Heartbreak doesn't hurt like it should for Colorado Rockies fans

It just doesn’t hurt like it used to.

The Colorado Rockies climbed all the way back from a 8-4 deficit, tying the game on Carlos Gonzalez’s three-run blast in the bottom of the 8th inning. It was the second time in the game that the Rockies had erased a four-run deficit.

It would have made sense that when John Axford promptly gave up two runs in the 9th inning to seal that Rockies loss that Rockies fans would be up in arms. Instead, the crowd at Coors Field simply filed out of the building and went home. There was nothing to be lost, yet nothing to be gained had the Rockies completed the comeback.

For the Rockies, they aren’t even finished with July and their fate is sealed. They will have their fifth straight abysmal season. They will have underachieved and failed to reach their potential when all is said and done.

At times throughout the five years, fans have been angry. They have been frustrated and they have demanded more. Those were good times. Even when the Rockies struggled, fans were passionate about it. They would play armchair general manager, and armchair owner. Even if the scenarios were completely unrealistic, they would talk about the team and what it was going to take to get better.

Those days are over. While fans still watch, and still hope for the best, it seems that the passion and anger is gone. There is no more being upset after a bad loss, and the excitement after a big win isn’t there anymore either.

It may seem like angry fans are not a good thing to have. It may be frustrating to listen to angry fans try to talk about how they would fix the team, when in reality, they don’t have the slightest clue about the details of the task at hand. It may seem like the anger dying down among the Rockies fan base is a positive thing. However, there isn’t anything worse that can happen.

When a fan base isn’t devastated by a loss like the Rockies suffered on Wednesday, whether it comes in April, July or September, there is a big problem. It means that apathy has set in. It means that people are started to detach their emotions from the team and accept the fact that they aren’t going to be winners any time soon. There is nothing worse that could happen to a franchise. Disenfranchised, apathetic fans are not the kind that come screaming back when the team goes on a run. They aren’t the fans who wait until next year every single season. They are the fans who find a new hobby, or worse, a new team to root for.

Every fan hits their breaking point. Some might mock the ones that jump off of the bandwagon early, but at this point, there is no reason to blame them.

Fans may still fill up the seats at Coors Field, but those fans aren’t at the game to watch the product on the field, they are there for the sideshows. They are there to enjoy the sunsets, the party deck, and even the autograph session with Dinger in the 4th inning.

Those fans still pay to get in the game, but they aren’t in a hurry to come back. Those fans aren’t passionate about Coors Field and the Rockies, they are passionate about doing something fun in the summer. When another option comes up, they are just as likely to pick that as they are to pick a baseball game.

When the hardcore fans have stopped being upset when the team loses a heartbreaker, there are big-time problems. The Colorado Rockies have reached that point.