2008 Woodie Awards
Lost in sea of red: New bricks, fresh start
With the new stadium there is a new chance, a new beginning.
By: Carrie Shylanski
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial
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My beloved Cardinals are back in action. Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen, Eckstein, are all back and ready for another summer packed with baseball.
Although the team remains pretty much the same, it's where the games are going to be played that's different.
While the name didn't change, the Busch Stadium we knew and loved is long gone. At first I wasn't all that happy with the idea of a new stadium. When I think of Cardinal baseball I think of the old stadium - its circular shape and the arches in the roof. Now there is nothing left of that stadium but the memories.
I've since realized the new stadium might not be such a bad thing, and could become something great instead.
With the new stadium there is a new chance, a new beginning. It's time to forget the heart wrenching loss to the Red Sox when we were oh-so-close to that bittersweet victory. We had finally made it to the World Series again, only to be swept away by the Sox. Time to put aside the sorrows of losing to the Astros, cutting short our season once again last year. A new stadium can mean a new beginning, a fresh start.
I credit my love for the Cardinals to my parents. My very first baseball experience was going to game seven of the 1982 World Series. I wasn't even born yet; my mom was three months pregnant. I've been a baseball fan, literally, since I was in the womb. Some people say they were born a Cardinals fan, and for me this is exactly the case.
I remember my first Cardinal game. I was eight years old and had earned the tickets through the summer reading program at the local library. If I read so many books, I got Cardinal baseball tickets for free. My first baseball game was comparable to a kid waking up on Christmas morning to a mountain of presents under the tree, exciting.
There's something that happens when you enter a baseball stadium for the first time, something magical. Maybe it's the smell of the freshly grilled hot dogs, there's nothing like a stadium hot dog. Or maybe it's the constant murmur of the fans, some cheering and some yelling. Perhaps it's getting lost in a sea of red, like a small fish being swallowed in the masses. Whatever it is, it sucks you in.
From the first crack of the bat, the ball sailing out of the stadium, the fans cheering in their seats, the game is captivating.
Our generation has seen many wonderful, exciting moments that define Cardinal history. Who could forget game five last season against the Houston Astros? With the season hanging in the balance, the Cards down and almost out, Pujols stepped up to the plate. With one swing of the bat he smacked the ball out of the Astrodome, allowing the Cards to come back home, and hang in the playoffs a little longer. I've never heard a crowd become so silent at a baseball game as they did at the Astrodome that blissful night. Even the announcers on the television were silent- no one could believe what had just happened.
We've seen many great players with the Cardinals. The one I will always remember as the best is "The Wizard" himself, Ozzie Smith. What other shortstop do you know that did back flips on the field? Smith is probable to go down in history as the greatest shortstop to ever play the game.
But what our generation has not seen is the greatest victory of all - winning the World Series.
Well my friends, I feel this is our year. It's time to don our Cardinal red, climb into the seats of the new stadium and get lost in the red sea. It's time to cheer for the moments that will become part of Cardinal history and to cheer our beloved Cardinals through each and every game. And this time around the season will not be cut short, but played until the very end. The World Series is at our fingertips, I can feel it.
Carrie Shylanski, a senior journalism major, is a staff writer for The Journal.