All of My Players Are Retired

If you haven't noticed, I'm a sports girl.  Any sport.  I love playing and I love watching.  I love being a fan.  I love feeling that connection with the players and feeling like I'm going through the ups and down right along with them.  Yes, I wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to my favorite players.  I can't help it.

It hurts me to say this but I have no one else to cheer for.  All of my players are now retired.  It started back with Ken Griffey, Jr.  I was at that game on Father's Day weekend at Old Busch when Griffey hit is 500th Homerun.  It was such an exciting moment for all fans at the park that day.  Griffey's banter with all of us bleacher bums sealed the deal for me and I became a huge fan. 

Yes, he really is looking at me in this picture.  I think he started to recognize me when the Reds would come to Busch because I would be the idiot yelling at him all game.  He would wave at me and then tell me to sit down.  LOL

Next, was #7 Keith Tkachuk.  This one really broke my heart.  Kanin discovered hockey and skating right around 2 years old.  Here Kanin is 2 (almost 3) for Halloween.  Notice his Little Tykes skates that you wear your tennis shoes and then slip the skates over.  So cute!

Before Gracie came along, we lived in Scott's bachelor condo.  It was crowded and there was no room but there was lots of love.  Kanin would dress up in his hockey gear and he would be "Keese Chachuk", Gaga would be Bill Guerrin, and I would be Dennis Wideman (players for the Blues at the time and Kanin knew all of them).  We would play hockey all through the house.

 Here is a stick that Scott got from Dan Hinote after a game and Kanin got a puck from Tkachuk.  Love their smiles.

You can just imagine our excitement when Kanin got to meet Tkachuk at Night Out with the Blues.  Look at the way that Kanin is looking at him.  I love how excited Scott is, too.

Having all of these family memories of playing "Keese Chachuk", you can imagine our sadness when #7 retired last year.  I took Kanin down to the game.  He signed the farewell banner and then we watched Tkachuk play his last game.  It was very emotional for all of the fans including me.  I am so happy that I was able to experience that night with Kanin.

This week my last player announced his retirement.  Like most Cardinal fans, I was a fan of Jim Edmonds.  Having bleacher seats, I have sat behind him for hundreds of games and yes, most of my pictures of him are of his butt.  LOL

Through countless homeruns and over-the-top, overly-dramatic catches.  100 degree weather, losing streaks, and a World Series win.  I was a #15 fan.  I remember the day my sister-in-law called me and asked,

"Are you ok?" 

"Yes.  Why?"

"The Cardinals traded Emonds to San Diego this morning."

I am not ashamed to admit that I cried.  I was so upset.  I understood, though, it was just part of the game.

This one, though, took A LONG TIME to get over and I admit that I still hold a bit of a grudge.

Which is why I was so excited that the Cardinals announced, on my birthday(yay!), that they had signed Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal.  This week when he announced his retirement it did make me sad that I would never get to see Edmonds play again but I am so happy that he will retire as a Cardinal.  That's the way it should be.

So, all of my players are gone.  Of course, I will always cheer for the Cardinals and Blues but I just don't have that one special rooting interest anymore.  No favorite player.

Unless  you count . . .

and let's face it, he's my guy for a whole other set of reasons.  Yes, Hottie Scottie knows about my slight (ha ha) crush on Cam Janssen.