NBA & NHL Finals

@stlouisbrad, I would imagine even non-hockey people in your city are on the bandwagon as the Blues are playing in their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970 . Throw in the rest of the US is sick of Boston winning anything and everything (Pats & Celtics are reigning, Bruins won in 2011, and the poor down-trodden Celtics last won in 08' ) that even the neutrals would like to see the Cup go to St. Louis.

Other then the La Liga (at least that is an either/or situation), the NBA is the most predictable league in the world. ESPN (across all their platforms) & TNT, et al will try and force feed viewers that all these teams have a legit chance...NO ONE was going to beat Golden State 4 times in any series and that was obvious before the season even started. It looks like Toronto will take them on, even though I would love to see Milwaukee for the same reason as above (won it in 1974), but not looking good after losing last night,

 

The city of St Louis has gone nuts over the Blues. First time the Blues have been more popular then the Cardinals since the days of Brett Hull. It’s been a hell of a ride this year. Jordon Binnington has put the team on his back and something special is happening.

Most long time fans never thought they would ever see the Blues in the finals. Especially myself. I had season tickets for 6 years and the team always found a way to let me down. Now I just need the ticket prices to come down so I can go to a finals game without a bunch of grief from my wife. She still doesn’t understand what this means to Blues fans.

 

Well it only took 52 years, but the Blues have won a Stanley Cup Finals game, congrats @stlouisbrad

Kevin Durant out, Raptors should be able to get one game at home.

 

Play Gloria!

 

Get blown out in game 3 and play a completely different game 4 and earn a victory. That is Blues hockey. If you know how the rest of the series is going to go please tell me, because I don't have a clue. Let's go Blues!

 

I'm an extremely casual hockey fan, but I do like the Blues. The only NHL game I've ever attended was in 1996 at the then Kiel Center when the Kings, and Gretzky, finally came to town on a weekend. But...Gretzky was just days away from moving to the Blues, and everybody in the building, including the team with the note on front, knew it. It was a weird game, ended in a tie with no one scoring in the then 5 minute OT. But 99 in black didn't get so much as a fabric on his sweater moved, much less touched, by an opposition player all night. All that being said, I've watched the Blues from afar all these years. They've been up, they've been down. They've been rumored to be leaving town for greener pastures more than a few times. Yet, they've persevered, along with their loyal fans. I would be quite pleased if they finally won Lord Stanley's Cup. I'm tired of the damn picture of Bobby Orr flying past the goal after scoring against them in the 1970 whitewash. Oh, and Mike Emrick is the best play-by-play announcer in any sport...ever.

 

And I truly don't care who wins the NBA championship. Plus, I'm sick of all the drama surrounding Drake and his antics. What a joke.

 

HD, my first year in Tucson, Steve Kerr was a Senior, and he lead us to the Final 4 (along with another great Spur, Sean Elliot). Kerr is a legend at Arizona. His Dad was killed while being a Professor in Lebanon, a couple of days later he not only played, but didn’t miss a shot. From then on, whenever he scored and the PA Announcer said his name, 15K would repeat (copying whatever inflection the PA guy used ‘Steeeeeve Kerrrr’) it. Throw in another Cat, Andre Iguodala, and it’s one of the rare times I root for dynasty.

 

Game 6 tonight. The city has gone nuts. During a 2 mile drive down Gravois road yesterday I spotted 5 merchandise tents selling T-shirts. It's the only thing people are talking about. The cardinals are playing the cubs and nobody brings it up in conversation. I found child care tonight much to my surprise, so hopefully this will be a night that I remember forever. Let's go Blues!

 

Only the Blues! Get 40k downtown for the watch party on a Sunday night and give us that. Bring on game 7, I'll bring the whiskey. Let's go Blues!

 

@stlouisbrad, The Cup is coming to St. Louis!!! Congrats, that was awesome! Where did you watch?

 

That was awesome! I ended up just watching this one at home. We found child care for games 5 and 6, but I ran out of options for this one. I ended up keeping my 3 year old up to watch the end. I hope he remembers this. He was most excited about the fireworks. As a city of st. Louis resident it's nice to hear celebratory gunfire instead of the normal kind.

 

Goose bumps and tears. So many great individual stories about this team, but the biggest one is this: on January 2nd, they were 15-18-4, not just last in their division, last in the LEAGUE. From there they went 30-10-5 to finish 3rd in the Central and make the playoffs (sound familiar...kind of like the 2017-18
Fulham side)? The roster is populated mostly with kids and journeymen veterans, some of whom have been in St. Louis before. This is 31 year old David Perron's third stint with the Blues. 35 year old Jay Bouwmeester split his first 8 years between the Panthers and Flames, and was the longest serving active player not to have won the Cup, 1183 games, before lifting it after game number 1184. Conn Smythe winner Ryan O'Reilly spent six seasons in Colorado, then 3 in Buffalo before he was traded to St. Louis for three players and two draft picks. Goaltender Jordan Binnington, 25, started the season in (wake up Hatter!) San Antonio before being recalled on December 9th, then started against Philly on January 7th, a 3-0 win. That was the first of the 30 wins to close out the regular season. Hometown boy Patrick Maroon signed as a free agent after seven years between the Ducks and Oilers before a half a season in Jersey. All he did was score the game winning goal in double OT of game 7 against the Stars to get them to the division finals. Lots more stories if you've got the time to invest, but truly an all around feel good season for a long suffering, yet loyal, fan base, city and franchise.

 

Watching the parade on YouTube. Sick. Bigger crowd than last Cardinals' World Series, they say.

 

The parade was crazy packed. In my estimation it was way more crowded then the last cardinals parade. We booked a weekend trip to Ste. Genevieve like 3 months ago. So we drove the hour in and went to the parade and then went the hour back. So worth it. On a side note, Ste. Genevieve is great. They have some amazing old French style buildings. So if you are ever in the area, check it out!