You couldn’t see both scenes and keep from comparing.
Well, contrasting mostly.
Last weekend at Busch Stadium, with the Cardinals Hall of Famers in town, there were swaths of empty seats. Redcoats witnessed increasing frustration and perhaps even apathy. Both have been growing throughout this squandered baseball season, and nothing brings them to a head like an insufferable heat.
Then came Sunday night at CityPark.
City SC supporters were standing and chanting while profusely sweating. This game, against , started late, sure. Fans were not faced with the full blast from an unforgiving sun. But it was still miserable enough out there that immediately after the win, All-Star defender Tim Parker peeled off his jersey and collapsed flat on his back, sucking in all the air he could force into his lungs. I’m guessing some fans did the same thing when they reached the sweet air conditioning of their cars. They got there happy, though. They got there feeling like their sweat equity had served a purpose. They got there with a sense they had been a part of something special, something bigger than themselves.
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Something is happening in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
An opportunity is being seized.
Don’t get me wrong here. This isn’t some bad-blood situation. The Cardinals are happy for City SC’s surprising success. City SC is grateful for the Cardinals’ support before and now during what has become a historic debut. No one wearing City Red is reveling in the Redbirds’ struggles, and no one at Busch is cursing the party atmosphere taking place at CityPark. That said, you can’t tell me the collapse of Cardinals baseball in 2023 has not helped strap a rocket to City SC’s back. How often has this happened to you? You hear, “Man, those Cardinals,†followed by, “Well, at least the soccer team ... “
Fair or foul, we tend to hold local teams up against one another and look for similarities and differences. Styles. Swagger. Statements made and missed. This is the first season the Cardinals and City SC have overlapped. The Cardinals are hitting all of the wrong notes. City SC seems to nail every chord.
This Cardinals season has been defined by decision makers who did not properly prepare the roster, by depth pieces who did not capitalize on chances, by internal conflicts about things like effort level (Tyler O’Neill) and the fit of a big new addition (Willson Contreras). There has been finger-pointing and blame-gaming. Home-field advantage has eroded. Players, coaches, manager Oliver Marmol, and members of the front office have not been able to get the most out of the team, one that was not as good from the start as the organization’s overinflated confidence allowed it to assume. Examples of the defense of declining standards continue to pile up along with the losses.
City SC has established an impressive and enviable culture from scratch. It defined a hard-charging style of play that can be tweaked depending on talent available and matchups, but one that never strays too far from its gutty identity. It populated a deep, talented roster with underrated and overlooked talent that was criticized for being too obscure and not nearly expensive enough. It trusted its depth when injuries arrived and those carefully selected depth pieces stepped up and performed. Now, the team is nearing full health and is deeper than ever before after transfer-window additions. Leaders are leading. Big egos are not welcome. Home field advantage? As good as you will find in any sport.
“Electrifying,†newcomer Nokkvi Thorisson said before his Sunday debut. “They said almost the whole stadium stands? The whole time?â€
Pretty much.
Six months ago, back before City SC played its first game, sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel described how his team had been shaped to fit the mold of successful ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports teams.
When the Blues and the Cardinals are really rolling, the relative ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports newcomer had realized, they play in a way that is hard for opponents to play against and thrilling for ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports fans to support. It’s a blue-collar style of play, one that makes few mistakes and turns opponents’ mistakes into regrets. There is a real edge in having that kind of an edge. We have witnessed it here in multiple sports multiple times.
“Tough to play against,†Pfannenstiel described six months ago, punching a closed fist into an open hand as he said it. “You feel it. Hard as nails. They (opponents) don’t enjoy it. We need to create the unconditional love relationship between the supporters out there, the football community out there, to our ways on the field.â€
City SC has found it. The Cardinals (and for that matter the Blues) are searching for ways to reclaim their own versions of it. But for now, City SC sure looks like the ºüÀêÊÓƵ pro sports team of the summer, one that is more than capable of playing deep into what will soon become a baseball-less fall.