Annabelle de St. MauriceSports are as important to the St. Louis community as any other enterprise that the city can boast. Our beer, our prominent rappers, and the sports teams that we love serve as our ambassadors to the rest of the country. Knowing this, a native St. Louisian, such as myself, can confidently declare our city to be the best sports city in the nation.
Our teams and their fans bind the hopes of the city together in a way that few other towns can begin to understand. You can tell this much just by standing outside of Busch Stadium before a Cardinals game and watching people, old and young, stream in to be a part of the Cardinals family. These fans hope to get a glimpse of their local heroes, who have proudly donned the Cardinals jersey for over 100 years.
Sports are as much of a part of our city’s culture as Beale Street is to Memphis or pervasive smog is to Los Angeles. Some say that this is the case because there is really not much else to do in town, but major attractions such as the Botanical Gardens and the annual Hot Air Balloon race refute this claim resoundingly. The fact of the matter is that St. Louis residents haven’t always had great sports teams to rally around.
During countless long summers and fruitless winters, we have learned to savor each and every precious victory our teams can come by. Rather than expecting home runs, we learned the value of a sacrifice fly. It is only recently that our years of dedication have begun to pay off. That said, today, St. Louis is definitely the place to be if you love sports.
The Rams, the Blues and the Cardinals are championship quality franchises in each of their respective sports. Their facilities, too, are among the finest in the country. The three major stadiums in St. Louis draw millions of people downtown every year and bring life to the city. The Savvis Center, The Edward Jones Dome, and Busch Stadium have all been built or renovated in the last 10 years and all feature comfortable, close-to-the-action seating.
Compared to sports cities like New York, Miami or Denver, ticket prices are cheap, and expensive parking charges can be avoided by using the Metrolink, which stops at all three of these locations. Aside from where they play, St. Louis sports teams are led by active and interested owners who, first and foremost, are dedicated fans, and who have a track record of doing what it takes to win.
Over the last 3 years, the Rams have been the most dominant team in the National Football League. The daring offensive philosophy of head coach Mike Martz, coupled with the talent of Marshall Faulk, Kurt Warner, Issac Bruce and others have turned them into one of the most exciting teams to watch in NFL history. Defensive coordinator Lovie Smith put together a defense that ranked third in the NFL last year. The Rams finished 16-3 in the 2001-2002 season, making their second Super Bowl appearance in the last three years. With professional football emerging outright as America’s favorite pastime, could there be a better place to be a fan than in St. Louis?
The Blues have been one of the most successful teams in the NHL since owner Bill Laurie took them over in 1999. Their talented roster includes All-Stars Pavol Demitra and Chris Pronger, along with other well-known players including Al MacInnis, Keith Tkachuk and Scott Mellanby.
In the 2000-2001 season, the Blues finished with the best home winning percentage in the NHL and took home the President’s Trophy for best overall record in the league. This past year, they were eliminated by eventual champion Detroit but nevertheless were able to continue their streak of consecutive playoff appearances, which, at 23, is the longest playoff streak in all of professional sports. With a healthy Chris Pronger back and the team’s nucleus intact, Blues fans can feel good about the upcoming season.
Despite the success of our NHL and NFL franchises, the Cardinals still remain the crown jewel of St. Louis. Baseball in this city dates back to 1876 and the Grand Avenue Ballpark. Since 1926, the Cardinals have won nine World Series, second only to the New York Yankees. More recently, in 1995, the Busch family sold the team to Fred Hanser, William DeWitt, Jr. and Andrew Baur, a group of dedicated fans who have gone to great lengths to see that the Cardinals are competitive for the World Series year in and year out.
Our current team is one of the most complete and well-rounded in all of baseball and is predicted to make the playoffs for the third straight year. From Stan Musial to Bob Gibson to Ozzie Smith to Mark McGwire, the Cardinals have established a tradition of excellence that St. Louis residents have long taken pride in.
This summer has been particularly tragic for the Cardinals and their fans due to the deaths of longtime broadcaster Jack Buck and pitcher Darryl Kile. The support the community has shown for its team and organization has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Out-of-towners should know that they are witnessing a season that will ultimately go down as one of the most unforgettable and poignant in Cardinals’ history.
We are in the midst of a Golden Age in St. Louis sports. All of our organizations are talented, well financed, and well coached. No unavoidable salary cap fiascos loom in the future, and the Blues, Rams, and Cardinals all have a solid talent base of young players. As fans, we can look forward to successful teams for a long time to come. And since we truly are the best sports city in the country, our teams can rest confident that, win or lose, they have the support of this town and its loyal fans