"When Bud Selig dies I am going to go to his grave and dig up some worms. I am going to take those worms and go fishing. I am going to take the fish I catch and feed it to my cat. I am going to take the litter out of my cat’s litter box and take it to the dump. Then I am going to check back at the dump in two weeks and look where I dumped the cat litter so I can say that I watched maggots engage in cannibalism."


Wow.

I think that's cruelty to the cat.

I need to post photos of my Stade Olympique trip from this weekend. The short version is that now I know what "survivor guilt" feels like. My Phillies t-shirt might as well have said "Sucks to be you guys."

Remember how after 9/11, the French newspaper le Monde ran the front-page headline "Nous sommes tous Americains"? After what MLB has done to Expos fans, "Nous sommes tous Montréalaises."

I almost went myself on Sunday, but I couldn't convince anyone the 10 hour travel was worth it. And honestly, in a way, I was a little relieved.

What happened to the Expos really really sucks, and I understand Montrealites have been screwed by MLB, but the nearly complete lack of any outcry from Expos fans, save for this eloquent blog, kinda gives me the clue that baseball in Montreal may have not been feasible long-term anyway.

Bud Selig's main problem isn't his money-whoring heart. It's the stupid ideas he comes up with to make the money. Everything is so myopic.

but the nearly complete lack of any outcry from Expos fans, save for this eloquent blog, kinda gives me the clue that baseball in Montreal may have not been feasible long-term anyway.

They're worn out. If this were something out of the blue, there'd be more outrage, but MLB has been kicking Montreal in the teeth so much over the past decade that this new offense is just more of the same.

Any outcry from the fans in Montreal has been quieted by many many years of continuous abuse by MLB. After a while, they just gave up. It's not that they weren't outraged, but after so many years you can't keep up the same energy.

Point is -- it's MLB's fault that Montreal no longer embraces the Expos. It's not Montreal's fault. Given a commissioner and owners that weren't utter asses over the course of a quarter century, the situation would likely be much different.

I'm sorry, but Montreal isn't the first city to be screwed over by MLB. Maybe they are the worst example, but fans in Kansas City (A's), Seattle (Pilots and Mariners), Washington (Senators), San Francisco (Giants), Chicago (White Sox) have all had to put up with ownership that wasn't very much concerned with the community - but still people in those cities fought to retain baseball or bring another franchise to town.

If Montrealites are going to give up, maybe they shouldn't have a franchise.

In response to the last 2 posts, it reminds me of when the Oilers left Houston. People were glad to see them go, in many ways. But they fought like crazy to get another franchise once they left. On one hand, I could say that if Montreal did the same for baseball, that would prove something, but the football fans in Houston directed their anger at Bud Adams, the owner. Baseball fans in Montreal have to direct their anger at the leadership of Major League Baseball itself, which makes fighting for another team much less palatable.

Yeah. #### Montreal. Who needs a city with 2 million people?

Lazy French!

Jeffrey Loria makes a nice villain, I don't think they necesesarily have to direct anger at MLB.

Yeah. #### Montreal. Who needs a city with 2 million people?

Should we put a team in Mexico City then?

I have to say, I'm on the "Its not Montreal's Fault" side here. Let's not forget, as recently as 1997 the Expos drew within 200,00 fans of the Giants and actually outdrew the Phillies, albeit very slightly.

BP#1 fan makes an interesting point, but its not just the ownership in Montreal. Since 2001 the league itself has been telling them their city couldn't support a team. Lest we forget, it wasn't really an outcry of Twins' fans that saved the Minnesota, it was an iron-clad least to play in the Metrodome.

as recently as 1997 the Expos ... actually outdrew the Phillies

The 1997 Phillies were a dreadful team.

and the expos were being told almost 10 years ago that they could never compete...

after so many years of being told that, is it any wonder fans gave up hope?

as an aside...the expos of this timeframe were in better shape than the "baseball can never survive in oakland, the market isn't big enough" 1979 a's.

The 1997 Phillies were a dreadful team.

The 2000 Phillies were much, much worse. And yet by then, just three years later, they outdrew the Expos by almost 700,000. That tells you something about how quickly Bud and Co. killed attendance

Should we put a team in Mexico City then?

It's a better idea than any other city except for DC, really.

Howdy!

Sorry to break up the party, but y'all are invited to the Expos 2005 home opener at the Big Owe, here in Montréal.

We've hashed this out lots before, but I think we could safely change the bselig@mlb.com / bselg username / password work around to chicken_little@mlb.com / the_sky_is_falling.

When I see the sun rise in the west, I will believe that the Expos will not be in Montreal anymore.

Play Ball!

I'm not quite sure if "petulant" is the right word to describe that blog entry.

And I hear the Rangers own the rights to the name Washington Senators. Man, the thought of the D.C. team being called the Senators was the thing that had me convinced about this whole deal. A sweepstakes on what they *will* be called, perhaps?

There were some suggestions in one of the other threads, I think in the Baltimore Sun piece about Angelos.

Wonder if Cal Griffith got anything for the rights to the Senators' name back in 1960. Guessing no.

I'll be at the game tommorow, My dad is on the Montreal city council, and is the only counciller who really supports the Expos, so the Expos send up free tickets quite often, in return for my dad organizing bigger crowds, or sometimes they sell him thousands of tickets at a dollar each. Me and 3 friends will be going courtesy of the Expos tommorow, and a bunch of other people as well.

I'm not quite sure if "petulant" is the right word to describe that blog entry.

I was going for "bitter" ;-). I save my petulance for the bedroom where it actually accomplishes something.

Zeke: I'll cheerfully eat my words Opening Day 2005 if you're right. Are you from Fanhome's Expos page?

Best Regards

John

in other news, Giants Hermenson got suspended for 3 games, of course they appealed it, does it have to be served this year or can they hope to stall them out till next year?

Can't Bush pull a few strings and have them called the Washington Worldwide Ass-Kickers or something? With Dick Cheney platooning with Jose Vidro at second. Maybe Rumsfeld working a little middle relief. Then Angelos would be eating his words.

I'm sorry, but Montreal isn't the first city to be screwed over by MLB.

I'd love to see the US reaction to an American franchise being treated the way that Montreal has been over the years.

Selig, rot in hell!

John, thanks for your article. I'll even stop dancing when you come to dig up worms from his grave.

Can't Bush pull a few strings and have them called the Washington Worldwide ####-Kickers or something? With Dick Cheney platooning with Jose Vidro at second. Maybe Rumsfeld working a little middle relief. Then Angelos would be eating his words.

I can think of a name that would be more appropriate for the current administration, but some bums in Los Angeles took it already.

I'll even stop dancing when you come to dig up worms from his grave.

No need to stop, I'll just work around you. After we're done digging and dancing we'll have a drink for Bud....properly filtered through the kidneys first of course.

Best Regards

John

No need to stop, I'll just work around you. After we're done digging and dancing we'll have a drink for Bud....properly filtered through the kidneys first of course.

Bring a grill and some "raw sticks" then we can all properly fertilize "Pud's" daisies. ;-) ...

Nice piece John! Even being an O's fan, (and planning on remaining one IF Peter Angelos doesn't chase me away) I've been waiting for another franchise in Washington since Idiot Short carpetbagged the Senators to Texas. Over the years I've been ambivalent about having another city's team come there. Neither have I really cared for the idea of another expansion team. Probably the best scenario was the Padre's in 1974. I'm really glad that a resolution is near but I really hate that it's the Expo's now with all that's been done to them and the good people of Montréal. Hopefully MLB will allow them to become what they should have been there; a franchise that works hard to contend on a periodic basis without excessive obstacles obstructing that ability.


trevise :-| ...

If I recall correctly Griffith gave the rights to the name to the new team.

The most interesting thing about the Griffith switch-a-roo perhaps is that the expansion Senators rented Griffith Stadium from Griffith, and so, when the Twins played in DC the road team was collecting rent from the home team.