Play Gloria

My love for the Cardinals is in my blood. My dad was born in St. Louis, both of my parents grew up Cardinals fans (their memories date back to the dynasty of the 1960's and the '67 World Series and I'm jealous), and my earliest memories begin with the Mark McGuire single season home run battle. I never had to become a Cardinals fan. I don't remember learning baseball. Both were just always part of my life.

The same cannot be said about hockey. While I was well aware the St. Louis Blues existed, and I knew St. Louis loved their hockey team, I simply had no connection to the Blues or hockey. My knowledge of hockey consisted of getting the puck into the goal. The end. That is until December of 2018.

My friends Brianna and Jory had started growing an interest in hockey and had tried getting me into it. I was hesitant. I wanted to like the Blues, because I love St. Louis... but once again, my hockey knowledge was get puck into goal. And if you've known me for 10 seconds, you know if I'm going to be a fan of something (ahem, Cardinals) I will not be a fair-weather or unattached fan. I fully commit.

Lucky for me, December of 2018, they invited me to join them for a weekend in St. Louis and to go to our first NHL game. Now, I will always be very thankful for their invite. At the time, the Blues were terrible. Even on into January last season, the Blues were in last place in all of NHL. (They were so bad, just after the game we went to, they fired their coach. They also brought in a new goalie, Binnington.) Therefore, I am able to say I became a fan when they were bad. Most importantly, I don't have to claim to be a bandwagoner. To be fair, I will also not claim to be a lifelong fan who stayed committed and suffered through the hard times.

Kurry (Jory's brother), Brianna, Louie, and me

If you are from Missouri, unless you lived under a rock in 2019, you know how the Blues season ended. They went on to make their first Stanley Cup appearance since 1970 and finally brought the first Stanley Cup Championship to Missouri.

After having the in-person experience and following them throughout the rest of the 2019 season, I had the connection I needed to be a fully committed hockey fan. I'm currently in the stage of learning the intricacies of the game with the help of Brianna. (If someone wants to teach us about the penalty of spearing, we would accept the help!) There is no one I would trust more to teach me hockey, because she understands how I learn. More than anything, she has certainly made watching hockey more entertaining for me. I'm also ready to go to another Blues game. Until then, play Gloria!