The Redbirds Report Sports New Look

In a shameless attempt to attract more viewers - and therefore to perhaps make enough money from my time to buy an extra six-pack per month - The Redbirds Report is now master of it's own domain.  If you are among the lucky few who have picking up the pearls of wisdom dropping from these swines' mouth for the past couple of weeks, you have noticed the changes.  We have made a deliberate effort to incorporate the colors of the St. Louis Cardinals uniforms into our new look.  These are not the exact shades as the uniform colors do not correspond to an attractive, comfortable reading experience, but we've tried hard to give the site that sort of feel:

• Cardinal Red for the title and accents.
• The dark blue used for links
• The grey of the road uniforms behind the title
• Old-school road uniform powder-blue for border images and post footers circa 1982
• Home uniform bleached white for the body of the site

For those that have checked in to check out what we are doing, please leave a comment to let us know if you like the changes.  And rest assured, your existing bookmarks and RSS feeds should not need adjusting for the near future.  For those of you new here, we welcome all feedback as well.


With plenty of time but no money to spend, our dreams for this site have just begun.  Slowly we shall invest in a more professional look and feel to The Redbirds Report.  A full site redesign is being worked on, and we are continuing to sharpen our rather amateurish writing skills.  It's only been a short time we've been sharing our (unnecessary?) views on the St. Louis Cardinals, but we've really enjoyed the work, and have been encouraged by the folks who have read our work.  We do this not in a chase for the riches that that the interwebs promise, but more as a shameless ploy to become part of the UCB.

Being from southern Illinois, I know many Cardinal fans graduated from, or sent their children to, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.  Therefore we will soon unveil Saluki Nation Worldwide - a much needed source of news and commentary about SIU athletics.  We hope to have it launched before the beginning of another dominating season of the Saluki football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. 

This blogging stuff isn't easy if it's good, and look to your right and peruse the Essential Reading list.  Most of you are probably familiar with these sites, and if you aren't you should be.  Also, since this stuff comes with no salary nor health care, The Redbirds Report will occasionally feature an item from Amazon.com as a way of supporting the GDP of the good ol' USA.  Being good Americans, but poor capitalists, we will only feature books and products we have read, used, and believe in.  In fact, here's a great one to use as an example:



One of America's greatest historical authors, the late David Halberstam looks at the 1964 World Series between the fabled but fading New York Yankees and the upstart St. Louis Cardinals.  Not a rote historical report on that epic Fall Classic, instead Halberstam uses baseball as a harbinger of radical social change in regards to Civil Rights in the United States.  Here the Yankees epitomize the staid, conservative, and fading generation that dismisses and distrusts Blacks, while the Cardinals stand as a new breed - a racially integrated group that in the year of the Civil Rights Act that echoes Martin Luther King's eloquent dream of a nation where Blacks "will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."  A dream that wouldn't blossom fully until the children of that era grew to have children of their own.
Halberstam was an fabulous writer able to put down on paper an easy read that nonetheless leads the reader to thoughtful introspection.  Here Cardinal fans will find fascinating stories about some of their heroes.  Bob Gibson and Bill White are featured often.  One of the most powerful and lasting books about the sports world I have ever read, and one that I harken to often.  It is highly recommended, and of the highest caliber.
     - Review by Michael Turner 




Available in Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, or download to your Kindle.  Or if you wish to catch up on the storied history of the St. Louis Cardinals, there is no better resource on the web than Bob Netherton's wonderful Throatwarbler's Blog.  Enjoy!