Some of us Blues fans wanted to hold out hope that the trade deadline sell-off - while most agree was a springboard to an already-impressive Blues future - was not a bad thing for the 2010-2011 season. But Tuesday night, after a 6-0 shellacking on the back end of a home-and-home at the hands of the Calgary Flames, not a Goddamn person in Blues Nation is smiling about the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs anymore, and for good reason. And that's okay to do now.
All I have to say about this season is, just like the title of that old Social Distortion song . . . "I Was Wrong" about it. DEAD wrong. Well, motherfucker. And here's some lyrics, because really, why the hell not?:
"How could someone's bad luck last so long? Until I realized that I was wrong."
Honestly, I could not muster even FAKE rage at the result. Not to pull two music references in two paragraphs, but it's too easy . . . I was "Comfortably Numb" about it (Pink Floyd . . . for the win). Yeah, it sucks, but fuck it, it's sucked for longer than we wanted to believe it did - the season probably ended after that dreadful home-and-home with the Minnesota Wild, and we just didn't want to admit it.
As has been my norm lately, I was on Twitter before, during and after the game. And of course there was lots of hemming and hawing about this season and what has happened to it. Let's just say there was NOT much pontification of Charlie Sheen, tiger blood and "winning" (and an off-topic side note - FUCK Charlie Sheen in the ear. Remember when we thought Denise Richards was the crazy one?).
The best tweet of the night regarding the game came from a man who I consider one of my best friends, who also happens to be the founder of The Bluenote Zone (the other Blues blog I write for, if you didn't already know . . . I actually use my God-given name and stuff over there), as it gives a perfect recap of both the game and the season without actually saying word one about either of them:
That is the effort of brilliance right there. That's "winning". Nicely stated, Jeff. I passed it along as it sounds like something Gallagher would come up with. Don't lie - you thought the same thing.
I even got sympathy from the other side. Take this, from an Alberta native and Flames fan that just happens to be a fellow Denver Broncos fan, sent the morning after:
See, when a Canadian Six team kills you, they actually sometimes feel bad about it. This is one thing I fucking love about being a hockey fan, actually - not every fan of every team is out for blood against everyone. I was touched, to say the least.
Now, just because this hockey season is over before it ends (again), by no means do I throw in the towel as far as watching this team. For one, what the hell else am I going to watch? The Cardinals? Call me on March 31st. The Fighting Illini? They're underachieving, too. Plus, I have tickets to at least two more Blues games this season, and I never pull away from hockey ticket commitments unless it's an absolute emergency. It's a rule, not a promise.
Folks, I've been through harder times as a Blues fan, and many of you have too. I've been through the heart break of making the damn playoffs 30 bajillion years straight and getting to so much as a conference final twice. I was watching in '05-'06, probably the worst season ever to be a hockey fan much less a Blues fan (Mike fucking Glumac? REALLY?!). Some of you can go back to the origins of the franchise and making the Cup Finals three times only to not win a damn one of those games. There are several teams in the NHL that are worse than the Blues this season, whether you want to believe it or not. What I'm trying to convey here is that while we've reached rock-bottom this season, we have NOT reached a franchise-overall rock-bottom. No, sir. No, ma'am.
I ride and die with these bitches every year, and I'm gonna ride and die with ‘em this year too. You have my word.
But I have no problem admitting that I was completely wrong about the 2010-2011 St. Louis Blues, and I wanted to apologize for that in the way only I knew how. I'm sorry, gang. Maybe next year?