Play Gloria...yup...the Blues made a geek happy

Back in the day...and we’re talking way, way, way back in the day...a goofy, geeky kid stood in the dark outside the old St. Louis Arena (may it rest in peace). 

The kid was hoping to get some autographs of the players on his favorite professional hockey team. The kid spotted a car. A young woman was driving the car. For some reason, long-since forgotten, the kid decided to walk up to the car and asked something like: “Are you waiting for one of the players?”

Turned out that she was waiting for one of the players. He happened to be her husband. 

What the heck? The goofy, geeky kid figured that since he was looking to score some autographs, he’d go ahead and ask the player’s wife for her autograph.

As you have probably figured out, the goofy, geeky kid was yours truly. By the way, there’s some certainty about the whole being a geek thing. Many years ago, our daughter saw a picture of yours truly which was taken when, well, we were much younger. A whole bunch younger.

“Dad, you looked like a geek,” she declared. There you have it.

Anyway, the geek grew up and became a suave, sophisticated, dare we say cool individual who has done a bit of traveling while pursuing a career which has been more fulfilling than he might have ever imagined while standing in the dark outside the St. Louis Arena all those years ago.

To be honest with you, I don’t remember the look on the young woman’s face when the goofy, geeky kid asked for her autograph. She was, however, kind enough to give the kid an autograph. The kid got her husband’s autograph, too. I still treasure the souvenirs – and the memories.

The husband played for the St. Louis Blues, a National Hockey League team which, at least until about 10 o’clock in the Midwest on Wednesday night, June 12, 2019, had never won a Stanley Cup. The Blues hadn’t even had a shot at winning the National Hockey League’s championship trophy since 1970. 

Yup. 1970. Back then, in a world which is probably hard for some young folks to imagine, there weren’t any cell phones. No video games. No internet. We did have television...I watched Blues games in black and white. Really.

Now, as you may have heard, the Blues won the 2019 Stanley Cup. All of the years of disappointment for Blues fans finally came to an end. 

Since the 2019 National Hockey League playoffs began back in April, I have come to find that there are more Blues fans that I ever would have thought here in Southern Illinois. 

That’s why it’s so gratifying that the Blues finally won a very elusive championship. And even though some of us might not have been able to attend a big celebration for the Blues which was held last Saturday in St. Louis in person, we could still be a part of a little bit of history thanks to the wonders of modern technology. I watched it on the Blues’ website. There weren’t any of those back in 1970, either...unless they involved spiders.

Now, fans of the Blues can have their own special memories about winning a Stanley Cup. Maybe St. Louis will win another Cup...next year...10 years from now...20 years from now...who knows? 

Since there still may be a little bit of the goofy, geeky kid who snagged an autograph of the wife of a Blues player, and the player, too, all those years ago still hanging around, he’s going to hum a few bars of “Gloria” and cherish some very special memories...Let’s Go Blues.