Whose Team Are You On?

It's an epic struggle...and I'm not talking about that silly debate about vampires and werewolves.  Oh no, this one, my friends, is older...and the fate of young minds is at stake.  OK...not really, but it's been a point of contention in my house lately...so the battle rages on...and the question I pose to you is this...are you on Team Steve or Team Joe? (yes, it presumes that you your kids even watch Blues Clues)

The show's been a big hit in our house ever since SweetPea was about one.  When Lil Buddy came along, he quickly fell in love with Blue too...even more than his sister did.  For the longest time, he didn't care whether it was Steve or Joe hosting the show...just as long as he got to see Blue...until about a month ago.  Out of the blue (sorry, I couldn't resist), he started getting agitated whenever an episode of Blues Clues came on that didn't have Joe in it.  At first, I totally didn't get it.  I'd ask "do you want me to turn Blue off?" and he's shake his head violently and say "noooooooooo".  One day he says "JOE!" and it hit me...he wasn't upset because he didn't want to see Blue anymore...he just didn't want to see Steve.  Conclusion: Lil Buddy is in the Team Joe camp all the way...which got me wondering...why exactly is Joe top dog?  I have some theories...

1. Steve only had the striped green shirt and khakis. Joe, on the other hand...got to wear his super swell square shirt in all sorts of colors...red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple (the purple one is my favorite)

2. Joe's handy dandy notebook was nicer.  Steve got the snoozer green cover with the picture of the Thinking Chair on it.  Joe got the cool notebook that looked like the Thinking Chair.  In "Meet Blue's Baby Brother" (a big favorite around here), they even gave him a sparkly gold version of the notebook.  Pretty keen.

3.  In Joe's lifetime on the show, he actually got to meet the talking Blue (thanks to Blue's Room).  Personally, I always wondered why everyone...the salt and pepper shakers, the mailbox and even the freakin soap could talk, but none of the dogs (Blue, Magenta and Green Puppy) could...until Blue's Room.  For his part...even though he's all Team Joe, Lil Buddy is not hip to Blue's Room.  I guess the talking Blue is not for him.

4.  Joe had better hair...and more of it.  Yeah, it's a low blow...but true.  Seeing Steve's hair slowly disappear over the years was a little sad.

5.  Joe just seemed like a happier guy.  Sure, Steve was pretty peppy in the beginning (looking back at the old episodes, I kinda wonder if he was tripping on X...but that's just me), but there was always an air of "I'm being beat down by the soul crushing angst of being an insanely popular character on a killer hit kid's TV show when I'd rather be a hip indie rock god like Billy Corgan" to him.  Boo freakin hoo Steve-o...Bob from Sesame Street has been on that damn show since before I was born and is still as cheery as ever...get over it.  By the time Steve "went to college" it was obvious that he didn't want to be there anymore.  Joe, on the other hand...was his happy Joe self until the very end.

The more I think about it...the more I tend to agree...Team Joe is the place to be.  Either that or this whole thing is proof that I've watched WAY too many episodes of Blues Clues and really need to get a life.

Now it's time for so long...