Where Were You?: A Reflection of the Cardinal Nation

As I sat reading Buzz Bissinger and Tony La Russa’s 3 Nights in August I began thinking of the phenomenon that is Cardinals Nation. Growing up, you hear those familiar questions: Where were you when JFK was shot? (not born yet) or when 9/11 happened (getting ready for my Anthropology class in college). We, the Cardinal Nation have different questions, and not just the familiar “Where’d you go to high school?” (Fort Zumwalt South). Our questions deal with the team we have come to worship. Where were you when Mark McGwire hit number 62? (sitting in my family room with my parents). The question that got me started on this little rant was “Where were you when Daryl Kyle died?” I remember this one vividly. I was at work at the time, and a coworker came and told me. I was shocked and saddened, but what I saw was something else. What I saw was just how deep the Cardinal Nation feeling really goes. If you would have talked, or even looked, at my coworker you would think a close relative died. I remember him calling his wife and telling her. That’s when I realized how deep Cardinal blood runs. Two tragedies happened that week, with the passing of DK and Jack Buck. People talk about how united the country was after 9/11, but I say, there is nothing like the unison that comes about through the Cardinal Nation, whether it be the deaths of two legends or taking a trip to the World Series. United we stand, but there is no dividing us. We are Cardinals fans.