In Praise of...The St. Louis Blues

Hockey was dead in the water in this city two years ago. The old owner decided to sell off the team piece by piece and then the strike just about killed any kind of attachment to the team. We didn't know anyone on the team and we just didn't care. Enter: new management. Dave Checketts buys the team, installs John Davidson as the guy. They eat crow publicly. Their media campaign is based on the theme "whatever it takes". They go get Paul Kariya and a number of pretty good players. They draft well. They get a coach who is smart and "gets it" when it comes to dealing with the media. Every time I see him in the halls, he talks to me by name. Nice. It has paid off well for them, they have been the talk of the town even during football season and have sold out a number of dates this season. It's great to see 20,000 people there every night. (Disclosure...we carry the Blues, so if they do well, we hope to do well, too). Tomorrow is free food day, see a hockey game and fill up on grub, for free. How cool is that? Nice job guys. Coming from a marginal hockey fan, I am glad you are in town. Keep up the great work.