Stars v Blues

Ever been to a game where the crowd is staying around just so they can see the shutout broken? I have. It was tonight, and that was about the only reason everyone was there. I'm glad Wideman got the goal, as I'm sure it's good for his confidence.... Assuming he can somehow forget the six goals against.

I wrote a From The Editor article last night that I thought might cause some problems. It basically bashed a few people, but then turned on St. Louis sports fans. You can read it on the main page. But, I expected to hear about it, and I still might, as fair-weather sports fans across the region call me every name they can come up with. But the fact of the matter is that this region has a reputation it does not deserve. If the people around here were tru fans, the rink would still be full, or at least close. But it's not. Anyway, without being too redundant, most of the people around here who say they are 'big fans' are basically just 'big liars'. Just ask those who count attendance at Blues and Rams games.

But, it turns out that when surrounded by the regulars down at the rink, I'm not alone in this thought. Everyone down there is talking about the fair-weather fans. This town has had it too good for too long. Twenty-five years of playoff hockey. Seven years of respectability with the football team. A baseball team that is always competetive, or at least has a brawny homerun hitter on the roster who may or may not have taken steroids.

I can't speak to what things were like before those times, but I imagine it was similar to what we're seeing today; lots of people not going to games and talking about what good fans they are.

Huh. I've lost a lot of respect for the sports fans of this town. I used to respect their knowledge and passion. But now I can only scoff. Just admit it, you like to watch winners, which is not a big deal, everyone does. Winning is more fun than losing. Just stop pretending like you're above the fans of most of the other cities in America. They only back winners, too.

A Plea For Positivity

Hey, can we all just agree that it's time to let the kids play? Jason Bacashua got killed tonight. But he held San Jose to just one goal in a brilliant effort. The kid needs to play. This year is going to get bad and stay bad. Let him play and get a few scars on him. Maybe next year he'll be ready. Maybe not. But let's let him take a few whippings. It's working for Wideman, who has been highly touted for some time, but has played his first NHL games as a Blue and has really played well.

Petr Sejna has been too good for the AHL and too bad for the NHL so far. So let's see what the deal is on him. He's at a crucial point in his development, so bring him up and let him get 50 games in a row in the big league. If he doesn't show any improvement, he'a a career AHLer. If he figures it out and starts to score, then, hey, experiment successful.

Throw more names in the hopper: Woywitka. Lynch. Blake Evans. Mike Mottau. Colin Hemingway.

Let me see them sink or swim. Let's find something to take away from this year.

Because all I've learned so far is that people in St. Louis aren't as big fans as they think they are.