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By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
Mood:
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Final Coors Field Nugget
Well, even if you don't read this blog regularly, you probably know that the Colorado Rockies swept their way through National League post season play, captured the pennant, and then failed to get any World Series wins against the Boston Red Sox.
My days at Coors Field are finished until April 4 of next year. So here's the last nugget of 2007, with some short reports of interesting experiences in the last two games.
First of all, the World Series is Major League Ball's show. They take over the stadium in big ways and small. All credentials are assigned by them, every available nook and cranny was taken over and converted from what we use it for to various uses from media work rooms to plush receptions and post game parties.
As I thought about this, I realized I shouldn't have been surprised, but it still caught me up short a time or two. My stadium employee badge gave me access to everywhere I needed to go, which was a relief in retrospect. But more than a few stadium regulars were startled and irritated at limitations we were obliged to enforce. For example, there is a restroom for the use of office workers in our corner of the stadium and we routinely allow people waiting in line at the ticket office to take advantage of the proximity. We had to suspend this after one or two brave souls tried to enter the stadium without a ticket by asking to use the restroom first.
Four other guys waited for the cop working the reception room to be reassigned and came strolling in and got on the executive elevator, clearly expecting to make a getaway to the upper deck before we could do anything to stop them. They shamefacedly left when they realized that the elevator won't go anywhere without a pass card allowing office access. What tickled us about the entire encounter was that one of the owners of the team had forgotten to bring his pass card, and was waiting for one of us to bring the extra pass we keep behind the desk so he could get back to his office. He got to watch one ticket office guy, and two guest relations workers corral the intruders and usher them back outside. I guess if you need an audience when you do what you're getting paid to do, the owner of the team is the best possible choice!
We were plagued with stupid phone calls, including a group of women in Massachusetts who wanted us to tell the umpires to call the game until Rockies fans stopped waving rally towels as the Boston pitcher began his windup. And a Denver woman who "has loved the Rockies for a long, long time" picked Sunday to call and ask us to tell the guys in the Rockies dugout to stop chewing and spitting.
On Saturday night, a married couple came in, requesting advice on attending Sunday's game. The woman is undergoing fertility treatments, must have a shot at a precise 24 hour interval (which would fall during Sunday's game). How do they enter with her syringes, small bag with the injection material, and once in, where can they find privacy for the hopeful father to inject her posterior? Probably the strangest question of the year, but as it turns out, the easiest to answer. A short visit with a gate supervisor provided helpful advice on entering the stadium, and we have politically correct "family restrooms" all over the place. Those restrooms were built to enable parents of one sex to help a child of the opposite sex use the bathroom in privacy. But the privacy would also suffice to answer their needs.
As Sunday's game was winding down, the elevator doors opened and Henry Aaron and entourage came through the lobby on their way back to their hotel. Aaron appeared to be rather frail, he was standing during an on field ceremony awarding the NL batting award (A-Rod didn't show) to Prince Fielder. However as he left, he was in a wheel chair. A taxi cleared through the police lines was waiting outside the door. I was thrilled to have a chance to speak to him, told him what a pleasure it was to welcome him to Coors Field, wished him a pleasant evening, restful sleep, and safe trip home. He smiled graciously and thanked me and his wife positively beamed at me in reply.
I had one special phone call from a good friend who was instrumental in getting me started blogging. I recognized her name on the caller ID display immediately. In her eastern time zone home, she stayed up late to offer commiseration on a losing effort. It perked me up to talk to her!
As I left the stadium Saturday, waiting through long light changes in curb to curb traffic in downtown Denver, I could hear sirens and see flashing emergency lights behind me. There was NO WAY to move to the side, and in the heavy traffic I had no perception AT ALL of what type of vehicle was approaching. Since I was in a center lane, I thought the best approach would be to wait there as lanes beside either curb opened up. A motorcyle cop pulled up to my left and in rather coarse language and angry gestures indicated I was to move ahead. I made it up about a quarter block, pulled to the side and was more than a little dismayed to have the two buses which had been waiting at the stadium exit for the Red Sox sail past me under police escort. That was really rubbing salt into an irritated wound at that point. Not only did they win decisively on our home field, they got priority access to traffic lanes on the six-seven block trip back to the hotel.
Was that trip really necessary?
On Sunday, we all got once in a lifetime additions to our collection of stadium staff pins. "Colorado Rockies 1st World Series" it says in silver lettering on a black and purple background.
In February, as I waited in line to get my ticket to see Colorado play the Yankees (Colorado won) a couple of Rockies team members walked down the line, chatting and giving autographs. One was outfielder Cory Sullivan who spent the 2007 season driving back and forth between Denver and Colorado Springs, activated to "the show" and then sent back to the AAA Sky Sox. I got his autograph and wished him a successful season. Sunday, he was the one and only player I saw when the game was over as he and his wife and family came through the lobby on their way out. Once again I could greet him in person and thank him for the wonderful ride, and wish him a pleasant winter. It was a very fitting set of bookends to my year at Coors Field. To speak to him on a cold February day when the first glimmers of "maybe this year" were brightening at the back of my mind; and then again on a pleasant October evening when he had been able to share with his teammates a very special experience - I imagine he had more than a few days this summer when he wondered how the rest of his season would go.
So that's it for "Coors Field Nuggets" this season.
I'll do it again next year, I promise.
My days at Coors Field are finished until April 4 of next year. So here's the last nugget of 2007, with some short reports of interesting experiences in the last two games.
First of all, the World Series is Major League Ball's show. They take over the stadium in big ways and small. All credentials are assigned by them, every available nook and cranny was taken over and converted from what we use it for to various uses from media work rooms to plush receptions and post game parties.
As I thought about this, I realized I shouldn't have been surprised, but it still caught me up short a time or two. My stadium employee badge gave me access to everywhere I needed to go, which was a relief in retrospect. But more than a few stadium regulars were startled and irritated at limitations we were obliged to enforce. For example, there is a restroom for the use of office workers in our corner of the stadium and we routinely allow people waiting in line at the ticket office to take advantage of the proximity. We had to suspend this after one or two brave souls tried to enter the stadium without a ticket by asking to use the restroom first.
Four other guys waited for the cop working the reception room to be reassigned and came strolling in and got on the executive elevator, clearly expecting to make a getaway to the upper deck before we could do anything to stop them. They shamefacedly left when they realized that the elevator won't go anywhere without a pass card allowing office access. What tickled us about the entire encounter was that one of the owners of the team had forgotten to bring his pass card, and was waiting for one of us to bring the extra pass we keep behind the desk so he could get back to his office. He got to watch one ticket office guy, and two guest relations workers corral the intruders and usher them back outside. I guess if you need an audience when you do what you're getting paid to do, the owner of the team is the best possible choice!
We were plagued with stupid phone calls, including a group of women in Massachusetts who wanted us to tell the umpires to call the game until Rockies fans stopped waving rally towels as the Boston pitcher began his windup. And a Denver woman who "has loved the Rockies for a long, long time" picked Sunday to call and ask us to tell the guys in the Rockies dugout to stop chewing and spitting.
On Saturday night, a married couple came in, requesting advice on attending Sunday's game. The woman is undergoing fertility treatments, must have a shot at a precise 24 hour interval (which would fall during Sunday's game). How do they enter with her syringes, small bag with the injection material, and once in, where can they find privacy for the hopeful father to inject her posterior? Probably the strangest question of the year, but as it turns out, the easiest to answer. A short visit with a gate supervisor provided helpful advice on entering the stadium, and we have politically correct "family restrooms" all over the place. Those restrooms were built to enable parents of one sex to help a child of the opposite sex use the bathroom in privacy. But the privacy would also suffice to answer their needs.
As Sunday's game was winding down, the elevator doors opened and Henry Aaron and entourage came through the lobby on their way back to their hotel. Aaron appeared to be rather frail, he was standing during an on field ceremony awarding the NL batting award (A-Rod didn't show) to Prince Fielder. However as he left, he was in a wheel chair. A taxi cleared through the police lines was waiting outside the door. I was thrilled to have a chance to speak to him, told him what a pleasure it was to welcome him to Coors Field, wished him a pleasant evening, restful sleep, and safe trip home. He smiled graciously and thanked me and his wife positively beamed at me in reply.
I had one special phone call from a good friend who was instrumental in getting me started blogging. I recognized her name on the caller ID display immediately. In her eastern time zone home, she stayed up late to offer commiseration on a losing effort. It perked me up to talk to her!
As I left the stadium Saturday, waiting through long light changes in curb to curb traffic in downtown Denver, I could hear sirens and see flashing emergency lights behind me. There was NO WAY to move to the side, and in the heavy traffic I had no perception AT ALL of what type of vehicle was approaching. Since I was in a center lane, I thought the best approach would be to wait there as lanes beside either curb opened up. A motorcyle cop pulled up to my left and in rather coarse language and angry gestures indicated I was to move ahead. I made it up about a quarter block, pulled to the side and was more than a little dismayed to have the two buses which had been waiting at the stadium exit for the Red Sox sail past me under police escort. That was really rubbing salt into an irritated wound at that point. Not only did they win decisively on our home field, they got priority access to traffic lanes on the six-seven block trip back to the hotel.
Was that trip really necessary?
On Sunday, we all got once in a lifetime additions to our collection of stadium staff pins. "Colorado Rockies 1st World Series" it says in silver lettering on a black and purple background.
In February, as I waited in line to get my ticket to see Colorado play the Yankees (Colorado won) a couple of Rockies team members walked down the line, chatting and giving autographs. One was outfielder Cory Sullivan who spent the 2007 season driving back and forth between Denver and Colorado Springs, activated to "the show" and then sent back to the AAA Sky Sox. I got his autograph and wished him a successful season. Sunday, he was the one and only player I saw when the game was over as he and his wife and family came through the lobby on their way out. Once again I could greet him in person and thank him for the wonderful ride, and wish him a pleasant winter. It was a very fitting set of bookends to my year at Coors Field. To speak to him on a cold February day when the first glimmers of "maybe this year" were brightening at the back of my mind; and then again on a pleasant October evening when he had been able to share with his teammates a very special experience - I imagine he had more than a few days this summer when he wondered how the rest of his season would go.
So that's it for "Coors Field Nuggets" this season.
I'll do it again next year, I promise.
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