Phoenix fans: still a ways to go

After witnessing the Diamondback fanbase outnumber the Cubs faithful last week, and noting that Chase Field was sold out for two home dates against Colorado this week, I was all set to proclaim that our city is coming of age in its support of the local teams. And then I attended last night's game and changed my mind.

The Diamondbacks still have a lot of fans who are just plain 'ol knobs. Putting aside the garbage-throwing incident in Thursday night's D-Backs-Rockies tilt (an overblown incident that does happen all over the place, unfortunately), I saw some things that tell me that our fans have a long way to go to earn credibility:

(1) Leaving early. With the Rockies leading 2-1 in the seventh inning of Game 2 against the Rockies, fans started heading for the aisles in droves. You have to be kidding me! Why leave? This was a Friday night...in a one-run game...in the National League Championship Series. I realize it's a long drive back to Higley and Buckeye, but why shell out the money for a ticket if you don't even care to stick around to see how the game turns out?

(2) The "wave." Baseball purists hate the wave. I think it can be fun when done at the right time. But I saw a couple sections of the stadium trying to get the wave going in the ninth inning of last night's game, and on into the extra innings. Again...ridiculous-- doing the wave means you're not paying attention to the game. And with a tie score in the most meaningful game of the season...how could you not be paying attention? Solution: do the wave in the first inning. Not with the game on the line.

(3) Ticket demand. Yeah, this was a sellout. But demand was not real high-- I got four seats together in the $60 per seat nosebleeds for $14/ticket (the game was in the first inning). The scalpers commented that the only D-Back games they made money on this year was the Red Sox series. Not a sign of good fan support.

I think things will get better as this young team keeps winning and people begin to forget about the Colangelo-era purge that the new ownership commenced this last year. But right now we're still suffering from growing pains.