Colorado Chris · @hurryhurryomaha
14th Jul 2014 from TwitLonger
My breakfast with Dick Monfort
My fellow Rockies fans,
This morning, I realized a dream that if the 10 year old version of myself had ever known would come true, she would have likely have hyperventilated and passed out from lack of oxygen. As the 30 year old version of myself, I entered my meeting with Dick Monfort with eyes wide open, one page of handwritten notes to keep myself on track, and craving not only a Snooze pancake but some answers from the Rockies owner.
Dick arrived a few minutes early to our 8:00 a.m. meeting with Rockies VP of Communication Jay Alves by his side. When Dick and Jay approached the table that I had secured at 7:40 a.m. (punctuality comes easy to me when it means I get to grill a baseball owner with questions), and he noticed my page of notes on the table. Dick immediately made it clear that our meeting was “not an interview” and I assured him the notes were so I would remember the points I wanted to bring up with him.
My first impression of Dick was that he wasn’t too pleased with me, my letter to him, or that news of our meeting had made its way through the local media. He said he had no idea that our meeting would become the “spectacle” that is has. I told him that what started as me ranting on Twitter turned into a grassroots voice for Rockies fans, and that as I was approached with opportunities to share my story with the media, I gladly accepted them so that I could (hopefully) go back to my fellow Rockies fans with good news. Good news, such as saying that Dick does hear us. That he does have answers to our questions. That he does love the Rockies as much as we do. After a few minutes of sharing our sides of the story, and him pulling out a printed copy of my e-mail in which he had highlighted certain points that he read aloud to me, such as “blissfully and arrogantly clueless” and “gut-wrenching disgrace,” we moved forward and I started asking my questions.
The first point that I brought up was Keli McGregor. My stance/question that I presented to Dick was that Keli’s passing was tragic to us as fans and to the Rockies as an organization. I know that Keli was a one-of-a-kind person. He was a classy baseball fan who we respected because he made tough decisions and kept the team running as an organization that we could be proud of. I understand that any organization that unexpectedly lost an extraordinary asset such as Keli would suffer and fumble to determine how to replace such a person. I asked Dick if he has, or ever will, consider hiring a replacement for Keli. Dick’s response was that after Keli’s passing he personally took over the majority of Keli’s role within the organization. My question back to him was that if he saw a negative impact on the organization by not replacing Keli with another individual and if he has/would consider doing so. Dick’s responded that it was Keli’s desire to combine the baseball part of the Rockies organization with the business part of the organization, and when Dick took over after Keli’s passing, that’s what he did. He stated that if the “right” person came along, he would consider adding them to the organization. We didn’t get into many details of who the “right person” might be, but Dick did make it clear that ideally, he would see this as a person who was homegrown in the Rockies organization. He feels that bringing in an outsider could have some implications. For one, he stated that bringing in an outsider would likely mean that person would ask to bring some personnel along to the Rockies organization. Because, as he stated, it’s rarely one person who has all the answers. It’s the people who work with and support them who bring the success. (Interesting point of view for a person who is constantly being questioned about the personnel he keeps around, namely Dan O’Dowd.) He continued, that new personnel might cause current employees to feel threatened, and, in Dick’s eyes, Rockies culture could be negatively impacted.
That brought us to the topic of Rockies culture and my comment that Dick is not transparent. Dick feels that he is extremely transparent within the organization and makes an effort to keep Rockies personnel in the know. We talked about some things that the Rockies do internally to build trust in the organization, but I pointed out that we, as Rockies fans don’t see this nor are we a part of it. We need to see that same kind of transparency with Dick that he makes an effort to give to his employees. He stated that he frequently exchanges e-mails and phone calls with fans, he walks through Coors Field during games, and feels that he does a good job of listening to us. I contended that Rockies fans don’t perceive him as such, and that we see him through what we read online and what we see on the news. The person that we see is a businessman, and not a baseball fan. A baseball fan is the person who we desperately need to see. We need to be able to relate to him on the level of a Rockies fan, and what we see right now is not that. Dick is not a fan of the media nor is he a fan of social media, and I went on a soapbox where I asked him to consider putting an effort into reaching the fans on a different level – such as a blog that he personally writes. He said he felt that the media would twist those words around, too. But, as I pointed out, words can be twisted no matter where you say them, but making the effort to answer our questions thoroughly and thoughtfully would be a really nice change of pace.
While discussing Coors Field, Dick gave me a detailed explanation as to the strategy and method behind the Rooftop and how he went about determining the need for more women’s bathrooms at the park. It’s no surprise to anyone that women pee a whole lot, and at least Dick understands that, but it was after he gave me the full explanation about women’s bathrooms that I asked him if he could give us that kind of detail and strategy behind his baseball-related decisions. He can lay out a strategy for women’s bathroom placement, but can’t lay out a strategy for defending the Draft and Develop plan? I asked him to use that part of his brain to give Rockies fans the information we are desperately seeking about the baseball team we love so much.
In our conversation, Dick stated that being a baseball owner isn’t a popularity contest, nor is he running for office. That tells me that he doesn’t care too much about whether or not people like him. But, to be fair, he chose this role and he would be a fool to expect people to like him all the time. We aren’t begging him to be likeable, though. We’re begging him to show us passion for winning. Many times in our conversation when Dick would mention something that I agreed with, or found to be a nice piece of information for a fan to know, I asked, “how would I have known that if I wasn’t having breakfast with you right now?” I asked that question so many times I lost count. I pushed and pushed and pushed for him realize that not every fan is going to have a one-on-one conversation with him over breakfast, e-mail him, make a phone call, or to see him around the park. He needs to make an effort to reach us. Soon, how many fans are going to still be around to want to reach out to talk about the Rockies?
Near the end of the meeting, I told Dick that as a kid I would go to a few Rockies games a year and almost always sit in the Rockpile. Every game, I would bring my glove with the *extremely* optimistic dream that a homerun ball would be hit up there and that I would catch it. Every. Single. Game. Nevermind the fact that would have to be one hell of a roided out, ridiculously wind-blown, miracle of the thin Colorado air homerun to make it anywhere near the Rockpile, but I didn’t care. I kept the dream alive. I imagined the impossible and it kept my interest and passion for the Rockies alive. I told him that he has the potential to be the “kid in the Rockpile.” As frustrated as he is, as much as he dislikes the media, as much as the Rockies fans want his and Dan O’Dowd’s head on a platter, he is still in the driver’s seat. Whether we like it or not, he’s the owner. Whether he likes it or not, we are still pissed off. I argued that if he makes an effort, an actual, obvious, concerted effort, he can change and have a positive impact on the Rockies organization. That was my plea to him on behalf on the 10 year old fan that still alive in my heart, and hopefully on behalf of all of you.
Do I think things will change? Probably not. I said it once and I will say it again, being a baseball fan means that sometimes we sign up for disappointment. I don’t know what Dick will do at the helm of the Rockies or what the future holds. I do know that I said what I wanted to say to the owner of the Colorado Rockies and for what it’s worth, I think he listened. If nothing else, I got a free Snooze pancake out of the deal and that ain’t bad.
Thank you to everyone for your support in this meeting, sending me your questions and comments, and giving me the encouragement to do this. I said what I wanted to say and I hope that I did justice to Rockies fans everywhere.
A few other noteworthy items to share with you:
- The left field upper deck might be changed into a group/kids area
- The Rockies are looking to a new approach with our starting pitchers for the rest of the season to ensure that each starter only has one start per home stand to limit exposure to the altitude/Coors Field pitcher’s hell that makes our pitchers injury-prone
- Player health is monitored through an ultrasound machine that reads glycogen levels (not sure what I included this – but glycogen is a fun word to say)
- Jay was fairly quiet during most of the meeting, but agreed with me that Dick needs to do a better job of reaching all of his fans and explaining himself to us
- Dick did pay for breakfast and he ate an English muffin with peanut butter and approximately one zillion glasses of iced tea
Thanks again and GO ROCKIES,
Chris