I grew up in the late 60s and 70s. My dad and I used to go to the Arena to see SLU hockey games. The Billikens were pretty good in those days, and I remember seeing several games against Lake Superior State over the years. That became a casualty of the Purina acquisition of the Blues and the Arena.
Going to a Blues game in those days was a big deal. Our neighbor had season tickets, and he would offer them to us if he couldn't make a game. I don't remember when I saw my first Blues game. I do remember a few Saturday afternoon games in the old place.
After I graduated from college and started working, I had football season tickets and would go to several Blues and Cardinals baseball games every year. The one time I remember most was a playoff game against Toronto, so it had to be in '86 or '87. For whatever reason, I offered to take a neighbor kid, a boy about 7 or 8. Nice kid, his dad worked odd hours, I was friendly with his parents and him, so I talked to his mom and she said okay.
Since it was his first game, I got seats in the first or second row, near the glass next to one of the corners. Not the best seats to see the entire ice (which is why they were available, I guess), but great if you want to experience the game. It was his first hockey game. He was excited but kind of quiet. Then there was a check into the boards where we got to see Rick Vaive's face up close (like pressed against the glass), and the kid was hooked. I suspect he is a Blues fan to this day.
And no, I didn't buy him a beer.
I remember my parents and I going to the arena for circuses and other non-sporting events.
I moved out of the area in '88, so I've not been to the new place. It looks great on TV, but the old barn was special. The league was full of those old places back then (Chicago Stadium, Boston Garden, the Forum in Montreal, Maple Leaf Garden) and while I never made it to any of the others, they all had character. They may have sounded like they were going to fall down at times, but that was part of the charm.
As for Bill Bidwill, he was a strange guy. It takes a different kind of person to fire a head coach by having the locks changed to the coach's office in the second half of the last home game of the season. But he had a point: the football Cardinals were always going to be a distant second to the baseball Cardinals. In a lot of ways, they were the proverbial "ugly stepchild."
Busch Stadium was not a good football venue, although I had some great times at games there. I was in attendance or Dan Dierdorf's last game. There were about 20,000 of us, including most of the regulars in the section where my seat was, it was cold, snowy, and we all had a blast.