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By Randy Gardner

Here we go again with the injury bug that hits the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team early every season. They come out and lose the first game and several players go on the DL with injuries the first week.

Should we be worried? I say no because it happens every year. After players get back into the lineup, then pitching staff has several injuries. This is all part of the normal rotation for St. Louis Cardinals baseball.

The only time it really matters is in October, or maybe September when the team is battling to keep that division lead. Opening Day is just a few days away and is a tradition like no other here in St. Louis. Unfortunately, I have not been to an opening day game in several years after years of not missing one.

Do I miss the excitement around the day? Sure I do, but I don’t miss the traffic and parking headaches. The key is to get down there early and stay late. What a tone this day sets for the remainder of the home games for not only the players but for the fans. Unfortunately, the forecast now is it will be rainy with maybe a few thunderstorms rolling in during the day.

Will this dampen the enthusiasm of the fans? I say probably not but it does dampen the aura of the feeling of walking into a sun-filled Busch Stadium as the sun glistens off the beautifully green manicured grass. If you close your eyes, I bet you can almost feel those feelings of the fans, the smell of the hot dogs, and the cheers and anticipation of the fans. That’s what makes Cardinals’ baseball great.

Just 1 Negative Event Can Ruin a Career

I always talk about how one simple event can hurt you for life. I stress this with my kids, along with all of my players on my teams. The perfect example is Abby Wambach of the Women’s US National Team. She was pulled over for a alleged traffic violation and reportedly given a DUI. What I heard on Monday was that at least one of the commercials she does on TV had been pulled. How this will hurt her legacy in the end–I don’t know.

I know people deserve 2nd chances; people make mistakes but if you don’t put yourself in one of these situations, it won’t happen in the first place.

Drinking and driving is a bad thing. I don’t care what you think you can do after your drinking–driving is not one of those. Not only do you put yourself in harm’s way but look at all of the innocent families that have lost loved ones because of others’ negligence in this matter.

After one of the greatest sporting careers of anyone in the sports industry, after all of her records, this one action, this one night, this one event will tarnish that forever. As an athlete you want to be a role model for others and events such as these are hard to explain to the younger ones that idolize what these individuals do both on and off the field.

Remember, the biggest influence in a child’s life is you.

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