Colorado Rockies Play First Home Game

On April 9, 1993, the Colorado Rockies play their first home game in franchise history and record their first victory in franchise history, in an 11-4 win over the Montreal Expos.

Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado was the home for the Rockies in their first two-seasons in the MLB.

Denver had long been a hotbed of minor league baseball and many in the area desired a major league team. Following the Pittsburgh drug trials, an unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase the Pittsburgh Pirates and relocate them.

However, in 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion (they also added the Florida (now Miami) Marlins), an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus were granted a franchise; they took the name "Rockies" due to Denver's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in their logo.

They began play in 1993, sharing Mile High Stadium with the National Football League's Denver Broncos their first two seasons while Coors Field was constructed. It was completed for the 1995 Major League Baseball season.

Outside of Coors Field in Denver, Colorado where the Rockies have called home since 1995.

In 1993 they started play in the western division of the National League. Since that date, the Rockies have reached the MLB postseason three times, each time as the National League wild card team. Twice (1995 and 2009) they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In 2007 the Rockies advanced all the way to the World Series, only to be swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Matt Holliday won the 2007 NLCS MVP award en route to the Rockies first World Series appearance.

In 2007 the Rockies won the Warren Giles Trophy for the National League champions and the Baseball America Organization of the Year award.

The Rockies play their home games at Coors Field. Their newest Spring Training home, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, opened in March 2011 and is shared with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Inside of Coors Field, the home of the Rockies in Denver, Colorado.

The Rockies have only retired one number in franchise history, and that is no. 42, which was worn by Jackie Robinson. His number has been retired league wide in honoring the first African-American baseball player to make it to the Major Leagues.

Though not retired, Larry Walker's number 33 has not been issued since he was traded during the 2004 season after 10 years with the Rockies.

The Rockies have had one MVP, Larry Walker in 1997, when he hit .366 with 49 home runs, 130 RBI, 33 stolen bases, and 409 total bases, en route to becoming the first Canadian player to win the MVP Award. He became and remains the only player to have at least 25 stolen bases and a slugging percentage of more than .700 in a season.

Walker's 409 total bases in 1997 were the most in an NL season since Stan Musial's 1948 season, although the mark was bettered by Barry Bonds in 2001 (411).

Combined with 12 outfield assists, the season remains one of the finest all-around performances in recent baseball history. Even more impressively, Walker's breakout season came just one year after various injuries limited him to 83 games and 272 at-bats, although the NL Comeback Player of the Year award went to Darren Daulton.

The Rockies have also had one Rookie of the Year winner, Jason Jennings in 2002.

The Rockies have boasted 11 different Silver Sluggers including Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, Eric Young, Ellis Burks, Mike Hampton, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Walker.

The Rockies have had one Hank Aaron Award winner in Helton, and five Gold Glove winners including Neifi Perez, Helton, Gonzalez, Tulowitzki and Walker.

The Rockies have had the Manager of the Year Award given to their skippers twice in 1995 to Don Baylor and 2009 to Jam Tracy.

NCAA Selection Sunday

On March 7, 1982, that the NCAA Tournament Selection, also known as Selection Sunday, was first broadcast on live television.  Since then, a live broadcast of the event, which takes place the weekend before the tournament begins, has been used to inform each school of whether they have made it into the tournament, and where they will be seeded.

Both CBS and ESPN televise the selection process, however, CBS owns the official rights to cover the selection of the men’s tournament field as they broadcast the vast majority of the games.  What will happen, as a result, is CBS will announce each bracket first, followed by ESPN only seconds later.

The selection process for College basketball's NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships determines which teams (68 men's, 64 women's) will enter the tournaments (the centerpieces of the basketball championship frenzy known as "March Madness") and their seedings and matchups in the knockout bracket. Thirty-one teams gain automatic entry through winning their conference's championship (commonly through winning a conference tournament or, in the sole case of the Ivy League, the regular season title).

The remaining teams (37 men's, 33 women's) rely on the selection committee to award them an at-large bid in the tournament.

The selection process primarily takes place on Selection Sunday and the days leading up to it; Selection Sunday is also when the brackets and seeds are released to the public. (The women's championship brackets and seeds are announced one day later, on Selection Monday.)

The ten-member basketball selection committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners throughout Division I men's and women's basketball. (There are separate committees for the Division I men's and women's tournaments.)

The committee, whose members serve 5-year terms, is chosen to ensure that conferences from around the country, both major and mid-major conferences, are represented. Generally the men's selection committee consists of all men, and the women's selection committee consists of all women, although there have been exceptions, including Lynn Hickey (see below), who is the 2nd woman to sit on the men's committee (after Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose, who served from 1999-2003), and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference commissioner Richard Ensor, who serves on the women's committee. The tournament selection is only part of the committee members' duties; the panel meets year-round (in-person or through conference calls) to discuss the tournament and its administration, evaluate teams, assign tournament game officials, and determine future tournament sites.

To avoid a potential conflict of interest, committee members must leave the room when their own school is being discussed--or schools in the case of the conference commissioners. The member may be invited to answer factual questions regarding their team (e.g. status of player injuries). An athletic director may be present when other schools from his or her conference are discussed, but he or she may only speak if asked.

The selection committee must first decide which teams will compete in the tournament. Thirty teams receive automatic bids to the tournament by winning their conference tournament; a thirty-first team gains automatic entry by winning the Ivy League's regular-season championship (as that conference does not conduct a championship tournament).

The only teams the selection committee selects are the 37 teams (33 for women) who receive at-large bids. Though each conference receives only one automatic bid, the selection committee can select any number of at-large teams from each conference. The at-large teams generally come from college basketball's top conferences, including the ACC, Atlantic-10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mountain West, Pac-12, and SEC. Many of these at-large teams, however, are "on the bubble," meaning their chances of gaining a tournament berth are borderline, and they will not know if they have gained entry until they see their name during the Selection Sunday bracket announcements.

A number of teams essentially know that they are assured of an at-large berth no matter their performance in their conference tournament. Most teams in the Top 25 in the national polls or RPI are essentially guaranteed at-large berths even if they do not win their respective conference tournament.

However, teams that have been ranked heading into Selection Sunday, but didn't win their conference tournament, have been left out (or "snubbed") by the selection committee despite what the polls and pundits may say. The Missouri Valley Conference has received the most snubs (5 RPI top 40 teams excluded), with Missouri State left out each of the last 9 years, despite RPI's of 21, 34, and 36). Another famous snub was in 2004, when Utah State completed the regular season with a record of 25-2 but was snubbed after losing in its conference tournament, even though it was ranked in the polls at the time.

Selection Sunday this year in March 16.