Count Me In As Thrilled That Blues' Hockey is Back

I, for one am thrilled the National Hockey League Lock Out is over. Thank goodness, we can get back to our “biscuit in the basket” routine now. There will be some more Gus Kyle “barn burners” this winter. Hope springs eternal.

Fact is, I know little, if anything about hockey. My eye sight is not the world’s best, but truth be known, I’ve never ever seen a goal be scored. I see a lot of pushing and shoving around the net, and the next moment, the horn is blaring and blinking lights are going off. I suppose viewing from the cheap seats, someone scored.

How about lighting their heads?

I have a novel idea; why not light the helmets of the players, so when a player scores, their heads light up. Honestly, once someone gave me a ticket directly behind the Blues bench, Brett Hull was playing and I fell sound asleep.

I always believe hockey is controlled mayhem on ice. This is the only legalized fighting I am aware of. They ought to lock the doors and just let the combatants bloody each other until only one is left standing.

Honestly, I am most happy for Tom Stillman and his family who have decided to own the team. I remember other consortium's, led by the late Sidney Salomon, Harry Ornest, Hal Dean and the gang from Ralston Purina (remember the hallowed Chekerdome), Stan Kroenke and Bill Laurie and others. All the ownerships guaranteed us a Stanley Cup title in our lifetime. I’m still waiting.

Blues once heading north

One time, St. Louis owners threatened to pull up stakes and head for Saskatoon, Canada. So where the hell is Saskatoon anyway?

God bless the hockey fans. I’ve always felt that if there are 19,000 screaming fans in the  Savvis Center or Scottrade Center, then there are about 20,000 hockey fans in St. Louis all together. I just don’t believe the fan base goes much beyond the blue line.  Certainly, the Blues base is not so deep as the Cardinals or the Rams. You don’t see license plates from six and seven states parked around the arena.

I am totally confused why there was a lockout or strike or whatever you want to call it in the first place?

Hockey is not the big money sport. There is no pot of gold at the end of the NHL rainbow.

Someone once claimed, if not a single ticket was sold by the St. Louis Football Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill,  would have still made a handsome profit, just based on his TV package, and that was many years ago.

The hockey TV package is just no big deal. You can hardly find a national game anywhere on TV without buying one of those expensive NHL cable packages.

The sport just doesn’t lend itself to good TV viewing. Remember when they tried to light up the puck to boost viewer interest?

Lots of good options

Don’t get me wrong, ice hockey is still another great international sport. So is soccer and rugby.

I, for one am thankful Mr. Stillman put his bucks into this venture. He probably lost a ton of money, waiting for the sticks to finally come off the shelf. 

This lockout was foolish. No one really won anything. As usual the fans, and the guys and gals who sells the beer and peanuts got hurt the most. The fans didn’t get to see their favorite players play, and the vendors had no one to sell to.

Well, it’s winter time. The ponds are nearly frozen over. It’s time to climb the dasher boards and drop the puck once again. Let’s Go Blues!