How I Became A Blues Fan

According to the back of his 1990 Topps baseball card, Smith takes his first name from the initials of his grandfather, Baxter Robert Young Nisbet.

Bryn is also good friends with members of the band Rush.

maybe on the second, he is, however listed here.

http://www.rushmessageboard.com/cpmb/index.php?showtopic=61

but fan and friend are as similar as andy murray and ann murray

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryn_Smith

Bryn Allan Smith is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1981-1993.

Smith had a pair of 5-game winning streaks in 1985 and was picked Expo Player of the Month for July by Montreal baseball writers after 3-1 record and 1.74 ERA. In 1989 he became a subject of much good natured teasing when he complained in a Sports Illustrated article about the playing conditions in Montreal, which included the inconvenience of having to drive to Plattsburgh New York to buy Dorito chips.

Smith was first winning pitcher in Colorado Rockies history, defeating Montreal, 11-4, on April 9, 1993.

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I like Doritos, but not that much. : )

I became a Blues fan at the same time, and for similar reasons. The Blues caught my attention in the 90-91 season, when they fought the Blackhawks all the way to the wire for the Presidents Cup. Playoff time, and the Blues fell into a 3-1 hole against the Flying Tire… but came all the way back to a seven-game win. Things looked great, until the second-round matchup with the North Stars. Fucking Jon Casey.

Anyway, that winter also saw my then-favorite Cardinal, Vince Coleman, show up at a press conference and put on a Pond Scum hat. I gave up on the Cardinals that day, and I also gave up on everything Anheuser-Busch produced.

In the years that followed, I learned that not all beer is piss-yellow and bland; I learned that sports teams who seek to minimize costs also minimize win percentage; and I learned that when the true Detroit hockey fan (I forget his name) dies and goes to hell, his starting goaltender for all eternity will be Tim Cheveldae.

He’s friends with the band Rush? I’ll pass.

maybe he is only friends with the rush guys’ members?!?

my first hockey memory (that stuck with me anyway) was when I was about 4 or so, I vaguely remember there being some sort of gathering at my (parents’) house and walking through the living room and seeing a Blues game on the tube. I only watched a few seconds and said “hockey is dumb” lol must’ve been the theory that one won’t like what they can’t understand. baseball was my only game at the time.

fast-forward about 6 years or so. GT’s own Adam Duke moved to my neighborhood, 3 years my junior and already a die-hard hockey fanatic. he had a street hockey net, Mylec goalie pads, and a few sticks. after playing a bit with him and a couple other neighborhood kids, I was hooked.

his family even took me to my first game (I think his sister had other plans and so they had an extra ticket). this would be in ’91 I think, at the Barn where the Blues handed the Kings their asses 7-2. it was an awe-inspiring atmosphere in that building. at this point, consider me sold not only on hockey, but the Blues inparticularly.

Oh, man – hockey in that alley between Parker and Lawn was the best. Coming in at a close second was hockey in the schoolyard a few blocks up, but only because it involved traveling… well, a few blocks up.

Duke moved into your neighborhood, and you stayed?

That’s what I call courage.

Well, the whole neighborhood was nervous when my family moved in… we heard the neighbors talking through the fences about how “if any more of those people move in, we’re out of here” and started seeing signs in the window that said “White Flight!”

Those people just didn’t understand hockey.

Way to be anonymous. I can go in an edit names if need be.

Ya know, I think that we’re slowly moving in the right direction with all of this. No editing is needed, but sooner or later, everyone will forget my name.

Either that, or I’ll get someone from the Bureau to dig up one of those memory erasers that the fresh prince used in Men In Black.

Great, another GT Staffer going by an alias. Am I the only one that doesn’t hide his true identity?

Sincerely,

The Easter Bunny

I’ve got to use an alias. There’s no freakin way that the Catholic Church would consider me as the next Pope to succeed that dude who sounds like Dracula if they knew what kind of offensive garbage that I put up for publishing.

Oh, man – hockey in that alley between Parker and Lawn was the best. Coming in at a close second was hockey in the schoolyard a few blocks up, but only because it involved traveling… well, a few blocks up.

Parker and Fairview. Lawn was the cross street on the other side of the cross-alley…
but yeah, it was awesome. a crack in the ground that was perfect for the goal line/red line. and the traveling up(hill) to the school yard sucked because one of us had to carry all of the sticks, another to carry the net, and another (usually me) to carry all of the equipment in a huge laundry bag.

my top 3 moments:
3. playing a 1-on-2 (no goalie, Bucket rules) with a “luck-of-the-draw pile” stick (which turned out to be a goalie stick) and barely losing the game despite the huge handicap.
2. one time I got pissed and javelin-threw my stick and the plastic blade shattered on a telephone pole. huh-huh-huh, cool!
1. Aaron, predetermined to be goalie for once, showing up to play with Yellowpages and Sears catalogs duct taped to his body. priceless!

When is “How the Fantasy Files Became a Blues Fan” going to be published?

It’s going to have to be early next week, when I have a half-second of breathing room. I’ve spent the last month on either coast, a mixture of business and pleasure, and at this point I just can’t wait for the freaking season to start already.

Gift – you’re headed to KC for the pre-season opener, no?

I suppose that Sean will have to pull it together and write the Answer Man’s story in the meantime…

And Dooks – I remember that every single day of alley/street hockey was epic, but I more vividly remember the visual of Aaron’s makeshift goaltending gear than anything else.

I remember that my parents installed a basketball hoop over the garage door at one point, and I think that the backboard had more hocey ball and stick marks on it than anything.

whoops, I forgot to add something else to the list. one time I hellaciously curled the blade of my stick and took a slap shot (about 20 feet away from the net) and it sailed up in a 60 degree angle (well over the top of the net) and hit the neighbor’s garage roof (about 30 feet from impact to impact)

If the game wasn’t on a Monday night, I’m sure I’d be there. I’m trying to talk myself into going, but I just don’t see it happening.

I’ll wait a year or two until some NHL owner gets pissed enough at his city and eroding fan base, no matter how nice the building is (See: Panthers, Florida) to move his team to KC.

Besides, I’d want my first time to Sprint Center to be a Jayhawks game.

Loved the stories about Bryn Smith and the final years of the AB regime.