Accidentally in a Cardinal Nation

I am a Midwestern woman, born in Chicago and raised in St. Louis, now living back in Illinois, across the river from St. Louis. I am doing a Pinterest board on St. Louis, about different things and places I love about this city. Though I don’t have any personal allegiance to this, I think I would be remiss in NOT including something about baseball because it permeates so much of the city.

As a child of St. Louis, I am aware…. of the Cardinals.

I remember Ozzie Smith doing flips on the field. At the old Busch Stadium, I remember marching during the Greater St. Louis Marching Band competition. (Breathing the crisp air under the lights on an October night – nothing better.) I remember the bru-ha-ha over Mark McGuire’s home runs and the large community disappointment when it came out that he juiced. I remember when the city lost it’s ONLY classical music station (where my mother used to work, incidentally) because one of our more esteemed players decided we needed yet another Christian music station. One year after it started, he left for LA.  And he didn’t even give us back our classical music. Bastard. I know all these things, because I can’t help but know.  I live in St. Louis.

But I’m gonna tell you a dirty little secret – I don’t like baseball.  Baseball is merely the distraction before we get to the sport closest to God’s own heart: football.

You can’t see me, but I’m ducking right now in preparation for the thing you’re going to throw at me, because people always throw things at me when I tell them I’m not a baseball fan. That’s an occupational hazard to living in the city of the best baseball team in the country – you better bleed red. As in, red for the Cardinals, not just red for human blood.

Am I the only one who feels like this – have something you’re just not that into that everyone else is? ‘Cause I think I’m accidentally in a Cardinal Nation.