The real winner of the Stanley Cup Finals wasn't Ryan O'Reilly, Jordan Binnington, or the St. Louis dive bar economy. It was this kid…
https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1139022572421570560
But after him there was no bigger winner in the city of St. Louis on Wednesday night than Tony X, perhaps best known as the "just discovered hockey guy." Back in 2016, with the Blues facing the Blackhawks in yet another postseason Game 7, Mr. X, as he shall from henceforth be known, stumbled upon his destiny while looking for the Cardinals game. What followed was one of the great Tweet threads in the history, chronicling Mr. X's descent from pucks noob to full-bore convert over the course of two incredible hours. Here are some of the highlights:
Now one might assume his interest in hockey and, by regional proxy, the Blues would have waned after that hot-and-heavy start, but as St. Louis' first-ever Stanley Cup Finals triumph on Wednesday night proved, Mr. X is a battle-tested lifer now, surviving one of the most emotionally dizzying seasons in sports history to emerge a champion…
It goes on like this for awhile, but unlike so many things on the hellgate known as Twitter, it never feels inauthentic or forced or performative. It's just an actual hockey fan losing their mind because they willingly chose a lifetime of suffering…and for once it paid off. So congratulations Mr. X/St. Louis/out-of-market Blues fans everywhere. This is your moment. Enjoy it, because it might very well be another 52 years until the next one.