It’s Tough to Be a St. Louis Cardinals Fan

628x471I remember the moment I became a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

I grew up without a baseball team to root for. So when I moved out to St. Louis  in 1999 to go to Washington University, I was a free agent.

On my first day at my work-study job, I was chatting with the elderly secretary about St. Louis. She asked if I had been to a Cardinals game, and I said that the freshman class was going to a game on Thursday.

“Oh good,” she said. “You’re going to see Rick Ankiel pitch. He’s been a bit wild lately, but when his fastball hits the corner of the strike zone, he’s unhittable.”

It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

I have to say, rooting for the Cards in St. Louis for 14 years isn’t easy. Here are a few reasons:

  1. The Traffic: All cities that have baseball teams are burdened with commuter traffic on gameday, but most of them stop having that issue in October. The Cardinals reach the postseason almost every year, so we have to deal with traffic much longer than the average city.
  2. The Drop in Productivity: The more games the Cardinals play in October, the larger the drop in productivity. Even if there isn’t currently a game happening, people are thinking and talking about the Cardinals. Fortunately the city makes up for the lack of productivity by the increased boost to the local economy for home playoff games.
  3. The Red: It’s pretty much a law in St. Louis that if the Cardinals are playing a postseason game that day or won a playoff game yesterday, you have to wear red. I only have a few red shirts in my wardrobe, so it’s tough when the Cardinals are winning so many games. You’d think I’d learn my lesson and stack up on red after the Cardinals win year after year, but I don’t.
  4. The Remorse: Did you know that there are 8 Major League Baseball teams that have never won the World Series? That’s really hard for us in St. Louis. We’re known as the best fans in baseball because we’re not only always there for our team, but we rarely boo other teams. So it’s hard on us to see these other teams not winning the World Series when we get to win one every few years, often in dramatic, memorable fashions.
  5. The Exhaustion: 162 games in the regular season followed by as many as 19 games in the postseason. Think about the sheer wear and tear on your knees and back, game after game. Ligaments in your elbows wear thin and you have blisters on your feet that have their own blisters. I’m not talking about the Cardinals players–I’m talking about the fans. It’s one thing to handle the regular season, but those extra postseason games every year? It takes a physical toll on you.

Can other Cardinals fans relate to this?

5 thoughts on “It’s Tough to Be a St. Louis Cardinals Fan”

  1. As a Cards fan and a football fan, I can relate. It’s tough having to choose between Cards playoff games and Monday night football EVERY SINGLE YEAR. I just had to get a new remote control due to excessive wear on the buttons, and I attribute that largely to flipping over to MNF between innings in October. Sigh. It’s a rough life.

    Reply
  2. What October means for me: a raging stomach ache and falling way behind on my regular TV shows from watching so much baseball. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂

    GO CARDS!

    Reply
  3. I have learned that it is extra hard to be a Cards fan when you no longer live in St. Louis. In Seattle, they don’t understand that there is actually baseball in October. In 2011, I was wearing a Cards shirt and had someone accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon. I looked at him and said “uh bandwagon? What bandwagon? I’m a Cards fan through and through” Now that I am in Arizona, it’s not much better. I was wearing a Cards hat and a St Louis shirt on Monday and someone commented that I was “all St. Louis”. Again, they didn’t realize it was playoff time (Crazy people). Also, it is currently very confusing. I hear the news say “coming up, highlights of the Cardinals’ game” I go towards the tv only to discover that they are talking football. Boo. Go Cards!

    Reply
  4. It’s been rough wearing so much red, and eating all of the nachos, popcorn, and peanuts that we’ve stocked up on here at work the last few weeks. 😉 Go Cards!

    Reply

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