Fifty-two years.
That's how long it's taken my hometown "Boys of Winter" to bring home Lord Stanley's Cup, which they finally did last night, in rather thrilling fashion. Doing it the hard way, the Blues pounded the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game Seven of the Cup Final Round - in Boston, no less!!
Despite having left the 'Lou for good in 2011, thanks to this Interweb-thingy I nonetheless heard the Blues' triumph on good old KMOX Radio {dot com}, as is proper. God Bless John Kelly, who got to call the second period of the game; he thus got to do something his late, great father Dan "the Voice of the Blues" Kelly never did - give the play-by-play during the Blues' first Stanley Cup win.
Once goal 4 was scored, and I knew they had it in the bag, that's when the flood of memories started. Back to my early childhood days, when my brother and I had posters of Garry Unger and Bobby Gasoff in our bedrooms {and BG's was in black and white, to boot}. I still vividly recall that Memorial Day weekend when Gasoff got killed on one of Mr. Unger's motorcycles, 'cos he was drunk, and hot-dogging it without a helmet. Poor Garry never really recovered from the tragedy; his on-ice greatness was finished, and he remained "seriously damaged goods" in the eyes of many in and around the 'Lou until he split some years later.
I remembered a couple of the "Perils of Pauline" -esque financial wingdings that seemed to surround the club after a particularly bad season. The first was the scheme where Ralston-Purina would pony up some big bucks so the Blues could thoroughly overhaul their farm club, and perhaps acquire two or three "Stars" from other teams. They also planned to show their influence by splashing their red-and-white checkerboard logo all over the domed roof of the fabled St. Louis Arena, which had been the Blues' one and only home since their inception in 1967.
Needless to say, this last bit went over like the proverbial Led Zeppelin; and although several thousand "Checkerdome" promotional items were printed up and quietly distributed, the howls of the protesting fans were heard loud and clear - the "Barn's" roof remained un-molested, and Ralston wisely became a more "silent" backer of the Blues.
The second wingding came about when some suits "upstairs" threatened to move the team to the wilds of central Canada, unless the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce came up with some money for more "team development." The CoC duly obliged, but not before the whole of the 'Lou was completely blanketed with "Where the HELL is Saskatoon?" bumper stickers!! I had the good fortune to get in on this act. My family attended a game during this time, and I was first in line to receive one of the bumper stickers, handed to me by an absolutely gorgeous brunette "Blue Angel Dancer," yet another club innovation to haul in more paying customers.
This green-eyed beauty had "Brianne" stitched in gold on her sequined top, lovely white boots under her tiny blue "skater's" skirt, and the wettest-looking red lipstick I had ever seen accenting her brilliant smile. Before she let go of the bumper sticker, she winked at me and said "Say, if you smile for me, I'll give you a second treat." Me being the dumb teen with RAGING hormones that I was back then, I quickly gave her a Cheshire - which earned me a rather juicy smack on the cheek, and a fragrant hug to go along with it. For the next 36 hours, I reeked of White Linen, but can't really say I minded it too much! Bri's probably a Granny by now, but I still see her as she was then, every time I smell gardenias...........
I remember being thoroughly bemused when a certain Wayne Gretzky netted his first {and only?} hat trick as a Blue; the date was January 26, Wayne's birthday and mine!! Conversely, I also remember being completely disillusioned my one and only time I caught the Blues in their new digs, once the Old Barn closed for good in '94. I took my future {and now ex} wife to a game at the new Kiel Center, and nearly got sick to my stomach from all the bloody strobe-lights, lasers, and "neon-gizmos" that littered almost every square inch of hanging space throughout the joint. And whoever designed that original sound system for the place ought to be horsewhipped for Eternity in the afterlife - along with strobe-induced nausea, I soon had a raging migraine, thanks to all the bass-heavy audio-overload we were consequently subjected to..........
Yes, all that and a lot more washed over me last night, in the wake of the Blues' convincing win. I'm just glad I lived long enough to see them do it!!! The irony of it all is that the Blues achieved something else along with bagging Lord Stanley's Cup. And that something is the distinction of likely being the only professional sporting organization of any stripe to go so long without any kind of championship.
As such, I sincerely hope that we don't have to wait ANOTHER 52 years for the repeat, so.....................
LET'S GO BLUES!!!!
LET'S GO BLUES!!!!
LET'S GO BLUES!!!!
