Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘expos’

The Expos may have departed to Washington, but the most beloved member of the team remained: the mascot, Youppi.

Now, it seems Youppi has found a new home with the Habs:

As reported by colleague Stephanie Myles this year, the Canadiens have bought the rights to Youppi!, the moth-eaten bastard Muppet who became a symbol of everything that was wrong with the Expos. Youppi! will be introduced as the Canadiens’ new mascot at a news conference this afternoon.

Does this mean Youppi will have to learn to skate?

I’m merely resigned to the fact that the Expos were inevitably leaving. Paul is downright bitter, and is gleefully proclaiming the news:

Maybe I’m just peculiar, but between having the worst baseball team on the planet, and having no baseball team at all, I’d much rather go for the latter, especially considering that keeping the bums here would be impossible without some sort of governmental subsidy, and I’d much rather have my tax dollars spent on something useful, like repairing the damned potholes, or clearing the mountains of snow away in winter.

So long, farewell, don’t let the door hit your arses on the way out, and good riddance.

If we’re really lucky, this might mean that we can finally blow that miserable Olympic Stadium up (we’d probably even make a profit if we built some nice condos in its place, even in spite of the crappy neighbourhood in which that decrepit monument to governmental extravagance is located).

Wow, got some anger there, huh Paul?

On the other hand, the one thing virtually everyone can agree on is that Youppi will be missed.

It’s the end of an era in Montreal.

There’s been speculation for years. Each season we assume it will be the last. But this time, the Expos are really leaving… for Washington DC, at the end of this season:

Major League Baseball will announce Wednesday that Washington will be the new home of the Montreal Expos, The Associated Press has learned.

A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington has been notified by Major League Baseball of the impending announcement that will return the national pastime to the nation’s capital for the first time in 33 years. The city is planning its own news conference at a downtown location Wednesday afternoon, the official said.

Of course, nothing’s final till it’s final. But if you’re betting on the ’spos being back next season, it’s probably a waste of money.

The Expos are more likely to go out with a whimper than a bang. The team has never won a pennant. Most years, we’ve been more of a farm team for the league than a real competitor. The last time there was real excitement about the team was in 1993… and then the baseball strike happened. That led to the big fire sale, which, along with the Big Owe roof woes, the Jeffrey Loria sellout, and the Puerto Rico split schedule, pretty much nailed the coffin shut on major league baseball in Montreal.

Will anyone miss the team when they go? Games were not exactly attracting sellout crowds. Sure, anyone employed by the team or the surrounding industries will be hard-hit. And there were some ticketholders or die-hard fans who will be very disappointed to see the team go.

But the reality is, we’re a big enough city to support the team, and we didn’t. We didn’t buy enough season tickets or take enough interest to attract advertisers. Even though the games can be lots of fun, we didn’t go to them in enough numbers.

Montreal has pretty much always been a one-sport city, and that sport is hockey, which – lockout or no lockout – still holds the #1 spot in most people’s hearts. In the past couple of years, the Alouettes have overtaken the Expos for the distant #2 spot. We didn’t support baseball, and these past few years we’ve been expecting it to disappear. So now it will. And there’s nobody to blame but ourselves.

Goodbye, Expos.

Well, the Expos will be back next season . . . but it’s unclear how many of them will still be on the team after the inevitable fire sale.

Such a shame.

Well, enough with baseball. Time to pin the great white hope on hockey – which isn’t looking good either.

After the euphoria caused by last week’s clean sweep of the Phillies, the Expos were on the receiving end of a sweep by Florida that puts us three games out of the wildcard spot, and relegates baseball to the back of the sports section where it belongs.

I think Don MacPherson had a point when he said that last week was a blip:

If there’s a word beginning with the letter ”f” that describes the phenomenon at the Olympic Stadium this week, it’s not “fever”; it’s “festivalitis.”

Montreal is known for its summer festivals, when its citizens are encouraged to dabble briefly in activities they ignore the rest of the year. The Phillies series was the baseball festival, and it leaves Montreal as much a baseball town as it is a year-round jazz hot spot.

The chances of the team being back this year are looking slim.

Big comeback win for the Expos tonight. And I like to think it’s all because of my presence

Actually, I’ve always been more of a hockey fan, and I tend to roll my eyes at the Expos’ woes and just figure that it’s time for the team to move on already. But this season I’ve been to two games, and I actually had a great time watching the Expos pummel the Phillies each time.

Maybe it’s because the fans seem more grassroots, as opposed to the Habs’ fans who need a big screen to tell them when to start the wave or make noise. Maybe it’s because both games were close, exciting winners. Or maybe I’m just a baseball fan in denial.

Either way, Go Expos!

Well, Saddam’s sons are dead, but the world seems to be getting back to normal in other areas: the Expos suck again.