The Spirit of St. Louis
By: Alisha Erin Heavilon

Die-hard fans of any team in any sport are found around the entire world. But the one city that stands out from all the rest is the city of St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is home to three major teams, the St. Louis Blues hockey team, the St. Louis Rams football team, and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. Those three sports are the most popular in the city, with the Cardinals as the most dominant.

St. Louis is widely known as the best baseball city in the United States. The fans are unlike any others. They fill the stadium no matter what the weather is like, whether it's the middle of a business day, or the star player is on the bench. The attendance at Busch Stadium soared even after Mark McGwire hurt his knee in the middle of the season this year and it was annouced that he wouldn't likely be playing regularly for the rest of season. The total love the fans have for Mark McGwire is sometimes stunning. I was at a game once, towards the end of this season, when McGwire was being often sent in as a pitch-hitter in the later innings. Jim Edmonds, another big star, was batting when Big Mac stepped out of the dugout. The crowd instantly jumped to their feet and started screaming at the top of their lungs. He doesn't even have to do anything to give the fans a thrill. Unfortunately, Edmonds struck out and the inning ended before Mark could bat. At the time you almost had to feel bad for Jim Edmonds. He's a big hitter as well, but McGwire outshines everyone - which is why all the fans ignored Edmonds the minute Big Mac appeared. After that, the manager Tony LaRussa had McGwire warm up in the clubhouse more often than on the field.

Sometimes the aboslute zeal of the St. Louis fans can be a little much. Last winter the Rams played the Titans in the Superbowl in Atlanta, Georgia. There were rumors that there would be a bad snowstorm in that area right before the Superbowl, and a lot of people were worried about the players and the fans being able to get to the game. So the St. Louis city officials sent nearly every single snowplow they had down south to make sure everyone could get through. The day before the game, a major blizzard did strike. However, it wasn't in Georgia, it was in St. Louis, and the entire city spent a number of hours snowed in because there weren't enough plows left to dig everyone out. We were driving to St. Louis that night, and it was so bad, you couldn't tell the lanes apart in the four-lane highways - which made the entire thing a huge free-for-all. Of course, nobody was really upset about the lack of snowplows, because everyone was home watching the Superbowl anyway.

This summer my family and I went to New York City for a vacation. The Cardinals were in town at the same time, playing the Mets. We got tickets, and had an experience like no other. Before that game, we had never realized the huge difference between the St. Louis fans, and the fans everywhere else. For example, when we arrived, there was almost no one else there. Maybe a fourth of Shea Stadium was filled. The game began, and people began showing up around the third inning. By the fourth, probably about two-thirds of the stadium was filled. Then they all left again around the seventh. Another big difference was that almost everyone there was wearing regular street clothes. It is totally different in St. Louis, at Busch Stadium. Everyone arrives in time to see batting practice, and no one goes home until after the ninth inning. It's really cool to look out around the stadium during a game, because everyone shows up in bright red Cardinal t shirts. Finding a parking place is almost impossible, so most fans arrive downtown extra early, and have dinner at the Spaghetti Factory at Laclede's Landing. It was really weird to walk around in matching bright red shirts when we were in New York, but it's not ever close to out of place in St. Louis. The biggest difference between Shea Stadium and Busch was the vibe you get from the fans. The Mets fans seemed totally bored during the entire game. In St. Louis, you can tell all the fans love the team. They cheer for the big stars, they cheer for the lesser players, and if the other team makes a really great play, they cheer for them too. The players love the fans too, which is no surprise. You become a Cardinal, and you're instant royalty.

An example of this is when left fielder JD Drew was signing autographs at a computer store one day. We happened to be in town that weekend, and decided to go since JD Drew is my favorite player. We didn't expect a huge crowd, because it was during the middle of a business day, when most people work or go to school. We arrived almost two hours early, and waited in line for a long time. Meeting JD, of course, was totally great. He was really nice and everything. The big shock came when we left the store and found out that the line of people waiting for autographs went out of the store and all the way down the street. For that exact reason, Mark McGwire doesn't do autograph sessions anymore. Everyone in St. Louis would show up.

It's kind of hard to describe exactly what it is like in St. Louis. You have to be right in the middle of it all to really believe that it's happening. The city is filled with this totally unquenchable fire. Everywhere you go, someone's cheering for one of the teams. It's impossible to live there and not get into it.

Baseball and hockey aren't very big here, but the basketball fever in Indiana is a lot similar. Most people here live and breath basketball. It's a lot like that in St. Louis. The only difference is that with the three different teams, it's a year-round experience. And, in the end, no one can compete with the spirit of St. Louis.