Around this time of the year for the past 4 years, I start missing the Expos. Yes the Olympic Stadium was like a giant toilet, the Astro Turf was shit (ask Alou and Vlad!) and the hot-dogs weren't the best. But man, was it ever fun to be able to go to ball games on a regular basis. I wish Quebec people wouldn't have been such wussies and actually got behind the downtown Labatt Park plans. Whenever I see the plans, I can only think about how great it would've been to be able to walk from my apartment to the ballpark, beer in hand, just chill. I think Claude Brochu wasn't the man the media paint him out to be. He actually cared about this team and really wanted those plans to go forward. Instead, we sold the team to a certain Jeffrey Loria and, well, the rest is history. No more $10 seats, no more $1 hot-dog nights, no more Les Amours.
So who am I left rooting for? Ever since Pedro was traded to the Red Sox I've been following them. I've watched my favorite player have the best back-to-back seasons ('99 and '00) of any pitchers from this era. I've seen 'em reverse the curse and come back from a 0-3 deficit to beat The Evil Empire in the ALCS. Probably one of the best Championship Series I've ever seen. When Pedro sent a shout out to Montreal fans after the World Series victory, I couldn't help but think "What if 1994 never happened?". But since then, management has been trying to turn them into the whitest team in pro sports, I kinda have a hard time with them. Trading Manny, one of the best right-handed hitters of this generation, for "clubhouse guys" aka "boring white dudes" doesn't impress me. But I guess it works well with the South Boston fanbase. Without a doubt, I'm a big fan of Dominican players.
I've been kinda following the Brewers as well. Especially when they picked up CC "Black" Sabathia last year, probably the most dominant pitcher in the bigs right now. Unfortunately, the Yankees offered him the most lucrative contract ever given to a pitcher and he jetted to the dark side. I guess there's no recession in Yankeeland. Cool thing they still have Prince Fielder, son of ball crusher Cecil, and a couple of young players who could make it work. Small market NL teams are more natural to me I guess.
The only constant is that I still despise the Yankees, no matter what, and my Expos are still dearly missed.
2 comments:
depressing...
All i remember is last year at the Garden in the playoff when that asshole Bruins fans was rubbing it in our face
I miss those Expos games too. It's was so great to go to major league ball games for the price of a six pack. i don't understand why more people didn't go to the games either. But I remember how amazing it was when Boston picked up Cabrera. I don't think that I'll ever forgive them for letting him go to pick up Renteria.
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