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A Look Back at 2011: The Good, The Bad and Amazing Cardinals
12/29/2011
By Tom Anselm
As years come to their end, it’s traditional to look back at events and people of the last 12 calendar pages. So here goes my somewhat jaded view of 2011.
On the national level, we saw the end of the ten-year search for that tall bearded guy, and I’m not talking Santa Claus. Osama bin Laden met his Maker, or The Other Guy, and ended up at the bottom of the deep blue sea back in May. The remarkable thing about this event is that it worked so well.
Not that I consider our nation’s military not capable. Far from it. It’s just that I recall back when President Jimmy Carter tried a similar strike to free the Iran hostages that went so very badly.
Locally, the City of Florissant got a new mayor last April.
Tom Schneider has occupied the seat held by only two other guys in the modern era of that town, Robert Lowery and James Eagan. Schneider is no stranger to Florissant governance, after over three decades as a councilman. Luckily, the Occupy Movement didn’t get as far as North County, thus saving Mr. Schneider from an early-term crisis.
As long as we’re on politics, County Executive Charley Dooley was beginning to resemble The Grinch over his proposal to close county parks, several of them in our area, then threatened to sell off the land to help ease the budget crisis. But now we see that layoffs of the park maintenance staff is the new plan. So, keep the parks and bounce the guys who take care of them? From Grinch to Scrooge?
And we still are waiting to hear what’s new on the future of the Jamestown Mall property that was such the hot topic right before the last election. Our elected officials in the State Legislature couldn’t get out of their own way to figure out how to promote trade with the manufacturers in China, as the so-called China Hub failed to gain acceptance. That’s bad news for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and surrounding businesses. I had hoped we could have landed some landings, and boosted not only our region, but also been able to put some pressure on the guy who had tanks drive over his own people a few years back.
The Blues are looking like Stanley Cup contenders for one of the few times in recent history at the same time that the Rams are sinking to a point where they might have a hard time competing in the Suburban North conference. And how ‘’bout them Cardinals? They fooled me big this year, presenting us all with quite an exciting fall. You could say that they “Occupy World Champs”. It took some of the sting away from the poor showings by the Male Sheep, and helped ease the economic woes of downtown St. Louis. Especially if you had the Rally Squirrel tee-shirt concession.
We saw the retirement of Tony LaRussa, bringing to an end the mullet as a fashion statement in the home team dugout. Although Lance Berkmann is close. However, I hear that the new skipper Mike Matheny also enhances the color of his frock, so things may not seem that different. And of course, in the biggest news to hit our city since Lindbergh flew to Paris and had the longest street in the county named after him, The Man, Albert Pujols, has flown to the Angels. I for one am thrilled to see him go, but do feel sad for all who put such faith in him. Simply put, he had a chance to be the second greatest Cardinal, and he blew it.
I could go on, but my space must be used wisely. Besides, as the saying goes… “the Past is history, the Future a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it ‘The Present’. And as this new year begins, I wish you all the greatest of “presents”.
