America's Best Sports City

St. Louis 101

Courtesy of native St. Louisan Leslie Gibson McCarthy of The Sporting News

Pack primary colors. Red for Busch Stadium, blue for Savvis Center and the Edward Jones Dome and gold to accent all three.
Applaud such things as a batter advancing a runner to third base with a ground ball to the right side. St. Louis sports fans think they’re among the most knowledgeable in the country, and you’ll fit right in.
Say to the person seated next to you, "Oh, you’re from St. Louis? Where’d ya go to high school?" It’s a quirky provincial thing.

These doctrines (right or wrong) are held dear by St. Louisans:

Whitey Herzog is once, forever and always a baseball genius.
Brett Hull never should have been allowed to leave as a free agent.
There’ll never be another shortstop like Ozzie Smith.
The Blues’ season is a success if they make the playoffs. (This one is being tested.)

These umpires are good, but whatever happened to Don Denkinger? He was my favorite. St. Louis fans still are testy about Denkinger’s call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series.
I think judge Edward Houston has handed down some kick-ass verdicts in his day. Blues fans still think they were robbed in the summer of 1991 when the judge awarded Scott Stevens to the Devils as compensation for St. Louis’ signing of Brendan Shanahan.
Georgia Frontiere sure is a funky owner, but I miss Bill Bidwill. Virtually no one in St. Louis misses Bidwill, who took the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals to Arizona after the 1987 season and left the city scrambling for a pro football franchise.
I hate soccer. You might, but don’t say it out loud. While fans passionately follow the Cards, Blues and Rams, their kids are playing soccer just as they played it when they were young. And previous St. Louis generations played it, too.
It doesn’t matter if the Cards lose, just as long as Big Mac hits a home run. That’s the perception among out-of-towners looking to knock St. Louis fans. The perception is wrong.

Missouri (MIZ-ZUR-REE). Some folks say MIZ-ZUR-RAH — but those people don’t live in St. Louis.