Shhhh. These Blues Aren’t That Bad.

By gallagher

I'm starting to get a little possessive about this Blues team. After last year's squad was abandoned faster and harder than New Orleans was by the Bush administration, I got a tad pissed at the local "Blues fans". Far too many people who professed themselves to be Blues fans were busy staying at home in droves and watching "Dancing with the Washed Up Child Stars of American Fat Idol Club at the Surreal Life Extreme Makeover Challenge Gauntlet House".

Because that's compelling.

Now, the Note have a win over the Colorado Avalanche (don't tell anyone that they aren't that good anymore and that they played last night, too) and could get another win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday (psst: don't mention that they are also struggling to find their way and that Iginla hasn't been great since 2002 - the last time he was a ppg+ guy). Get a win Saturday and they then follow up with back-to-back games against the Jackets (who are better than their terrible record, but wildly beatable) and the Blackhawks, who are banged up worse than Corey Lidle's plane right about now.

Get some wins against these teams and people outside of the hockey fanatic's circle might start noticing our team again.

I'd like to see that happen for the team and the new ownership and for the general health of the franchise, but I'll be a little jealous when it happens, too. I like being one of the people who is in on a good secret. And right now, our Blues are a good secret. They play hard. They play solid. They play tough. This team has yet to be blown out of a game, although the Dallas 1-4 loss looks like one. It wasn't a blow-out, as Dallas' late 3-1 marker basically signalled the end of the game, sending the Blues into 'message-sending' mode. But that game was winnable too. Soon people will start to notice. And then we'll all have to move over and sit in our actual seats and have to calmly explain who Dutchie Stempniak is.

I guess I can deal with it when it happens.

Some In-Game Type Notes
The Blues are doing a fanshmastic job of cleaning up the game-day experience. Seemingly listening to fan complaints from the past couple years, the intermission and timeout audio has been cranked down to the level that you can actually have a conversation without a series of "what?!"s screamed after every statement. I like the music that is being played (especially considering how many people are trying to be pleased all at once), but the lower volume is a godsend. This is a hockey game, not a video shoot. Thank you.

The intermission jumbotron presentation has gotten better, too. If they aren't showing a loop of the period highlights (which helps when you didn't see exactly what happened up in the $7 seats), then they are showing shots from the history of the Blues book they published five years ago. Very solid. Tonight they even did a 40 years of Blues hockey retro - which I assume means that will be part of a DVD that we can buy for $20 by the time the season is over.

And, believe it or not, it seems like they are getting that much-maligned ribbon strip under control. In fact, I didn't see a single tire commercial on it all night (must buy new tires at Dobbs). Instead, they worked in some of the graphics I've seen on TV at other rinks. They don't have all the out of town scores up to my satisfaction yet, but I'll give 'em time considering the progress we've made over the last few games.

Anyway, see you Saturday...did you hear that the Blues beat Colorado? Maybe they can beat those high-flying Flames and that MVP Iginla!

Shhhhhh.