...that last posting was way too sour. I just took the opportunity to mention everything about the current MLB experience that I don't like, forgetting to repeat how surprised and grateful we are all to have the chance to watch baseball in October.
As I've mentioned before, I had never been to a professional playoff game of any kind, so aside from bunting and six umpires, I hadn't thought there would be any real divergences other than the atmosphere, or at least hadn't known what ones to expect. My guess is that the Rockies themselves hadn't really expected to be here, either, so they're throwing together what pageantry they can think of, dialing around to other teams. Inexperience has its charms. But for all I know, MLB could have standards too, like the three color guards instead of one. The Rockies as a team are a class act, and while the organization as a whole has been faulted for being cheap, that certainly wasn't on display last night.
Cheering, "from the mountains" during God Bless America is a traditional that appears to have developed from the bottom-up, kind of like Orioles' fans shouting, "O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave..."
I still think shooting off fireworks during the Star-Spangled Banner is cheesy, though.