How I Got Hooked On Game Night Revue

Tonight's fan-run paper we're selling outside the Blues game is special. It contains the single joke that got me hooked on the old Game Night Revue in the mid-1990s.

Let me set the scene. The Blues were an every-year playoff team in a sparkling new building that had a lot of colors with official names like raspberry and blueberry, which is code for pink and purple. The whole place looked really 1990s. It was all very fitting. And outside was the GNR, a paper that called the building Yuppie Heaven. That voiced concerns of the diehard fans filling the upper bowls who were paying more to be a little farther from the ice in a new building.

So Jeffio, publisher and head drinker in charge, had a lot of comedy bits that had nothing to do with hockey and were more about drinking. And they were just as good as the hockey comedy bits. One was called "Jeffio's Childrens Books." Here's the setup:

In his neverending attempt to expand his vast publishing empire, Jeffio has embarked upon another venture. This time, as part of his longstanding goal to always promote the wellbeing of America's youth, he has introduced a new line of children's books. The following titles will be available in time for Christmas in artsy-fartsy, uppity, latte-sipping book store near you:

And for more than a decade, I could only remember one of the book titles. No it wasn't, "Strangers Have the Best Candy" or "The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables." No, the one that stuck with me was short, and simple and was a direct take on a classic kid's book from Dr. Seuss. And it still makes me giggle to this day.

"Horton Hires A Ho"

I love that joke. And when I read the real Horton book to my kids years later, I giggled to myself as I kept repeating in my head "Hires A Ho" while trying to not actually say it out loud. Thanks, Jeffio.

That joke kept me coming back for more. And then I started reading Game Time with Gallagher's first issue in November 2005. And then I started writing for it and now I run the dam thing.

Look for our vendors:

• By the driveway to the Kiel Garage attached to the arena
• Just to the north of the 14^th Street doors, slightly toward the Peabody Opera House
• The northeast corner of 14^th and Clark. Also known as John's Corner.

If you'd like to meet the original publisher of fan-run papers in St. Louis, Jeffio will be there at John's corner. There might be a beer or two around if it's not freezing cold.

And if you aren't going to be at the game to buy the paper, come back to this site around 6 p.m.