I'm a huge Habs fan, a huge Expos fan, and a proud Francophone-Canadian. This tugs at a lot of heartstrings for me. A very classy tribute en deux langues.

Youppi! done good.

Since the Habs seemingly have some kind of ceremony for something or other before every game, they should be pretty good at them by now.

I was at a game last March while in the city and a bunch of the 94 Expos were there and got a big ol' cheer when shown in their suite. Pedro was there. 10-15 all together.

That's a very nice thing to do by the Habs.

When Lenny Wilkens passes, I hope the Mariners or Seahawks do right by him.

I choked up when I saw Youppi.

I choked up when I saw Youppi.

Youppi! has been the mascot of the Canadiens since 2005. That said, seeing him with an Expo shirt and cap was really quite something.

This week has been both awful (for obvious reasons) and wonderful because the Expos were brought back to life in Montreal. A little bit anyway. For the first time in more than a decade, baseball has been presented in a positive light in the local media. This is a feat only Gary Carter could accomplish, even after his death. Other Expo greats are remembered fondly (Raines on top, followed by Pedro, Guerrero, and Dawson), but none had the influence Carter had on the city.

[Edit to add: I would say that the only other person who has had as much influence as Carter on the province of Quebec baseball wise is Jacques Doucet, who deserves to be inducted in Cooperstown but never willbe for obvious languague reasons. His voice is synonym of summer for many of us.]

awesome awesome video

What a wonderful reminder of how special Gary Carter was, and remains, in the hearts of Montreal sports fans. I think there are probably two Mets players whom we "share" in this way with the fans of another team, players whose stature is pretty deeply embedded in Mets' lore, and beloved by the fans, and whom we share just about equally with the fans of another city. The other one besides Carter is Tug McGraw, who was an integral part of the Miracle Mets, a huge figure on the '73 NL Champs, and as popular a Met as you could imagine -- and then became equally beloved by Phillie fans.

You could maybe think about Mike Piazza, but I just don't think Los Angeles, or even Dodger fans in particular, feel this kind of emotional connection to Piazza. I could be wrong about that.

Beautifully done, Canadiens. Au revoir, numéro huit.

Lovely. Youppi leading a moment of silence is strangely poignant.