ALICE COOPER HAD THE ROCKS BEAT BY ABOUT 25 YEARS: One of the great things about the Colorado Rockies improbable run is the new term they, AND ONLY THEY, have helped us discover: Rocktober.

The DENVER POST reports that the Rockies are so serious about their astonishing find, that in “four separate Oct. 4 registration applications, the Rockies asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to give them exclusive rights to the new word.”

It’ll take over a year (how’s that for governmental efficiency!) for the Rockies to know if they’ve claimed their *new* word. The two obstacles:

• “Computer game manufacturer Activision filed a computer-software trademark application for the phrase ‘Legends of Rocktober’ in August.”
• “Former music blogger Randy Reiss in San Francisco owns the website www.rocktober.com.”

Reiss indicates he’ll probably sell the domain to the Rockies for a reasonable price. The video game company though may be gearing up for a fight.

What we can’t believe is that no ol’ timey classic (now oldies?) rock station or concert promoter ever officially claimed the term.

Oh wait, the term never existed before the Rockies thought of it. Our bad.