Like many teen aged boys in the 1980s, I had a thing for Laura Branigan, she of the sequinned body suit and awesome wiggle who sang various hits, including the English language version cover of the Italian hit Gloria (with modified lyrics and addition of a post disco dance sound).
Recently, when idly browsing Wikipedia and wanting to learn more about of her untimely passing at an early age, I discovered that the cultural impact of her hit Gloria continues to resound.
In 2019, the NHL team the St Louis Blues was having a very bad season. Then several of their players visited a Philadelphia bar, where during the commercial breaks for an NFL broadcast, the bar would, at the constant demand of the patrons, play Gloria.
When they next played, the St Louis Blues played Gloria in their changing room after they won, and it became their victory anthem for the 2019 season.
They played Gloria often that season – including in a record 11 game winning streak, and when they won the Stanley Cup at the end of the season – their first ever ice hockey championship.
And they sold many St Louis Blues jerseys featuring ‘Brannigan 82’ on them.
As a lover of the underdog sporting team (ie lifelong Western Bulldogs supporter in the AFL and recent adopter of the Cleveland Browns in the NFL), as well as someone who always loved Laura Brannigan and her music in my youth, how could I not choose to now adopt the St Louis Blues as my NHL team?
[After all, ice hockey is very much a sport with an underdog theme to it which would appeal to me. We have the supposed ‘miracle on ice’ (ie the 1980 Winter Olympic gold medal victory of the USA over the USSR), the Mighty Ducks, and (my very favourite) Sean William Scott’s enforcer character in the Goon series of films.]
Go St Louis!
Lost For Words! 