Most annoying thing you discovered upon moving to St Louis (St. Louis: restaurants, price)

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

I was there in the 1970s and 80s and it wasn't like today. No one wore red ribbons on opening day and the media wasn't constantly hyping the Cardinals. I am from St. Louis and visit often and want the city to do well, but it is overkill with regards to the Cardinals.

The Cardinals didn't have a single World Series win between 1967 and 1982, nor did they have any National League Pennant wins in the 70s. Meanwhile they have won in 2006 and 2011 though. They have also consistently been making the playoffs the last couple of decades. I'm sure that doesn't play into it at all.

Sports in St. Louis in general are big, especially when the teams do well. The Blues are a massive draw, and the Rams were frankly lucky they received the support that they did considering how abysmal they were for a decade.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by PerseusVeil

The Cardinals didn't have a single World Series win between 1967 and 1982, nor did they have any National League Pennant wins in the 70s. Meanwhile they have won in 2006 and 2011 though. They have also consistently been making the playoffs the last couple of decades. I'm sure that doesn't play into it at all.

Sports in St. Louis in general are big, especially when the teams do well. The Blues are a massive draw, and the Rams were frankly lucky they received the support that they did considering how abysmal they were for a decade.

True. If the cardinals blow chunks like they did in the 90s especially early 90s, they wouldn't sell out now. McGwire drew fans in the late 90s and that carried over into 2000 when the Cardinals became good again.

The Blues when they're horrible attendance suffers like the first 3 years after the 2004 lockout I'd usually go down to the lower bowel after the first period and grab a seat since the games didn't have a lot of people.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

I was there in the 1970s and 80s and it wasn't like today. No one wore red ribbons on opening day and the media wasn't constantly hyping the Cardinals. I am from St. Louis and visit often and want the city to do well, but it is overkill with regards to the Cardinals.

Not in the 70's but the current craze certainly started in the 80's with Whitey-ball. 82 World Champs, made 85 and 87 World Series.

And don't discount the 70's completely, good players like Brock (recall the Brock umbrella) and Ted Simmons, the Mad Hungarian.

There were plenty of empty seats in those days (the 70's). Winning cures everything.

I'm a Mizzou football fan and I got tired of hearing how great the Nebraska football fans were. They went something like 30 years without winning less than 9 games a year and going to a bowl game every year. Easy to be great fans then. Same is now true to an extent with Cardinal fans the last 20 years or so - I agree with that.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by MUTGR

Not in the 70's but the current craze certainly started in the 80's with Whitey-ball. 82 World Champs, made 85 and 87 World Series.

And don't discount the 70's completely, good players like Brock (recall the Brock umbrella) and Ted Simmons, the Mad Hungarian.

There were plenty of empty seats in those days (the 70's). Winning cures everything.

I'm a Mizzou football fan and I got tired of hearing how great the Nebraska football fans were. They went something like 30 years without winning less than 9 games a year and going to a bowl game every year. Easy to be great fans then. Same is now true to an extent with Cardinal fans the last 20 years or so - I agree with that.

Most of the 90s sucked too for the Cardinals except 1996, then McGwire was a one man show for the 3 years the cards were otherwise not good at all those 3 years. I certainly think McGwire rejuvenated the fanbase and at the tail end of his career the cardinals started their run of 7 straight seasons of winning records.

We will see how the Blues do this year. Not big on Elliott, Brouwer and Backes leaving. They will make the playoffs, but I don't see them going to the Conference finals again unless they make some improvements now. I can see them going out in the first round once again.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by maxx233

I'll be very curious to see if this same response pops up when I post the same question to other cities lol. Every city always seems to think they've got the worst drivers in my experience!

That and the fact that when you ask for opinions of cities - or anything else for that matter - you seem to always get more complaints than praises. I have been here eight years and I have never run into 99% of the problems people keep saying St Louis has.

Just to prove my point about complaints: My only problem is finding my way around because the streets are not laid out on a grid plan. Am I really going north in order to get south?

Praise. The friendliness and openness of the people is outstanding.

[U146]

For me the most annoying thing about St. Louis has always been the weather. The summers here are awful, and the winters while not severe still can get bonechillingly cold. The mosquitoes too can be bad depending on where you're at.

[OpanaPointer]

I compare anywhere I live to the time I resided on the slopes of Mt. Etna, when I was stationed in Sicily with the USN.

Trust me, it's not all that bad here.

[Sundaydrive00]

Originally Posted by zach_33

1) It's hard to find an Italian restaurant that doesn't smother the food in provel cheese. Provel, if you haven't had it, is an unnaturally tangy cheese-food with provolone as its base that St. Louisans put on all Italian food and their home-style pizza. For the non-native, it is usually pretty offensive, at least at first.

I can't think of a single Italian restaurant where i eat that puts provel cheese on my I order. Unless you count Imos as an Italian restaurant, which I don't.

2) The city has this great French history and everyone completely butcher's the French names of the local city streets (e.g., Old Bonhomme, Gravois, Chouteau). This is probably only annoying if you know French.

Or if you think St. Louis is in France, which it's not.

3) Suburban folks undying love and devotion to the Cardinals baseball team. I know its a point of home town pride, but I feel like the locals take it a little too far. It's almost embarrassing.

Embarrassing to be a fan of one of the best teams in baseball? You and I obviously have different definitions of what embarrassing means.

[Leo58]

Originally Posted by zach_33

A couple of things I found annoying that I would consider endemic to the area:
1) It's hard to find an Italian restaurant that doesn't smother the food in provel cheese. Provel, if you haven't had it, is an unnaturally tangy cheese-food with provolone as its base that St. Louisans put on all Italian food and their home-style pizza. For the non-native, it is usually pretty offensive, at least at first.
2) The city has this great French history and everyone completely butcher's the French names of the local city streets (e.g., Old Bonhomme, Gravois, Chouteau). This is probably only annoying if you know French.
3) Suburban folks undying love and devotion to the Cardinals baseball team. I know its a point of home town pride, but I feel like the locals take it a little too far. It's almost embarrassing.

But hey, when in Rome....

Agree with all three. Provel "cheese", and St Louis-style pizza in general, is truly disgusting.


Regarding the freeway on ramp speed though, it's not the worst. Every time I've driven through Pennsylvania I've noticed the custom there is to come to the end of an onramp and STOP! No concept of merging...very dangerous.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by Leo58

Agree with all three. Provel "cheese", and St Louis-style pizza in general, is truly disgusting.


Regarding the freeway on ramp speed though, it's not the worst. Every time I've driven through Pennsylvania I've noticed the custom there is to come to the end of an onramp and STOP! No concept of merging...very dangerous.

You don't "stop", "look" and "??" before merging? OK but what if some idiot is barreling down the highway without regard for lanes and tries to move over into empty space where he doesn't belong?

Well, nevermind. I am not a driver. So, lots I don't understand. And you are right. As a rule, there is no stopping.