clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Friday Links: Happy 250th Birthday, St. Louis!

The US dominates, St. Louis celebrates, Alexander Steen gets appreciate...ed, I ask out dancing luger Kate Hansen, & you learn about the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games.

By J-Mill
True Patriots.
True Patriots.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Today, the 14th of February, is as we all know famous for one thing above all else: it's Rob Thomas' birthday!

(Honestly I've never put much stock in Valentine's Day, but if you do, have a good one!)

I know everyone is distracted by Sochi, but it also cannot be forgotten that this weekend (historians argue over whether it's today or tomorrow) is the 250th anniversary of Pierre Laclede & Auguste Chouteau's founding of the city of Saint Louis. There will be many celebrations this weekend all around the city (more on that below) that you should absolutely take part in, unless you're like Hildy & are a St. Louisian transplant, in which case, you should at least send the city an ecard. Or maybe Skype with the city for a little while - not too long, you're probably busy and don't want to keep St. Louis from their birthday party, but enough to make sure they're doing alright, maybe catch up on what's going on with their career, see what their little brother is up to these days, vent about how much you both hate that young asshole up the street, you know.

...I'm sorry, what was that? Oh yes, LINKS!

HOCKEY NEWS:

  • The US Men's team dominated Jaroslav Halak and the Slovaks with a 7-1 win yesterday morning. David Backes knocked home a rebound for one of the American goals, while T.J. Oshie assisted on both of St. Louisan Paul Stastny's two goals and Kevin Shattenkirk also got on the score sheet with an assist. [USA Hockey]
  • For the Slovakian perspective...nah, I'm just shittin' you. Here's Lambert's recap! [The Sleeping Giant]
  • Would you like to hear 5 things about yesterday's US-Slovakia game? I'll double that for you, with 10 things! ...well, more like 5 things, twice...but still. [Puck Daddy] [United States of Hockey]
  • Elsewhere in the world, Russia avoided execution being upset by Anze Kopitar & Slovenia 5-2, while Canada hilariously struggled with a Tore Vikingstad-less Norway, though they did end up winning 3-1. Also, Finland beat Austria 8-4. [SBNation NH...errr...Olympics?]
  • By the time you read this, the Czech Republic will likely have already handled Latvia (unless of course, they didn't), but the Swedes & the Swiss will be facing off in a few. Also, Finland vs Norway and Austria vs some crappy country that's probably the worst at everything ever will drop their pucks at 11:00 am central. [NHL.com 2/14]
  • If you're starved for non-Olympic Blues links, here's a great piece on Dan Kelly, who lost his battle with cancer 25 years ago this coming Monday. [STLToday]
  • Gold Medal dark horses Sweden - already without Henrik Sedin and Johan Franzen - just took another huge blow, as De Tre Kronor captain Henrik Zetterberg will miss the rest of the tournament, possibly with a herniated disc. Even for a Red Wing, you hate to see that, although reports in practice say that Patrik Berglund has taken his spot. [Pro Hockey Talk]
  • Some good news from the Sweden camp, however, is how well Alexander Steen has played all year. But according to head coach Par Marts, the Swedes are hardly surprised with his performance. [IIHF.com]

OTHER THINGS:

  • Here's your overall Olympic schedule for today, including where & when you can watch all these events in the States - believe it or not, most of them you actually can watch live! [SBNation Olympics]
  • This weekend being St. Louis' birthday, it makes sense to honor one of the signature events in our city's history (even if it was the 2nd most historic event to happen in St. Louis that very summer): the 1904 Olympics! You think a bobsledder getting stuck in a bathroom is crazy? In the St. Louis games, a local gymnast with only one leg won as many medals in a single day as the entire country of Canada did in total, despite Canada sending more athletes than any other country after the US. AND THAT WASN'T EVEN THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING THAT HAPPENED! [Cracked]
  • American dancing luger Kate Hansen...will you be my valentine? [SBNation Olympics]
  • There are all sorts of celebrations around the city this weekend for our 250th anniversary, from exhibits in the Missouri History Museum to fireworks in Forest Park to 250 huge 4' tall cakes all around the area. Here are some of the highlights - head on out and celebrate with the rest of our city! (If there's not too much snow, I guess.) [STLToday]

VIDEOS:

Capitals defenseman John Carlson scored the first US goal yesterday. It was his first go in a USA sweater since this classic:


That clip is like Brass Bonanza for me - I will take practically any excuse to post it.

Don't just watch the news, rock out to the news on your iPod! Songify the News, feature Nice Peter of the Epic Rap Battles of History to fill you in.


I'll probably mention this on Twitter today too, but if anyone in the area wants to get together to watch tomorrow morning's US-Russia game, there will be a bit of a watch party at Amsterdam Tavern on Morganford in Tower Grove South. It's usually a soccer pub (the best one in the city, BTW), but it's also the head quarters of the local chapter of the American Outlaws, the US national soccer team's official supporters group, so they will be showing the game and you can rest assured it will be sufficiently American. So come on down and join us for some breakfast beers and hopefully some "NINE-TEEN EIGHT-Y!" chants!

Also, send my links. For America.

As I type this, Latvia is actually giving the Czechs a run for their money, but The Republic is still up 4-2. In case you haven't seen the final score yet.