Today is kind of a big deal.
On Jan. 26, 1995, the Kiel Center hosted its first St. Louis Blues game. Mike Keenan was behind the bench. Brett Hull was still on the ice. And outside on the sidewalk was the first fan-run paper covering the team inside. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the first issue of the "Game Night Revue."
If you've been coming here to GT for a while, you may have heard our story. Now 20 years ago, a crazy guy we call Jeffio became the publisher of a fan-run paper/program/whatever outside games after he saw an insane drunk guy do the same outside Blackhawks games in Chicago. Jeffio chronicled his and his friends' complaints about the Blues and Yuppie Heaven (seriously, there were pink and purple seats) for 10 years. Or in other words, until the NHL decided to shut the entire fucking league down for a full season. Bastards.
During the lockout, Jeffio said, "You know what, free time and sleep are fun." And he quit Game Night Revue. So a guy who wrote for several seasons, including the stories for the front page, decided to pick up the torch. And that's how Gallagher decided to start "Game Time" in November 2005. He trucked along with his operation (SWYD) until that little old lockout a few seasons ago. And while the league wasn't playing games, he realized, "You know what, free time and sleep are fun."
So a guy who wrote for several seasons, including the stories for the front page, decided to pick up the torch. And that's how I took over as publisher of "Game Time." This website was started in earnest in 2006 as a way to connect people with the paper and to have a place where readers could commiserate and converse. Of course this place has become its own thing entirely.
To celebrate this anniversary, we're doing two things. The first is Thursday night. We're going to have a special issue of the paper. We have columns from Jeffio and Gallagher. We have items and columns that ran in GNR and GT back in the day. AND we're going to have all of the regular items you'd expect for a normal edition of the paper. It's going to be the biggest issue of the regular season. We hope you'll be able to come on down and get one when the Blues face the Predators (we'll have it for purchase on the site too).
Finally, Friday night we're hosting a watch party at the Hot Shots on Manchester east of Highway 141. The Blues are visiting Carolina at 6 p.m. We're supposed to have a drink special during the game. Show up at 5:30 and tip a few back with me and some of the gang.
Trust me, 20 years is an incredible number. Before I became the publisher, I had no idea how Jeffio and Gallagher did it. Some games, I wish I didn't know now. Come to Hot Shots Friday and enjoy hopefully a good game and good company.