Awww man.  I picked a great year to start a blog about St. Louis sports.  I had such high hopes.  The Cards were mediocre, but there was no reason why they shouldn’t have made the playoffs, and the Rams were looking good on paper.  The Blues got Kariya and re-signed Legace.  Things were looking so good.

Well, here we are.  The Cubs beat out the Cards to win the division because the Cards went like 5 and 15 the last 20 games of the year.  The Cubs then lost 3 straight and got bumped out of the playoffs.  Call me silly, but I don’t think the Cards would have fallen so easy. 

The Rams have now lost 4 miserable, terrible, disgusting games in a row.  They’re looking pathetic.  It’s possible they played better yesterday without Jackson and Bulger , but they still lost.  Check the all-time NFL stats… how many teams have made the playoffs that started off 0-4?  I think San Diego did it in 92′, and that’s it.  No one else has.  Needless to say, no one has been 0-5 and made the playoffs.

The Blues…  well, the jury is still out on the Blues.  Who would have thought, after 2 terrible years in a row, that they would be in the running to be St Louis’ savior.  They started off 1-1.  The first game was a close one that they lost 2 to 3.  They’re not looking too bad at this point, but also not very impressive.  They’re letting in goals left and right.  Again though, the jury is still out.  So, for now… GO BLUES!

–Edit
Ok, Boston Brat… let’s hear about your “terrible” season

For the first time in over a year, the Blues are back to only 2 points away from first place.  That’s right, the Blues are 1 point away from the Wings and 2 points from Nashville.  Things are looking good.  I can’t wait for game THREE 

Former NHL tough guy Basil McRae was hired as a part-time amateur scout on Tuesday by the St. Louis Blues, one of seven franchises he played for.Blues president John Davidson said McRae, who accumulated 2,457 penalty minutes in 576 games, would have primary responsibilities in the Ontario Hockey League.”We are proud to have Basil back with the organization and finding young talent for us,” Davidson said. “He is a terrific individual with tremendous hockey knowledge.”McRae also played for the Nordiques, Maple Leafs, Red Wings, North Stars, Lightning and Blackhawks during a 16-season career, helping Minnesota reach the Stanley Cup finals in 1990-91. He had 53 goals and 83 assists.

In four seasons with the Blues in the mid-1990s, McRae had 14 points and 313 penalty minutes in 112 games.

–AP

Well, there’s not much to say here.  I guess the bottom line is that it’s good to have another scout out there looking for talent.  Basil is one of my all-time favorite hockey players.  I started liking him back in the North Starts days and was a huge fan when he was in Tampa. 

With the downward trend of NHL “tough guys” and enforcers, I’m not too sure just yet on what Basil is scouting.  Not a shot at him, just curious as to whether they are having him look for some up-and-coming toughness in the league or if they’re using him to find any talent in the league.  The guy DOES have 16 seasons behind his belt, so I would imagine he knows a little about hockey…  just curious, not sure how that whole scouting thing works.

This is good news. This guy is great. It’s nice to still have a little toughness on the team. The NHL has changed so much over the last several years that players like King are almost obsolete. I’m glad to see they’ve resigned him.I certainly don’t even want to think about comparing King to the likes of Tony Twist or Kelly Chase, but it’s good to still have a little muscle out there to keep things clean and keep your key players from getting killed out there.