I've been working part-time at an electronics store this summer, mostly in the video game department. There's an XBox 360 demo set up across from my usual register. Yesterday when I got in, someone had loaded up MLB 2K8 and played the first half of the first inning. The sample version of the game only lets you play with the World Series teams, so the whole day long I was looking at Jeff Francis on the mound at Fenway Park, waiting to throw his first pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury. I realize now that Dustin Pedroia, not Ellsbury, led off for the Red Sox in the first game of the World Series last year. But it still was difficult not to find the image poignant.

Like a lot of Rockies fans, I'm still hung up on that brief period between the end of the National League playoffs and the beginning of the World Series when it seemed like Colorado could do no wrong and was going to change the entire face of baseball in Denver. It's hard now not to look at this team, and their management, and imagine it will be a very long time indeed before the Rockies get that close again. In that light it's hard to pay very sincere attention to their current spirited efforts to not finish ten games under .500 again.

I haven't watched much baseball at all the last two weeks, except for the Olympic brand. Did you notice Jayson Nix was on the U.S. team? So that's where he went. I've decided that except when swimming is on (or my girlfriend wants to watch gymnastics) the place to be is on Universal HD, where all the weird sports get an airing. I saw a barnburner of a team handball match the other day, and I won't soon forget the mighty grunts of the women's super-heavyweight powerlifters. I tried to follow a table-tennis match but it was way too fast for me. I'm still hoping to catch some dressage before the games are over, because it still hasn't been satisfactorily explained to me what dressage is.

Every few days I check the Rockies website to see if I'm missing anything, like a waiver trade or a big injury, and I find out that Livan Hernandez is still in the rotation. Then I tune out for another week or so.

After the Olympics are over, I'm sure I'll start becoming interested in baseball again, but the Rockies' season is long over. Time for me to start studying up on the division races, something that I'm a bit behind on this year since the NL West's teams hardly seem aware that they give the best record a spot in the playoffs.