DENVER — This is a thank you. It’s a thank you to Kevin Kahn. You don’t know him, and I didn’t know him, but he’s the guy who toured me around Coors Field on Wednesday, detailing the expansive and exhaustive protocols in light of COVID-19.

There are protocols for days. How many days? Well, Kahn’s worked in baseball for 40 years and the only comparison for this process, for getting fans back into the ballpark, was an earthquake.

“I was with the A’s in ’89 during the World Series,” he says, and hopefully that provides some context for what it’s been like for the operations staffs of the Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets and Avalanche as Colorado finally gets with the times to allow fans at games. 

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So this is a thank you to them. What the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment has demanded of these private operations lies somewhere between sensible and ridiculous — far closer to ridiculous — and it’s because of diligent folks behind the scenes that you can go to games again, and the 1,000-plus employees who work the games can earn a paycheck again.

First pitch on Rockies opening day is 2:10 Thursday. The home team hosts the Dodgers with up to 21,363 fans ($50 gets you in, according to the woman at the box office). I wanted to know from Kahn, the team’s VP of ballpark operations: Is the first Rockies game with fans in over a year a sigh-of-relief moment, or a hold-your-breath moment? Or both?

“It’s definitely a relief. We really feel that our fans understand and want to be safe coming in here and are going to abide by the policies. They’re used to these policies, whether they went to Broncos games or restaurants or the movies,” Kahn said. “The energy and the excitement is what we’re looking forward to. You were here last year, and that was strange to be in an empty ballpark.”

OK, first things first: be nice to the good folks charged with enforcing the CDPHE’s absurd demands. They’re just doing their job, and a bunch of them are older and maybe had a rougher go over the last year. Tell ’em you like their purple sneakers and thanks, too, because here’s a hunch having fans back at their beloved ballpark is one of their best moments in a year.

And bring your mitt. Absolutely bring your mitt. There have been few better opportunities to catch a foul ball off Chuck Blackmon’s bat than inside a ballpark that’s only 42.6 percent capacity. Prime foul-ball territory is still in Sections 121 and 122 behind the Rockies dugout. But I was told more than once that fans should not venture outside their row to chase down a foul ball.

So don’t chase a foul ball outside your own row.

(Seriously, where does CDPHE come up with this stuff?)

Bring your Visa or debit card, because the state’s allowing fans, but it won’t allow the use of cash. Yes, you can still use cash to purchase a new TV at Best Buy — I checked, mine crashed — but God forbid you fork over $9.50 for a Banquet beer at Coors. The ballpark is cashless. Must be some science that says microwaves and TVs vanquish the virus. Who knows?

You can’t buy (or bring) peanuts or other shelled snacks, but Cracker Jacks are good to go. The party deck is open …. kind of. The Silver Bullet and Jack Daniels bars and Smashburger on The Rooftop will be operating as concession stands. All food and beverage must be taken to go.

Then there’s beer. Beer is good, and beer is still legal under CDPHE guidelines (for now). An Aramark representative said they brought in 400 kegs for this seven-game homestand, or roughly 42.6 percent of the usual. They also go through 3-4,000 hot dogs and 1,000 Cracker Jacks per game in normal times, which has nothing to do with protocols. Just thought it was interesting. 

Roughly 400 of the usual 1,000 employees will work the first homestand, the best news of all.

The playground in the left-field concourse is off-limits, and smoking is banned inside the ballpark. Smokers must exit the park in one of two designated areas to burn a heater. Masks are a must, and “with refusal to comply, you will be asked to leave,” Kahn said. Coors Field’s guest services staff of 700 went through a virtual training to learn all the new protocols.

There’s also something creepy called an “isolation room.” If a fan or staff member shows symptoms of COVID-19, they will be taken to the “isolation room.” Or you could just go home.

“The energy and the excitement is what we’re looking forward to,” Kahn said.

The behind-the-scenes folks deserve thanks. That was true for the return of high school sports, where coaches, teachers and administrators put in serious hours to get their kids back on the field. That was true when the Broncos installed 500 hand sanitizers at Empower Field at Mile High and converted normal restrooms to touchless restrooms. And that’s true Thursday when the Rockies welcome fans to Coors Field for the first time in 550 days. 

“Closer to a sense of normalcy,” Kahn said.

Big thanks, and let’s all avoid the “isolation room.”