Here is a feel good story (unless you think about it hard enough)

It’s something of a trend, lately, for elderly fans (usually women, because men are too dumb to take care of themselves) to be introduced as they finally see their teams reach success. There are all manner of Chicago Cubs fans, Sister Jean and her Loyola Ramblers in the NCAA tournament, and Millie, the 100 year old Minnesota Vikings fan. Now, we have Caroline, the Blues fan.

"I prayed for it, but I never believed it would happen. But it was like magic touching that Cup."🏆

Today, 101-year-old Blues fan Caroline Laska got to live out a dream and touch the Stanley Cup.

And yes, it was adorable. pic.twitter.com/TOZqMQMIwN

— Corey Miller (@corey_miller5) August 27, 2019

This is great! Caroline is lovely, and I’m happy that she got to see her team win the Cup. It was a dream! Now, that said, I am a numbers guy, and I inevitably started doing some math. I think it’s important to point out that Caroline did not say that this was a lifelong dream.

The Blues came to St. Louis in 1967, which means, depending on Caroline’s birthday, she was 49 or 50. The Blues’ Cup win was definitely not a lifelong dream, because when they came into being, she had already accomplished a lot. She probably raised a family, and may already have been a grandmother. If she worked, she was probably counting the months to retirement when St. Louis got it’s NHL Franchise.

If they wanted to get someone who has actually watched the Blues their whole life, and suffered through the misery that came with watching that team, they could talk to Todd who would need to take time off from working the lines for Ameren to stop by and see the Cup. The problem for Todd, though, is that there are countless middle aged Todds, Warrens, Susans, Darrels and Peggys, while there is perhaps only one Caroline.

I’m not trying to criticize Caroline, or the Blues fans for their elation at the Blues winning the Cup. Far be it for me, a Wild fan, to make fun of the fans of an expansion team from it’s birth to be overjoyed at their team’s success. I’m happy for them, genuinely.

The problem here is that the media is exploitative. Caroline didn’t ask for this interview, and she certainly didn’t ask for it to show up on NHL.com. This is simply the NHL looking to score some positive PR, and they are using Caroline because she is more photogenic than Todd.