St. Louis Blues And Fans Must Tune Out The Hype

The St. Louis Blues already know they cannot let outside distractions take them out of their game. Now, fans find themselves in a similar spot.

The St. Louis Blues went into media blackout awhile ago, either before or during the Dallas Stars series. Blackout might be a bit of an overstatement, but the Blues knew they needed to tune everything else out and focus on the game.

That is even more true now that they are in the Western Conference Finals. The amount of microphones in front of you multiplies with each round.

Suddenly, the Blues rather small contingent of media has grown. Canadian media as well as every television outlet from the opposing city joins the fray.

For younger players, it can be daunting. So, Robert Thomas not seeming to show any signs of pressure is all the more impressive when you consider there are that many more people asking him questions every single day.

However, it is not just the players that have to tune things out now. Fans are going to find themselves in the same boat.

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A quick Google search of St. Louis Blues over the last couple days has brought up a lot of previews and prognostications. If you are easily irritated, you might want to stay away from such a venture yourself.

While there are certainly those that do think the Blues have a good chance – MoneyPuck has St. Louis with the second best odds to win it all – most of the focus has been on the San Jose Sharks.

Some of it makes sense. A Yahoo article was actually just a sourced story from the NBC affiliate in San Jose. Thus, you are going to get a decidedly Sharks slant on that kind of story.

That said, the amount of attention given to the Sharks is somewhat irritating. San Jose has a heck of a team, there is no denying that. The Blues did not luck into a spot in the conference finals though.

San Jose does have a potent offense and plenty of guys that have been through the wars. That does not mean they are unstoppable or that everyone should root for any guy that does not have a Stanley Cup.

Plenty of guys have deserved a title and not gotten it. Dan Marino jumps to mind. What about Jerome Iginla or Keith Tkachuk?

Just because someone has been around forever doesn’t mean they should be handed everything. If you listen to some of the national coverage though, you would think the Blues should just bow out and let Joe Thornton have another crack at Lord Stanley.

If you read most articles, they talk about what St. Louis has to do to slow down the Sharks. You would be hard pressed to find an article that does not discuss at least four or more Sharks players. You would be lucky to find an article written from outside of St. Louis that discusses anyone other than Jordan Binnington.

That is not to say Binnington does not deserve recognition. He has been phenomenal this playoff run. What about Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly or Brayden Schenn?

Where was the national coverage when Colton Parayko literally knocked a goaltender backward with his shot? That is the kind of thing people in St. Louis will remember for a lifetime, just like how I used to hear my grandpa tell stories of Bobby Hull doing the same thing in his day.

Nope. There is little if any positive buzz to be found outside our own little circle.

We all know what kind of slant we will feel from NBC, real or imagined. San Jose’s local coverage is already NBC and the network would prefer a larger market in the final too, so it’s going to be hard to listen to.

So, like the players, we all just have to tune it out. 50-plus social media posts about announcers mispronouncing names or sounding like they are rooting for an opponent don’t do any of us any favors.

Getting upset at being overlooked does not, or should not, affect our enjoyment of the game. So, let’s all just put it on the back burner.

During the series, if we ignore it, we will all be a lot happier. If the Blues win, we can all shove it back in their faces.