Readers, I have gone to hell and back and lived to tell the tale. Yes, I actually ventured to the Denver Post website, and more specifically to the address for Woody Paige’s columns to see if I was right. I wanted to prove a point, and unfortunately I was completely correct.

One step back, to begin let me explain that I write this based off of my personal experiences living in Colorado, and there are people out there who don’t fit the mold… but those are few and far between. They are the ones who understand the complete and total inappropriateness of claiming to be a “native” Coloradoan because your parents moved to the state months before your birth. It is the only state where I have seen this, and it is the only area where I have experienced so many bandwagon fans, who for some despite thinking that the Colorado Avalanche is the best team in the NHL, also have no idea why I laugh when they claim to have been an expansion team.

It is the state where I was told to “get out of my state” because I was not an Avs fan but was living in Colorado…as if your loyalty was as interchangeable as your voter registration or your license plates. And despite the fact that I think the story of the Colorado Rockies is one of the greatest stories in sports this year… I can’t help think that, in general, Colorado does not deserve this. They do not deserve this because of the fact that when I was in college, every house on the block was tuned into Broncos games week one of the season - you cold tell from the massive outbursts during key plays as well as those who dragged their TVs out on their lawns - and after only two or three losses these scenes vanished. When CSU had a great run in basketball, everyone loved the team. The next year, they could not pack the house despite free tickets to students. That’s a bandwagon mentality which is epitomized by a quote from Mr. Woodrow Paige’s column on 9/12/07:

The Rockies’ magic numbers are 7 and 9.

This has no correlation to the Rox postseason chances.

Even with the overpowering 8-2 victory in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, the Rockies will not be division champions. That is a lead-pipe cinch. The Rockies will not be the wild-card team. That is a pipe dream.

Look, no one saw this coming. No one, and I can’t even claim that a month ago I saw the Rox in the World Series. I’d be a liar. I’d also be a liar if I said it wasn’t okay to get caught up with the Rockies… and I’ll also tell you that it’s okay to root for the Rockies… but it’s a total sham and a complete disgrace to now claim to be any kind of “fan” - which is short for “fanatic” - to jump on this bandwagon under the guise of being a Rockies “fan”. Even Paige admits he was wrong, but he proves my point better than any other fact could have: no real fan gives up on his team until there is no magic number.

I can honestly say that I kept track of the standings every day and monitored the A’s until their dying day, when the playoffs were mathematically impossible, and yet still watched the games, kept up with news on trades, rookies, and the health of guys like Rich Harden; being a fan does not start and stop with a team’s success. Paige was already getting his Denver Nuggets-love haikus ready just in case, even with a chance that the Rockies could at least make a go at it. Compare that with his current masquerade as a Rockies “fan”, and you’ll being to understand how I can hate a man who I have never met. His job is to write about sports, yet he shows a complete lack of understanding of what it is like to be a sports fan.

And it’s that complete lack of understanding about all of those out there who he is delivering “information” to - and really a contempt for bloggers and other die hards - is why I’d again love to take a day or two - maybe more - and take the club to Paige and his bandwagon mentality.