{"id":18015,"date":"2017-08-23T12:44:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T18:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=18015"},"modified":"2017-08-23T12:44:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T18:44:14","slug":"eclipse-surpassed-all-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=18015","title":{"rendered":"Eclipse Surpassed All Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Randy<\/a>
Randy Gardner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Randy Gardner<\/p>\n

I was the first one on the face of this planet to say that I thought the eclipse was going to be no big deal. I didn\u2019t even care about it at all, but after spending the hour or so watching this spectacular event, I totally changed my mind. I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to get to my kids school and spend the hour with them. I am really glad I did because, as expected, both of my little ones were taking the glasses and moving them around on<\/p>\n

their faces, I don\u2019t know what would have happened if I wasn\u2019t there. I applaud the schools that stayed open and used this day as a learning opportunity but it also does scare me that it would only take a jokester or one lapse of judgment from a kid to change their lives forever.<\/p>\n

\"Ind<\/a> \"Ind<\/a> \"Ind<\/a> \"Ind<\/a> A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ultimately, seeing the event was a once in a lifetime experience for many. It is hard to believe that people were driving for hours and hours to get to the perfect spot to see it. St. Louis sometimes gets a bad rap for many things, but for once we were in the line of something great. What a change it was to see the sky with the glasses compared to without. When the sky started to turn dark, there was an eerie feeling of the end of the world, but then as quickly as it became dark, the bright white light filled the sky as though someone turned on a light bulb. For most of the rest of the day, there was a different feel to the day and the look of the sky. It was a lot of anticipation for just a moment in time. I equated this an athlete who spends years training for one run or one event. The event is over in a blink of an eye. I am really hoping that during the next few years there will not be an influx of eye problems with kids and adults around the country. What a shame it would be for a child to lose his eyesight. The entire event was a cool spectacle, though.<\/p>\n

(Eclipse Photos by Dan Lindsey)<\/em><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Cardinals Take Fans on a Rollercoaster<\/h3>\n

Speaking of really cool spectacles, how about watching the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals play before the start of the Little League World Series Tournament? You could tell that the guys were having a ton of fun as I saw more smiles during that game than I had seen in a long time. What was really cool was hearing the crack of the bat. It sounded so differently in that small stadium\u2014just like it sounds when watching Little League games.<\/p>\n

What would happen if all of the games were moved to these smaller venues? Would the players take less money to play, would the fans be willing to go more often if the seats were cheaper and they were closer to the action. I think so, in my opinion. As far as the Cardinals are concerned, I don\u2019t know what to think. One day they\u2019re up and the next they\u2019re down. I have always been a Mike Matheny fan, but he has the St. Louis fans on a roller coaster and they hate that.<\/p>\n

This is the fastest way to lose his job. The fans expect to win. It is nice to see a player be ticked off when something goes wrong. It shows passion and it seems like the Cards are a little low on that right now. It is a very long season, so many things can happen, We\u2019ll jut have to wait and see and regroup over the off season.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Who Can We Root For This Football Season?<\/h3>\n

As far as football is concerned, are the St. Louis fans even rooting for anybody out there? I leave you with that as a question. Without a team here in St. Louis, who are you rooting for and for what reason?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Randy Gardner I was the first one on the face of this planet to say that I thought the eclipse was going to be no big deal. I didn\u2019t even care about it at all, but after spending the hour or so watching this spectacular event, I totally changed my mind. I was fortunate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,9,14,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackjack-spanishlake","category-columnists","category-events","category-ferguson","category-florissant","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nEclipse Surpassed All Expectations - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=18015\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eclipse Surpassed All Expectations - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Randy Gardner I was the first one on the face of this planet to say that I thought the eclipse was going to be no big deal. 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