How Game of Thrones became "a necessity" for this MVP candidate

The Starks are always right eventually. Winter is Coming. Even for the boys of summer.

Like ancient conflicts between the Great Houses of Westeros, there has been a long-standing rift between House Jock and House Nerd. Nobody knows exactly how long ago it started. Forbidden love would grow in secret when the occasional baseball junkie or football addict would stumble upon a comic book that was “actually pretty cool” but to speaketh as much aloud would render one ripe for ridicule.

It has been a tense history, with many brave soldiers lost into their own echo chamber on either side. But there have been signs of peace in recent times. Old wounds have healed, or at least scarred over, and we now live in a world where caped heroes and space-faring adventures and girls with dragons facing off against ice zombies are no longer just for a niche audience who must congregate in the dark among themselves like the thieves guilds in the stories they — no, we — love so much.

It turns out, fantasy and sci-fi, when done well, are for everybody. Game of Thrones and the Colorado Rockies prove this.

I was handed my first baseball glove at roughly the same time I was handed my first comic book. Some of my earliest dreams of being the star center fielder for the Colorado Rockies were indistinguishable from my desires to be the greatest new member of the X-Men. Still sad, despite the odds, neither of those things happened. But one of those things did happen for Charlie Blackmon. Maybe two. He has yet to confirm nor deny that he is an X-Man or at least an Avenger… but we know for sure he is the center fielder for the Rockies and that he has firmly put his name into the “star” category.

While it might seem obvious that a man who’s fantastic beard would fit right in with a Dothraki hoard or a Wildling pack would be a fan of HBO’s masterpiece, Blackmon was a late convert. “I watched all six seasons last year,” he told me. “I just binge watched them during the season last summer. After I watched the very first episode I was like ‘this is pretty cool, I’m gonna keep watching it’ and quickly it became a necessity for me.

And he is acutely aware how at home he might be in George R.R. Martins world of dragons and decapitation. “Dude, I could be in the show,” he says before I can even get the full question out. “I could definitely be in it. I feel like I want to be House Stark, but it would also be cool to be, not a bad guy, but like, a guy on the edge.”

Blackmon as The Hound?

The Rockies other MVP candidate already has a claim to one of the show’s most popular characters, Jon Snow, to whom he bears a striking resemblance. “I’ve never really gotten into the show,” Arenado admitted on a recent episode of the BSN Rockies Podcast. “My older brother makes fun of me about it. But I really want to watch it. I’ll probably start it this offseason.”

I guess there is one thing that Nolan Arenado lags behind the rest of us on. But even though he has yet to enter the world of Westeros, Westeros has entered into Arenado’s world. “I’ve heard [that I look like] Jon Snow a lot,” he said. “I’m gonna let my hair grow out going into next year. I’m gonna let it grow and see if I can get like him.”

Breaking news: The King of Clutch to Grow Flowing Locks.

NOLAN:

My guy @DrewCreasman,
I did this just for you.@BSNRockies @Rockies pic.twitter.com/pkL9caWtC8

— 20th & Blake 10/4/17 (@5280Rox) August 8, 2017

For those who have taken the plunge, they find Game of Thrones as cathartic a form of escapism as any of us. Maybe even more so considering how demanding and time consuming their job is.

“I watch on the internet in the hotel room after a baseball game to kinda unwind,” says Blackmon.

“During the summer, I watch them as they come out. Makes it fun. Gives you something to look forward to on Sunday nights,” says lefty starter Tyler Anderson. Anderson has had a tough year, spending most of it on the Disabled List, but like many of you reading this, and certainly like me, a Sunday night ritual can give him something to look forward to no matter what is going on at work.

“For sure,” agrees Adam Ottavino. “I look forward to Sunday and try to figure out where I’ll be. I missed it this Sunday, I had to watch on Monday because we were on the plane so I was bummed about that. But yeah, I try to make sure I’m all set up and ready on Sundays.”

Another common trait of fans of the show (or books) is the desire to bring in new people. Anderson and Ottavino tell me the’ve been trying to get Chris Rusin to watch. We turn our heads to where Rusin is sipping on a sports drink and filling out Sudoku. He smiles and shakes his head. “Unsuccessful,” says Anderson.

“I’ve been trying to get [Scott] Oberg to watch,” says Ottavino, “he hasn’t watched it yet, either. I got my wife into the fold late. But I tell everybody to watch it. I have five shows I’ll tell anybody to watch and it’s definitely in my Top 5 now.” The others on his list? The Wire, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Rick and Morty. Adam Ottavino has excellent taste.

But it wasn’t an automatic attraction. Otto says he thinks it was former Rockies reliever Josh Outman who first recommended the show to him. “He told me to watch it and I told him I didn’t want to watch a corny, Dungeons and Dragons show with magic and he said that it was a lot different than that so I gave it a chance and liked it.”

After binging a season-and-a-half, Ottavino was all caught up and in for the long haul. Anderson has a similar conversion story. “I started watching in 2014,” he says. “Someone just convinced me to watch the first few episodes and in my head, I’m like ‘this is some Dungeons and Dragons stuff’ I’m not interested in this. I don’t want to see dragons and mythological fake stuff. I’m not really into the medieval time period. But then I realized, I don’t care where this is set, these are just a bunch of people who are ruthless. I was like ‘dude, alright, this is kinda savage.”

After that, it didn’t take long to dive all the way in. “I think you have to get through three or four episodes,” he says. “You get half way through Season 1 and stuff starts happening and you’re like ‘no way’ and just get hooked.”

Separately invoking the original pen and paper fantasy adventure game, both Ottavino and Anderson lightly touch on the long-standing difficult time that these types of stories have had breaking into the mainstream. As someone who played both D&D and every sport my legs would take me to, I’ve always understood why so many find one (or quite frankly the other) to be remarkably silly. But sports, just like fantasy fiction, when at their very best can be more than escapism, more than a distraction. They can be inspirational.

The central theme of Game of Thrones is in reminding us that extreme devotion to a tribe, instead of to good ideas, wreaks havoc and chaos. Allowing yourself to be open to new ideas and new possibilities, even if they came from somewhere foreign and unfamiliar can dramatically improve your life experience. It can take something that seems like a “corny” and silly waste of time and when you “give it a chance” something you thought wasn’t for you — was for other people — might become a weekly “necessity.”