Adios Amigo

I've been a Cardinal's fan ever since my eyes first watched a baseball game sometime in 1984 or 1985. And since then, the only baseball stadium I could ever call was the round one known as Busch. Right there off of the Interstate as you travel through downtown St. Louis. It was always fun to pass by it, and peer in through the holes at the top of the structure to see if there was a gaem going on. But now, all that is going to change. Here in less than 15 minutes, the old stadium will begin to be demolished, as a wrecking ball will begin to tear into the structure. It's a sad day indeed. And although I can't complain about the better air flow and open environment of the new stadium, or even the fact that Anhieser-Busch has sponsored the new stadium to keep it as New Busch Stadium, it will never be the same. There was just something about coming out of those entrances into the stands that when you looked across and saw all the seats, a sense of awe struck you silent.

Even though I was just a little runt, I can still remember when I got a picture taken with Todd Zeille and my sister was so jealous because she thought he was hot stuff. Or any one of the times I actually got to se my hero, Ozzie "The Wizard" Smith make the most miraculous plays at Shortstop, and "Cousin Ray" playing in left field (my relatives there share the Lankford last name so we called him that as a joke). Or the time when I went to see Big Mac play for the Cards and hit his first St. Louis Cardinal home run off the left field foul pole.

Times like these are to men as a great soap is to women. Even though it's not really a close (human) friend, when it dies, you can't help but have a sense of loss.