Blues and Cardinals Memories
Share Your Favorite St. Louis Cardinals and Blues Stories With Laura Buick GMC
Here at Laura Buick GMC our store is full of locals from all over the St. Louis area. While we might have different beliefs and family backgrounds, one unifying bond that we all share together is a devoted love for St. Louis sports teams like the Cardinals and Blues. Walk through our service bay or model show room here at Laura Buick GMC and you're as likely to hear us talking about last night's 9th inning walk off as you are hearing us talk about the latest Buick or GMC.
My Best St. Louis Cardinals Memory -
One of my personal defining St. Louis sports moments, that lynchpin that cements you as a St. Louis fan for life, came when I was 18 years old. After losing Mark McGuire in '01 and following two consecutive close calls in 2004 and 2005, years I once wanted to erase from my memory, I'll admit I had lost hope in the Cardinals. We no longer had the gravitas that back to back 100+ win seasons will breed. After a rough and tumble season we squeaked into the playoffs with less hope than our win loss margin (83-78). I was sitting on my friend Johnny's couch in his parent's house in BellevilleIL watching with bated breath as were set to face off against the staggering 2006 NY Mets. You'd think with a fresh playoff win over the San Diego Padres that I'd have more faith; but for some reason beating the Washington Generals of Major League Baseball (sorry not sorry San Diego) just wasn't enough to convince me that something bad wasn't about to happen. The same bad I'd watched happen in '00,'01,'02,'04, and '05.
Facing off against the Mets felt a little like David and Goliath; they were the Russian hockey team in the 1980 Olympics and we were the struggling US Amateur team ( the movie Miracle had just come out 2 years prior and as a life-long St. Louis Blues hockey fan AND as an impressionable 16 year old.. it quickly became one of my favorite sports movies). We had already lost game 1 and it felt like the team was about to eat itself apart. So there I sat on Johnny's couch in Belleville, Illinois watching what quickly felt like another loss. Carlos Delgado had opened up with a 3-run homer and I was starting to wonder if I'd be able to sit through this series the same way I'd sat through the years prior. But soon something happened, we fought back and with what felt like a concerted team effort in the 9th inning the St. Louis Cardinals pulled off a win. And then we won again. Each night I sat on Johnny's couch in his parents Belleville home, driveway full of cars (not just Buicks & GMC trucks in those days) as more friends came to watch as we traded wins with them until we got to an even 3-3.
Game Seven was on a Thursday. I went to school that October 12th, attempting to pay attention to my friends as they distracted me from whatever it was the teacher was talking about, incapable of taking my fear-fed thoughts off of game-7 which loomed on the afternoon horizon like an approaching nadir. I left school like a zombie that day, parked my truck in Johnny's driveway once more in BellevilleIL and sat on his squeaky sunken in couch as we silently munched on pop-corn and fresh cookies courtesy of his sports oblivious mom, waiting for our inevitable doom. The entire game felt we were holding on by an inch, like when you're treading water in the deep-end of the pool as a kid just trying to keep your neck above the surface. In the top of the 9th tied 1-1 Yadier Molina came up to plate, swung hard at his first pitch and with a 2 piece dinger put us up 3-1. We had hope, but I was no fool. For what felt like an excruciatingly long 3 outs, I crossed-my toes, bit my fingernails, twirled my fingers in my hair that my mom had been pestering me to cut and for a couple scary moments straight up forgot how to breathe. The Mets loaded the bases and this was it, that same feeling came over me, the pit in your stomach that triggers a sort of hopelessness and the beginning stages of grief. They had runners in scoring positions and one of the best people in the league to bring them home was up to bat. And then Carlos Beltran struck out and we won. And once more I stopped breathing, this time out of confused elation instead of fear. I don't really remember much after the win. We celebrated for a while, as much as two teens in the suburbs can celebrate. And then it was over, we had our win and no one, not the Mets, not the Red Sox or anyone else could take it away from us. What I remember from watching that series wasn't the win so much, it was the ritual like understanding and devotion Johnny and I shared as we sat on his couch in BellevilleIL and watched something special happen to our city night after night. And it's that love for and devotion to St. Louis sports that we share with each other here at Laura Buick GMC. It's that same fandom that you can expect from us when you visit our dealership in Collinsville; our way of showing you that's always something that can bring us together, instead of tearing us apart.
Now that I've told you my favorite St. Louis sports moment. We want to hear yours! Send us your favorite St. Louis Sports memory and if we like it enough we'll feature it here on our St. Louis Fan Page!