Name-calling in the NLCS

Apparently, I root for pond scum.\nAt least that's what St. Louis told me. \nThey had it written on their shirts and scribbled in black ink on their posters. After driving four hours Saturday to Missouri, I came to one conclusion: St. Louis Cardinals fans piss me off.\nMaybe it's because we are still in the throes of the National League Championship Series. Or maybe it's because the New York Mets fans were embarrassed last Saturday night after doling out 120 big ones to see Steve Trachsel start. I got it! It must be because of those flamboyant red goatees everyone wears!\nThis animosity in Gotham vs. Gateway stems back further than our natural lives -- at least for college students. The current battle for the National League pennant has a similar flavor. Former division rivals, who battled for top spots in the NL for most of the mid-1980s, regained its fire. \nNot necessarily on the field but definitely in the stands. \nIt was like I was traveling back in time in a DeLorean with Christopher Lloyd dressed in a radiation suit. Our destination: an ambiguous period in the mid-1980s. What I thought was a flashback into baseball's luxurious past was actually an awful hangover that took two hours to dissolve en route to St. Louis. Nonetheless, the antipathy among fans still burned.\nThe city was pretty quiet prior to the game. The townspeople gathered at The Outfield at Mike Shannon's -- a bar sponsored by the Cardinals' broadcaster. They were nice to the contingent of Mets fans who dared enter the enemy's lair, though they forced us to drink Anheuser-Busch products. I felt like asking for a Miller Lite to get them annoyed. \nLike tourists, we walked over to the Gateway Arch. It didn't seem like anything special. We also saw the Mighty Mississippi. It didn't seem too mighty. During all this sightseeing, we got disparaging looks from the natives. \nThey saw the 1986 New York Mets in us, with all the drama and arrogance that went with them -- the drugs, the alcohol, the cockiness and the fights that made up the Pond Scum. Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and St. Louis import Keith Hernandez fought with Tom Herr, John Tudor, Terry Pendleton and Ozzie Smith from 1985 to 1988 for the NL East crown. In those years, the teams exchanged titles. They also exchanged heartbreak and animosity. \nHow could a rivalry forgotten be revitalized in the wake of a pretty sluggish pennant race? In the stands.\nAs we walked into the new Busch Stadium, our shoulders were square and our heads focused on the issue at hand -- not letting the natives outdo us as baseball fans. We sang our "Meet the Mets" songs and clapped until our hands turned as red as Scott Spiezio's trendy goatee.\nI started this road trip with the hopes that the Mets were going to win one for the "Big Smile" (as some of my friends so eloquently term me). But that smile was turned upside down. Then that frown started to utter expletives.\nThe Mets lost, and the same Cardinals fans who screamed "Pond Scum" also screamed "Series is over" and "Mets suck!" I took my licks as a visiting fan with grace. For these Redbird fans, it was like 1985 all over again. \nTo them, the Mets are pond scum; to me, the Cardinals are laughable frauds. The atmosphere at this game was that of a circus. People showed up late to this playoff game, arriving in the second inning sporting their newly pasted red goatees. Waving the towels vigorously, they acted like middle-aged women at a strip club looking for a quick night thrill. I, on the other hand, crawled back to the car like a degenerate gambler losing $120 on the sure-fire favorite at the horse track. \nSure, my trip to St. Louis wasn't ideal. In the end, I wonder if this rivalry can be revitalized despite being separated by divisions, seeing as how the fans still piss each other off. Probably not. \nNo matter what happens in this series between the Pond Scum and the newly-termed Laughable Frauds, one thing is for sure: Our hockey team is better than yours.