Wednesday, October 21

The best thing about the "Tarps Off" craze that swept Busch Stadium over the weekend was that if the Cardinals had tried to plan it, it would have never worked.

All great ideas have to grow organically. Would Busch Stadium have ever had a section of the park full of shirtless dudes screaming chants after every pitch had the Stephen F. Austin club team not strolled downtown after a game in Alton, Ill., and decided to get a little goofy? Of course not. But it did happen. And it’s what happens next that matters the most.

It is no secret that the Cardinals have dealt with some attendance issues the last few years. There are a variety of reasons for that -- and even more opinions about the reasons for that -- but implicit in the understanding of those attendance issues is that no one believes there is anything permanent to them. The Cardinals have one of the most vast and loyal fanbases in all of professional sports -- just go to any Cardinals road game and count the red jerseys you see if you have any doubt about that -- and they are going to fill Busch Stadium again, likely sooner rather than later.

The last three seasons have featured their occasional moments (remember, the Cardinals were nine games over .500 in late June last year), but they have also been three of the least successful Cardinals seasons this century. The result, naturally, has been a quieter, more sedate environment at the ballpark -- and a lot more empty seats. You have to give fans reasons to come back.

The Cardinals, this season, have done so. It’s important to remember that.

The reason the atmosphere was so exciting at Busch over the weekend wasn’t just because some college dudes took off their shirts. It’s because the Cardinals are not only playing well, they’re doing so with a young, exciting, absolutely relentless team that keeps finding new, thrilling and unquestionably fun ways to win games. The joy that the team took from the shirtless fans over the weekend -- the reason they were not only invited into the clubhouse, but instantly felt like they belonged there -- was in part because, well, those Tarps Off fans and the players they were cheering on are of the same generation. They were all having fun together. You can’t invent that. You can’t construct that. It’s something that just happens. The Stephen F. Austin kids were just the kindling. The team is the fire.

And the joy is contagious, and contagious in a way that all Cardinals fans can unite around, not just young kids. Simply ask Cardinals legend Julian Javier, nearing his 90th birthday, living in the Dominican Republic and very much wanting to be a part of the party.

It’s a ready-made meme -- even the name "Tarps Off" is catchy -- and one that fits this year’s team like a glove. (The highlight of the clubhouse video had to be Iván Herrera taking off his jersey.) And not only did the Rivalry Weekend crowd liven up a once-dormant Busch Stadium for a series win over the Royals, it also feels legitimately new. The crowd was so loud, constantly, throughout, that it felt like a World Cup soccer supporter section, with chants and songs and vocal joyousness that you rarely see at any baseball game, let alone at Busch Stadium. It made you want to be a part of it. How could it not?

There has been some hesitation among some Cardinals fans to fully embrace this team so far, not because they’re not fun -- they obviously are -- but because this is not how this season was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a learning season, one in which the Cardinals figured out what they had, which players were a part of their future and which prospects would start to emerge. Those things are all still happening, for what it’s worth: You’ll be seeing Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Herrera and other stalwarts of this roster for years to come. But this team also is winning, and they’re doing so in a way that’s not just purely enjoyable, but also quite different than even some of the better Cardinals teams this century have. They’re doing it with joy and youth and sometimes heedless abandon.

It is something Cardinals fans have not seen before, or at least not in a long time. Could you believe in this team? Is this “sustainable?” That’s the question many Cardinals fans have asked in the first two months. Is a fall-off coming?

There may still be one: This is a young team. But the "Tarps Off" phenomenon is an invitation to let go of those reservations, to embrace the possibility and joy of this team the way those young fans, and the team itself, has. How’s it going to work out? We will see. But c’mon -- how fun is this? Don’t you want to be a part of it?

After all: In the last appearance of the Stephen F. Austin crew at the ballpark -- for now! -- on Tuesday night, Iván Herrera sent them into pure lunacy one more time.

In two weeks, my 11-year-old son and I are making our first trip to Busch Stadium this season. It has been planned for a few months, and I’ve had the tickets for weeks. While watching the games this weekend, my son asked to see the tickets. I gave him my phone, and as he looked at them, he asked: “Are these where those guys are sitting? That’s where I want to sit.” He has already told me, no matter where we sit, he’s taking his shirt off. “Tarps off!” my 11-year-old screamed in our living room.

You can’t manufacture that. You just have to let it happen. Something exciting is happening at Busch Stadium -- on the field and off. We all knew it was coming at some point. Maybe not exactly like this, and certainly not this soon. But happening it is. So: Tarps Off!

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