St. Louis Blues Helping To Heal A Wounded City
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues are filling a void. It might be a simplistic view given the complexity of the situation regarding the Rams leaving town, but it’s true. The Blues are healing St. Louis sports fans with every win.
The St. Louis Blues have always been a loved team in the city of St. Louis. While the city will always be a baseball town, there are many more Blues fans than people know about.
Many fans get overlooked because of where they live. In the past, there has been a misguided conception that the Blues only had fans in West County or around the city or maybe out to St. Charles.
Areas were forgotten about because they didn’t have the mystique or cachet, such as Jefferson County or further south or west. Hockey was a metropolitan sport because that’s where the money is, was the thinking.
Those other areas were often thought of as football areas or Cardinals territory. Perhaps it was true, perhaps not. It doesn’t matter now.
When the Rams left St. Louis, especially the way it went down and the things that were said by the owner, it wounded a lot of people. Even people who weren’t football fans or were on the fringes of fandom were lumped into the comments made by Stan Kroenke.
The disingenuous owner basically blamed the other teams for taking fans away from his team and blamed the city for not supporting anything. The man that never had any interest in the franchise until it was time to move it, ripped apart a city and its fans who were nothing but loyal to a losing franchise. He even went so far as to call St. Louis a dead city.
Whether they have known about it the full time or not, the Blues are helping to heal those wounds.
They have knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs. Thinking about anything but hockey was not in the minds of any of the players, but for the fans it was a huge weight off their shoulders.
By beating Chicago, the Blues got out of the first round for the first time in four years. They also slayed a team that had not only been their long time rival but had blown by them in terms of development and success on the ice.
For a long time, despite the great teams the Blackhawks had in the 90’s, the Blues were still on par with them. In the early 2000’s, the Blues were much better and the Red Wings took over as the primary rival. Then the Blackhawks sprinted by St. Louis and won three Stanley Cups in six years.
The amount of Chicago fans showing up at St. Louis games made all of this even tougher to stomach. A home building that should be all blue was 30-40% red.
That was even tougher to stomach when the Rams fled for the golden coast. No matter what they said publicly or online, people began to wonder if what was being said was true. Was St. Louis becoming a second rate city?
The Blues put some of those fears to rest by taking down Chicago. Then it took a little longer than it should have, but they beat the best team in the Western Conference and got to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 15 years.
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There is a buzz around the city that is unlike anything many have felt in a long time.
Sure, there have been winning teams in the past. There was an incredible energy during the fall and winter when the Rams won the Superbowl. There is always a huge reaction and swell of pride when the Cardinals are in the playoffs.
The Blues have always had a passionate following as well. There’s just something different this time.
There’s a real belief that this might be a different team and a different end result than all the others. Even if that doesn’t come to fruition, there is a unity in the area, from a sporting point of view, that is unparalleled in recent history.
As much as most fans in the city love both the Cardinals and Blues, there has often been a bit of a split. The Blues sort of fill the winter void and then the hardcore baseball people start going gaga over spring training.
The Post-Dispatch never did much to change any of those feelings either. There would often be front page stories on the sports page about hot-stove talk or spring training games, which are essentially exhibitions, while the Blues were in the middle of the season. Hockey fans were made to feel like a bit of a second fiddle.
This year has been different. The two franchises made a fantastic showing of solidarity during a Blues game right after the Rams left. The owners came together to support each other and the city.
The media has caught on as well. The Blues have had the headlines when they deserved and the Cardinals got their spotlight also.
There doesn’t seem to be as much talk about only baseball either. People are genuinely interested in the Blues that haven’t caught on before. Tony X. caught national twitter fame when he caught onto the Blues.
There’s always going to be people that just don’t care for hockey. There’s going to be people that still like the NFL regardless of the Rams being in the city or not. That’s fine.
Regardless of whether it’s fate, good timing or just coincidence, the Blues are performing the way die-hards always believed they could at just the right time for everyone involved.
New fans are being formed. People scorned by the Rams are coming on board. Fans that were feeling low have another reason beyond just their history of winning baseball to feel good about their town as a sports city.
Even the Blues coach, Ken Hichcock has acknowledged the connection. “What I’ve come to understand is that it’s bigger than just the hockey team. It’s bigger than just us,” said Hitchcock.
“We’re not just playing for ourselves. We’re playing for a lot of people. The players recognize it, the staff recognize it. You’re playing for a city, you’re not just playing for a team.”
What is even better is you don’t get a sense that it’s pressure. The players may be aware of the positive affect they’re having, but they aren’t playing like they feel a need to win just for that reason and that’s going to keep things light and keep them focused.
St. Louis is always going to be a Cardinal town. That’s just a fact. The nonsense about it only being a baseball town or only capable of supporting one or two teams is just lies used by a billionaire to justify taking his ball and moving to a different city.
The Blues are showing that you can thrive in this city. They’re giving the entire area a reason to believe and a reason to feel good.
Next: These Aren't The Same Old Blues
The Blues might go all the way or they might not. One thing is for sure though and that’s this team has been good for the city and everyone who has jumped on.
The wounds might be from the Rams or they might be a long past of crushing dreams. Regardless, the Blues are helping to heal wounds one win at a time.