One way or the other, the NFL should still be in St. Louis. Here’s my football wish list
Super Bowl wishes from a football fan without a favorite team who says he is boycotting the NFL but can’t stop watching games on TV ...
- I wish we had an NFL team in St. Louis.
- I wish we had that new riverfront stadium in downtown St. Louis. It would brighten the north side of a city that needs brightened.
- I wish we had Friday afternoon pep rallies, Sunday morning tailgates, and Monday morning quarterbacks.
- I wish the Super Bowl halftime show reverted to college marching bands; youth Punt, Pass and Kick competitions; or “Up With People” musical extravaganzas.
- I wish I had my own vintage, home team game-day jersey and a season ticket with my buddies.
- I wish we would have built a stadium for the football St. Louis Cardinals in the 1980s. That was all that owner Bill Bidwill wanted. He did not want to move his team to Arizona. We build that stadium 40 years ago and we still have the Big Red here today.
- I wish I was more of a Kansas City Chiefs fan. I was impressed with quarterback Patrick Mahomes wearing a Blues jersey in the St. Louis stands for the Stanley Cup finals in 2019.
- I wish there was a St. Louis Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- I wish John Madden and Pat Summerall were around to broadcast the big games.
- I wish Dan Dierdorf was on TV or radio more.
- I wish I cared about the Super Bowl TV commercials. I don’t pay attention.
- I wish I could order those meat nachos like they sold at the dome on Sunday.
- I wish I could go to an NFL game in St. Louis with my grandson, Reed, just like when I went to Big Red games with my grandpa and dad at Busch Stadium.
- I wish I could have lunch with former Big Red coach Gene Stallings. I liked his character and devotion to his special son. I liked him because when he had nothing good to say, he said nothing.
- I wish the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams would have become a dynasty and won more than one Super Bowl. They were that good. I feel lucky I experienced one Super Bowl. It’s amazing the Rams organization didn’t find a way to mess it up, too.
- I wish one of the following would sing the National Anthem: Whitney Houston, Kate Smith, Jackie Smith, Glen Campbell, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, John Prine, Luke Combs.
- I wish today’s game started a little earlier in the day.
- I wish businessman Shad Khan of Champaign would have had a chance to be owner of the St. Louis Rams and not the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- I wish Jim Hart would be considered seriously for the NFL Hall of Fame.
- I wish Joe Namath would have signed with the St. Louis Cardinals after they chose him with the 12th overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft. That would have been cool. I was 10 years old in 1969 when he predicted his underdog New York Jets would beat the favorite Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl. From that day forward, I was “Joe Willie” all-time quarterback in the backyard sandlot games.
- I wish there is one strong, compelling, united regional reason or cause on where to invest the money received from Stan Kroenke and the NFL. A sustaining cause — bigger than the NFL — that lasts many generations.
- I wish Dick Vermeil or Jim Hanifan could give me a pep talk on a Monday morning.
- I wish dapper Hank Stram was on the Chiefs sidelines today, in suit-and-tie, just looking sharp like Coach Stram.
- I wish today’s game doesn’t end on a penalty or mistake by one player.
- I wish I could feel the excitement again of being in the stands when a rookie running back named O.J. Anderson rushed for 193 yards against the Dallas Cowboys in 1979.
- I wish there was hope of an NFL team returning to St. Louis. Guess I’m lucky I experienced the old Big Red and St. Louis Rams being here and leaving here.
- I wish I had better luck.
Terry Mackin
Opinion Contributor,
Belleville News-Democrat