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What Rockies’ GM Jeff Bridich got right in his introductory press conference

By Hayden Kane

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Jeff Bridich was introduced as the new general manager for the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. There was one thing that he got absolutely right.

A most unfortunate trend has emerged in the most recent stretch of awful seasons for the Colorado Rockies. Somehow, fans who are loyal to the team and continue to support them have been called out as part of the problem. This is stupid, by the way.

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The thinking goes that Rockies’ owner Dick Monfort would only be forced to make changes if people stopped buying tickets and merchandise. As long as people show up, nothing will change, so it’s your fault for continuing to show up.

Say what you will about Dick Monfort, but I believe it is unfair to assume that he doesn’t care about winning. His execution is horrendously awful, but to say that he only cares about a winning team because it brings him paying fans is not something I am willing to buy into. That’s the first reason I hate this narrative that makes fans feel guilty for being loyal.

The second reason I hate it is this: bandwagon fans are the worst, right? Is there anything worse you can accuse somebody of than saying they are a bandwagon fan? I distinctly remember fans in Colorado getting killed for being “bandwagon” fans during Rocktober all the way back in 2007.

Which is it? Are you supposed to be loyal or only show up when they’re good?

As this odd theory continued to exist, mostly in the magical world of the internet, the Rockies’ front office did little to help thanks to their smugness. Their attitude seemed to be  that fans had no right to complain because they just didn’t understand how hard it was to build a baseball team at altitude. Cries for change were met with arrogant stubbornness.

And it certainly didn’t help when Monfort started firing off snippy emails to fans…

Sports are fun. Loyalty is a good thing. I love the Colorado Rockies. On their absolute worst night, it still makes me happy on a basic level to watch the Rockies. You will never keep me away from Coors Field (when I am in Colorado). That’s my team, and no incompetent owner or GM is going to stop me from cheering for them.

I believe many fans feel the same way I do, and so I hope that many fans were as pleased as I was to see these comments from new general manager Jeff Bridich.

With this message, Bridich immediately strikes a different tone than his predecessors. It seemed like the previous Rockies’ front office was inclined to shut out those concerns and continue to operate with an odd level of arrogance when asked about the dismay of loyal fans.

Somebody can feel free to correct me if I’ve got this wrong, but I just never got the sense that O’Dowd or Geivett or Monfort ever treated the urgent cries of fans as anything more than annoyances from fans who didn’t know any better.

There was plenty of silliness at this press conference, and things are far from perfect. But I was struck by this message from Bridich and I hope that he follows through on a philosophy that acknowledges and embraces fan loyalty rather than taking it for granted or ignoring it completely.

It can be hard work to stay loyal to this Rockies team. I love to see Bridich acknowledge that fact in his first day on the job.

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