Colorado Rockies home opener brings bittersweet emotions

The streets of Denver are empty tonight.

The ballpark, too.

But if you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of the past.

It’s all so different. It’s all so strange.

Where once was glorious celebration and exuberance and community is now silence and space. Where once the entirety of Lower Downtown would be abuzz with excitement, there is now a calm and eerie stillness.

Close your eyes, though, and open your heart, and you can see, hear, smell, taste, and maybe even for a brief moment, touch, the days of yore.

You woke up early today and got everyone ready despite the fact that the game doesn’t start until the perfect Colorado evening sweeps across the land. You coordinated clothes of black and white and purple. You grabbed your snacks and sunscreen and headed out for the pre-game festivities.

You can see it now.

The crowds grow and the anticipation intensifies as you walk or drive closer to 20th and Blake. You scout out your favorite spot as the banging music from the street in front of the ballpark invites you to join the party.

You can smell the freshly grilled and barbecued foods and see the lines of people ready for a season’s worth of baseball. You can feel the sun on your skin and the cool comfort from the occasional mist of water or gust of wind.

You can hear the unmistakable sound of baseball chatter. You can feel the unmistakable optimism of a brand new season. You can taste the brew on your lips that signifies it’s almost game time. You can smell the peanuts and the hot dogs… and the hope.

Gathering all up and down Blake Street, there we were.

People of all colors, creeds, religions, backgrounds, beliefs and ideas. A few typically kind souls will be there to represent the visiting club. In a crowd so large, there will be plenty among them who don’t agree on anything outside their solemn love for the game. And their team.

As if anything else matters on Opening Day.

Now you can picture, in your mind’s eye, all the people that make up this wondrous and quirky community we share. You can remember all the times that we were all together. For now, those memories will have to be enough.

The streets of Denver are empty tonight. The ballpark, too.

But our hearts are full.

Because, even if from a distance, we will always have each other.