Premature congratulations to Blues
St. Louis Blues majority owner Tom Stillman remembers exactly where he was when his team won its first Stanley Cup.
Which is quite impressive since the team hasn’t actually done it, and may not now.
Somehow a letter from Stillman addressed to Blues fans — which contains such lines as “All of us will remember where we were, what we did and how we felt when the Blues brought the Cup home” — appeared in the Sunday e-edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. So did a couple of ads congratulating the Blues on winning the Stanley Cup.
It not only appeared hours before the Blues had a chance to clinch the title in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final at home, but then they were crushed 5-1 by the Boston Bruins to tie the series at three games apiece.
That means there’s a Game 7 on Wednesday in Boston. Those who believe this title chance has been jinxed aren’t pleased, especially after the Post-Dispatch offered a lukewarm “our bad” tweet.
The paper said it was just giving their readers a “sneak peek at what our advertisers are hoping to say to the Blues, the fans and St. Louis. We apologize … and hope to share their messages with everyone very soon!”
Sacrebleu.
Which way to Norwich?
Add to the summer reading list for “books that don’t appear to have any sort of sports hook but kinda do,” we recommend Karen Crouse’s “Norwich: One Tiny Vermont Town’s Secret to Happiness and Excellence,” with 3.41 stars out of five on GoodReads.com.
The New York Times sportswriter raised in Southern California with a USC journalism degree moved to the city of about 3,000 residents to find out how it produced nearly a dozen Olympic athletes since 1956.
Yes, the townfolk are well off financially. But Crouse said she realized its “secret to happiness and excellence can be traced to the way the town collectively raises its children. It stresses participation over prowess, a generosity of spirit over a hoarding of resources and sportsmanship over oneupmanship ... largely rejecting the hypercompetitive joy-wringing culture of today’s achievement-oriented parents. In Norwich, kids don’t specialize in a single sport, and they even root for their rivals.”
She adds that it doesn’t hurt that the city has poor cell service — less screen time to siphon away the kids’ attention.
Resume upload
Just when you thought everyone in Hollywood needed an agent to find a high-profile job.
USC’s potent athletic department appears to have resorted to rather pedestrian posts on Indeed.com in trying to attract attention to head coach openings for its baseball and beach volleyball programs. So what if it works? The baseball position, created when Dan Hubbs was fired in May, notes the candidate is “responsible for teaching all aspects of Baseball including analysis and skill development.”
The beach volleyball spot, open after the retirement of two-time national coach of the year Anna Collier last week, seeks someone more specific to “recruiting student athletes, both nationally and internationally who meet university academic and athletic standards.”
Just so we’re all clear, right Aunt Becky?
Don’t overthink it. The application process is only here through Saturday.