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Those Billy Joel lyrics are a perfect commentary on the current state of St. Louis sports. This may be the best time ever to be a St. Louis sports fan. Each of our town's three professional sports franchises are either at the top of their respective league, or at least have a chance to be entertaining and competitive.
The Rams just won the Super Bowl with one of the most exciting and explosive offenses in NFL history. Each week they were a joy to watch. The fun is just starting for the Rams and their fans. They have a great shot at repeating and being a top team in the NFL for a long time. New head coach Mike Martz is a brilliant offensive mind, and should be able to keep the Rams young offensive nucleus intact and lighting up scoreboards for a few years at least.
The Blues have the second best record in the entire NHL, and the best record in their conference. They may just be the best team in hockey when healthy. GM Larry Pleau and coach Joel Quenneville have used the right formula to build a contender: player development. The Blues supplement their handful of high priced veteran talent with gifted, young, hungry players that have a lot of upside. Pleau has engineered some smart trades and prudent free agent signings that have made the Blues one of the NHL's model franchises.
The Cardinals have yet to throw a pitch this season, but high hopes abound for them as well. GM Walt Jocketty vastly improved his team during the offseason with the acquisitions of pitchers Pat Hentgen, Darryl Kile, Andy Benes, and Dave Veres, as well as filling the leadoff/second base void with ex-Brewer Fernando Vina. Add to that holdovers like Mark McGwire, Fernando Tatis, Kent Bottenfield, Edgar Renteria, and Ray Lankford, and the Cards should be right in the thick of things in the National League's Central Division.
This is also a great time for local sports fans to enjoy some of the finest athletes in the world. When you consider McGwire, Tatis, Renteria, Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk, Kevin Carter, Pierre Turgeon, Pavol Demitra, Al MacInnis, and Chris Pronger all play in St. Louis, it's hard for fans to go wrong with however they choose to spend their entertainment dollar.
Let's also not forget such up-and-coming young talents as J.D. Drew, Rick Ankiel, Adam Kennedy, Chad Hutchinson, Torry Holt, London Fletcher, Az-Zahir Hakim, Marty Reasoner, Roman Turek, Jochen Hecht, Michal Handzus, and Lubos Bartecko to name a few. St. Louis fans will be able to enjoy watching the "Generation Next" blossom right in front of their eyes.
All sports fans young and old alike should take this time and soak in this golden age of sports in St. Louis.
Because it will not last forever.
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