Things I believe:
1. Imagine a spring Sunday in St. Louis in say 2022. We have the Cardinals playing at Busch. We have the Blues at the Enterprise Center. We have the XFL team at the Dome. We have the new MLS team playing in their state-of-the-art stadium. Four teams in 4 different venues playing four games which could start at noon and end at 10p.m. Yeah, this is lousy sports city Stan Kroenke.
2. I think hockey is forever changed in our town. I am not saying the Blues have surpassed the Cardinals. I am saying they have reached a level where everything has changed. The training camp sessions at the Centene Community Ice Center, which is a spectacular facility, will be sold out. Every sportscaster in the region will be there to cover it. A guy like Ryan O’Reilly or Jordan Binnington could achieve rock star or at least Cardinal player like status. Ticket prices will rise along with television ratings. The Blues have moved into a new neighborhood.
3. John Mozeliak has been a very good sports executive. The man used a fella named Brett Wallace to get Matt Holliday. And then he wisely locked up Holliday on one of the few high money long term deals that have actually worked in baseball. Remember the Colby Rasmus trade which really played a big role in the 2011 World Series Champion. Some of his other moves lately haven’t worked as well. I do believe you show much more patience with a man who has done it before. It’s just tough to see players like Tommy Pham, Luke Voit and Lance Lynn thriving with other teams. Down the stretch, his recent acquisitions, Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew Miller and Dexter Fowler really have to perform at a high level.
4. It is interesting that last season when things weren’t going well the blame was directed at the manager. This year when the Cardinals have been average fans blamed the front office. Mike Matheny is going to manage again. When you have his resume with his reputation baseball, you get second chances. He is the first manager in Major League Baseball history to lead a team to the post season in each of his first four seasons. He is the 4th Cardinal manager to win a 1000 games. The other three were pretty good. I just hope when he does get that next job, likely the Royals, that he understands the media is not the enemy. Whitey Herzog was the master as using the media to be helpful to him and the club.
5. There are a lot of things impressing me nowadays: Fast Eddies-Big Elwood on a stick is really juicy, the Kemoll's Chop House Happy Hour is one of the best deals in town with the half price appetizers, a John Sanford novel, a night at the races at Fairmount is always fun- and try the Bloody Mary’s, The series Bosch on Amazon Prime, the series Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, Travis Ford’s recruiting class at SLU, Barry Odom’s passion for the game at Mizzou, the anticipation for the Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, a Bill Simmons podcast, a Rick Warren sermon, and a night out with the lovely Monique.
