On this day 10 years ago, the Blues revealed new, old jerseys, and I also became a fan

I know it's getting late but I still wanted to post this since it's a quiet offseason and I wanted to commemorate the switch to new jerseys and also the beginning of my fandom for this team.

I was never consistent with my favorites and every one was inspired by every nonstandard origin possible, I was a Red Wings kid because Shanahan in NHL 2002 looked like my dad, the Jets because I was just happy for them to come back, the Pens for a while because I've grown up in a Pens family and have a deep knowledge of their history, but never really any deep devotion for my local Caps, outside of having a huge soft spot for them.

The 2012 lockout made me miss hockey so much that I realized it was my favorite (non racing) sport all along, and that quickly turned into my love for hockey aesthetics like jerseys and logos, and buying jerseys and following news of the sort. When the Blues were the latest team to be rumored to go from their divisive modern design to a clean modern one. It was a live stream so of course I checked it out, it was nice seeing former stars alongside current ones including new recruit Paul Stastny, who being a local boy made me really like him. The jerseys turned out as promised which made me happy, but something about the effect as a whole just made something click for me…

It probably isn't much in hindsight but the combination of bringing in a local kid with welcome arms, the new vastly improved jerseys, and the crowd being so passionate for just a preseason event despite the team being near 50 years without a Stanley Cup, it sparked something that made me from then on wanting to stick with them and see through their first.

Few years of following games on FS Midwest, reading every pregame preview, enjoying JK and Panger and Charles Glenn's anthems, the ups and downs of our players and the playoffs (god bless that 2016 Allen/Elliott run and January 2018 Hutton), tons of merch, being over the moon at our incredible championship comeback story, getting a brick on Champions Walk and going to the All-Star the season after, and finally going to Ballpark Village in 2022 (when I was visiting STL for the NASCAR race) back to where it all started for me, it's been an amazing ride, and I guess my only realistic goal left is to see the boys play a standard game at home instead of here in DC like I've done twice.

I'm sad I missed out on a lot of the 2015ish and championship guys play at home, but nevertheless I've been blessed to be apart of this big family, and while the feeling's been waning a bit the last few years, I still consider myself a huge Blues fan, and I can't wait to see where that journey takes me in the years to come.

LGB 🎺🎺🎺