Ponder This

I once received some sage advice from my old man: "Accept that your team will never win it all." I still remember the context in which it was said, where I was and the conversation that sparked it. We were driving home from Game 4 of the 2001 NHL Western Conference Final at Savvis Center in downtown St. Louis. The hometown Blues had just lost a heartbreaker to the Colorado Avalanche (a game that saw the Avalanche score three goals in 78 seconds and another in overtime to seal it), and the Blues were now facing a grim 3-1 series deficit with a shift back to Denver. My father and I left the arena that night in bleak fashion, realizing the mountain they would have to climb to get back into the series. My dad and I at one of the hundreds of Blues games we attended together. It was only the second time the Blues had reached the third round of the playoffs in my lifetime, with the first coming in 1986, when I was a one-year-old. If you're wondering, yes, they lost that

Many bloggers make very educated suggestions in their blogs that coaches or managers may not have considered, since they are seeing it in a different light. A good sports blogger is someone who follows their own personal code of ethics, but also portrays the voice of the die-hard fans in an easy-to-understand written format. Being a fan and a new-school journalist is a big responsibility that the serious sports blogger understands. Many years ago, before I was granted media access by the St. Louis Blues NHL team, I wrote this portion of a large piece where I contested that nontraditional media should be considered for press-box access. I strongly believed this, as my main takeaways stressed that the people covering the team from a nontraditional source (blogs and podcasts) would tell the story that the traditional media can't. They don't have affiliations with the teams they are covering, nor do they have a producer or editor cutting down any negative comments about said team

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here, but life has been hectic. Having a 6-year-old, working a full-time gig (one that I am extremely grateful for), and hosting a very successful podcast definitely takes its toll. It also doesn’t leave a lot of room for free time. Speaking of that podcast I mentioned, something very exciting happened recently and I felt the need to write about it. For those who don’t listen, my St. Louis Blues hockey podcast, Lets Go Blues Radio, kicked off its seventh season this summer and we have started out with a bang. The original Blues podcast (yes, we were the first) had a big summer, as I decided to wrangle personalities in and around the Blues hockey team and interview one or two each week during the off months. Usually, we sign off for the summer, but I decided to try something different. The result? Our listenership more than tripled from our last regular season show in 2017-18 to our first live regular season show in 2018-19. When I began bra

In a world where the media convinces us we are all under attack while dog pictures and fail videos cover our social media channels instead of the world struggles we try to avoid everyday, it’s hard to find humanity, dignity and benevolence anywhere. Maybe you feel that you are looking in the wrong places, but then when you look at your family (whether it be your husband, girlfriend, parent or nephew), they are all staring down at their smartphones and, if you’re lucky, they’re half paying attention to what you need to say. It’s become a world that simply accepts carelessness and little attention to detail. It’s as if humanity has been replaced by selfishness or malevolence. Just six months ago, I would have told you that this was the way the world was completely trending and we just need to accept that humanity doesn’t live here anymore. My recent dealings have proven this theory incorrect, though. My father, Stan, shortly after being diagnosed with forms of leukemia As

Before I explain the tournament, I will explain the reason for the event. My father, Stan Ponder Sr., was diagnosed with myelofibrosis and myelodysplasia in July of this year. These are rare forms of leukemia that attack the blood cells and make it difficult for new cells to be made. Stan’s only option to fight this disorder was to undergo a bone marrow transplant, which was successfully conducted last Tuesday. However, Stan still faces an uphill battle to fight off the many complications that can come with a bone marrow transplant. As you may imagine, procedures such as this, as well as the numerous hospital visits, blood transfusions and other spendings, cost a pretty penny. This tournament is to help pay these expensive hospital bills that are accruing every day. To learn more about his disease and his progress, feel free to visit his GoFundMe page . Thanks to my good friends Jason and Annie Miller going through the rigors of setting up a tournament/charity event