, we built the field for a baseball team now owned by Charlie and Dick Monfort. In return, they have slowly destroyed our dreams of seeing the World Series in Colorado.
The Rockies, who lose out of habit and lack the proper funding or expert leadership to win consistently, have crumbled at the feet of the Monfort brothers.
It's time for Coloradans to pick up the pieces and rekindle the dream.
From bummed-out fans tired of a last-place team to disgruntled local movers and shakers who diligently worked to bring the major leagues to Denver, a grassroots movement to pressure the Monforts to sell the struggling National League franchise has begun.
"The problem with the Rockies starts with the ownership," said Denver businessman Neil Macey, the first executive director of the Colorado Baseball Commission and author of state legislation that channeled sales-tax revenue into the construction of Coors Field.
"We have the best fans and the best ballpark in the country. To have a team like this one is just a disgrace. We paid for the stadium. We pay for tickets. We pay for hot dogs. We gave the owners everything. We deserve far better for our money."
At a ballpark that was expanded before it opened in anticipation of huge crowds, attendance is barely 50 percent of what it was during those giddy summers of the 1990s. After reading a newspaper plea for spectators to boycott Rockies home games, a stadium employee recently thanked me for pressuring the Monforts to sell.
Despite being burned by hefty contracts to pitchers Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle years ago, the Monfort brothers inexplicably kept the faith in general manager Dan O'Dowd, who cut those bad deals. Instead of firing O'Dowd or dumping manager Clint Hurdle, team ownership has steadfastly refused to pay the going rate for a competitive roster since 2005. "The owners hired a general manager who clearly
doesn't know what he's doing. The owners haven't produced the funding to get top-quality players. Without top-quality players, you're not going to win," Macey said. "We haven't had a winning season since 2000, and we aren't going to have a winning season again this year."
What seems to have incensed paying customers more than the Rockies' desultory 10-13 home record is the insult of rewarding Hurdle and O'Dowd for poor performance with contract extensions before the first pitch was thrown on opening day.
But what can any one man do as an effective protest? Jason Gilligan is a 26-year-old University of Colorado graduate who lives six blocks from where Todd Helton plays first base for the Rockies.
"I've got nothing against the Monforts, and they have more money than I ever will, but in this day and age it seems like you need to be a billionaire to own a competitive baseball team," said Gilligan. He grew up a Cubs fan, so he knows pain. The Rockies, however, have become too much to take.
"I'd like to see (local sports mogul) Stan Kroenke buy the Rockies. He's got the money and drive and passion to bring quality sports products to Denver," Gilligan said.
So, on May 14, a dissenter who refuses to quit launched a website: www.monfortsmustsell.com. The idea must have struck a nerve. In its first week of existence, Gilligan claims his site received more than 4,000 hits. "If the Internet could basically launch a
presidential campaign for Howard Dean," Gilligan said, "then why can't the same thing be done to find the Rockies a new owner?"
A large part of baseball's beauty is the sport moves to its own timeless rhythms, being contested to the final out without a clock.
As caretakers of a baseball team, however, the Monforts have run out of time, failing miserably to uphold their end of the bargain in what has been a partnership with local taxpayers from the day Eric Young circled the bases with that unforgettable home run in April 1993.
Charlie and Dick own the franchise.
But it's our team.
The taxpayers are the true landlords of Coors Field, and the Monforts have broken the public's trust by fielding a team whose hope is lost.
"I don't know how Todd Helton gets out of bed in the morning," said Steve Kaplan, the attorney for the city of Denver when financing for a $215 million ballpark was negotiated. "This is a baseball organization that does not know how to win. It's time for a change in ownership and leadership."
Winning at the major-league level is a game too rich for what the Monforts are either willing or able to afford. Any way you cut it, the friendly meatpackers from Greeley have overstayed their welcome on Blake Street. If Dick and Charlie truly want to see a World Series in this state as much as the rest of us real baseball lovers do, the hapless franchise owners must hang a "For Sale" sign on the Rockies.
http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5952567
