Why the Blues “don’t want it badly enough” argument needs to die

“They just don’t want it enough!”

There isn’t a dumber saying in professional sports from a fan’s standpoint. It’s lazy, incoherent, and makes me throw things against the wall. Honestly, I’m getting mad just thinking about it. It’s a sign of someone not paying attention, trying to produce a hot take with an old burner, or just failing to recognize the game they are watching.

More than a few St. Louis Blues blurted out via Twitter on Saturday night that their team didn’t want it badly enough. After minutes of investigation, beer chugging, and deep thought, the Sharks were winning because they wanted it more.

Shut up. All of you.

Of course the Blues want it. It’s why they are in the final four of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s why they have battled back from the cellar of the league in the past four months. If they didn’t want it, why are they here? For fucks sake, the game would have been 16-1, San Jose, if the Blues didn’t want it. If there was no desire to win, it wouldn’t have been close with a few minutes to play. Why shoot the puck, Ryan O’Reilly, you big careless, bearded animal?!

It makes no sense and immediately identifies someone who doesn’t know how to work their train of thought properly. It’s one thing to say Alex Pietrangelo looked like a mentally impaired mule stranded in the desert on that goal, but it’s quite another to say he doesn’t give a shit. He’s playing nearly 25 minutes a game against the best in the league. If he didn’t care, you’d notice. Come on.

Ask a player in the locker room if they didn’t care or didn’t want it enough, and you better duck from a punch headed for your jaw. Ask the berserk-looking Robert Bortuzzo if he wants it enough. Ask Vladimir Tarasenko if he cared about that wrist shot hitting the body of Martin Jones instead of the boards behind him. Go ahead. This is where I want the fan to get a media pass for one night.

Whoever tweets this garbage out next should get to sleep in a bed stuffed with used hockey equipment. What does that smell like? Imagine combining ground beef left out in the heat, warm cheese that was stuffed at the bottom of a laundry basket, and a rotten mushroom. There you have it.

I don’t wish to tell a fan how to fan, but on occasion, I can’t help myself. One must step in and guide the wicked around to the light. This is my therapeutic hour.

The Blues want this badly. They are playing for their first Stanley Cup. They are literally four wins away from doing so. What you are seeing is their best effort out there. Asking for more execution is one thing; effort is another ballgame. Players may phone in a game in late December or January, but they don’t do it in April or May.

The next time you type “they don’t want it enough” into your Twitter post, please stop and rethink it.

You can be better. If you tweet it out, it’s a ten minute misconduct.

Thanks for reading and Happy Mother’s Day.