Loyalty for sale.

• Author: Schley, Stewart

Caught some finely nuanced baseball commentary the other night at Coors Field. It came from a kindly fan next to me who had escorted her grandson to the game. By the second inning, having overheard her (correctly) predict a sacrifice bunt and a groundball double play to end an inning, I asked her where she'd picked up her knowledge of the game.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Chicago," she told me. "South side. White Sox. My dad." Pretty much those words, in pretty much that order. We talked about growing up with baseball and about how different it was to take in a game at Coors Field than it is at U.S. Cellular Field, where the White Sox play.

It's different watching baseball in Denver versus Chicago, she agreed, not because of the aesthetic gap between the two parks but because fans here seem to lack the same conviction for baseball she grew up with back home.

She made this point, poetically, around the time that the relatively sparse Rockies crowd began a feeble attempt at producing "the wave," that stand-up-and-throw-your-arms-skyward maneuver that belongs at a baseball game about as much as Doug Moe belongs in a Chippendale's dance troupe. Here it was, early April, hope springing its eternal early-season spring, and the fans were engaging in a football ritual, almost as if they were practicing for opening day at Invesco Field.

"It's a Broncos town," my Chicago compatriot scoffed.

That it is, and so be it. But an interesting sidebar to the enduring love affair between the Denver Broncos and the city's citizens is its impact on the economics associated with the other Big 3 teams in the city. While the Broncos historically have captivated almost without regard to on-field success, the other guys have to work at it harder. With but one playoff appearance in 13 seasons, the Rockies have lost whatever luster they once possessed, and anybody who's been to a ballgame this year at Coors Field can see that.

All of which raises a provocative question about another team and its relationship with fans. That would be the Colorado Avalanche, which failed to make the playoffs in the 2006-2007 season for the first time. The playoff lapse wasn't the only statistical aberration of note. When the Avs took the ice Oct. 16, 2006, it marked the first time in 11 years that the team failed to sell out Pepsi Center.

For all I know, the Avs will return to glory this coming season, fill the arena every game, and sell a ton of jerseys. But if that's going to...