Hockey aside, the expos were my favourite NL team in the MLB. I was really sad when they left and still am. I wish Montreal would have built the team a stadium because I do think that was the death of the team... playing in the big owe.
People loved going to jarry park in the late 60s and 70s in the spring/summer. I wish that the people in charge of the olympics in montreal would have built the big owe as a baseball stadium first that could accomodate the olympics rather than the other way around (kind of like Atlanta).
Anyway, I would welcome any one of you baseball widdows without a team to root for the jays. The reasons?
- Canadian team (obviously)
- Underdog
- GM is from Montreal
- Scrappy young team
- If they get to the world series in my lifetime I'm making a HUGE expos sign so that the people in the US can see how we still love the expos... Canada's first MLB team.
- The video below.
Hockey aside, the expos were my favourite NL team in the MLB. I was really sad when they left and still am. I wish Montreal would have built the team a stadium because I do think that was the death of the team... playing in the big owe.
People loved going to jarry park in the late 60s and 70s in the spring/summer. I wish that the people in charge of the olympics in montreal would have built the big owe as a baseball stadium first that could accomodate the olympics rather than the other way around (kind of like Atlanta).
Anyway, I would welcome any one of you baseball widdows without a team to root for the jays. The reasons?
- Canadian team (obviously)
- Underdog
- GM is from Montreal
- Scrappy young team
- If they get to the world series in my lifetime I'm making a HUGE expos sign so that the people in the US can see how we still love the expos... Canada's first MLB team.
- The video below.
I watch a lot of Jays game, but my team is Cleveland...
Hockey aside, the expos were my favourite NL team in the MLB. I was really sad when they left and still am. I wish Montreal would have built the team a stadium because I do think that was the death of the team... playing in the big owe.
People loved going to jarry park in the late 60s and 70s in the spring/summer. I wish that the people in charge of the olympics in montreal would have built the big owe as a baseball stadium first that could accomodate the olympics rather than the other way around (kind of like Atlanta).
Anyway, I would welcome any one of you baseball widdows without a team to root for the jays. The reasons?
- Canadian team (obviously)
- Underdog
- GM is from Montreal
- Scrappy young team
- If they get to the world series in my lifetime I'm making a HUGE expos sign so that the people in the US can see how we still love the expos... Canada's first MLB team.
- The video below.
There weren't many bigger Expos fans than me. I was only 18 during their final season, but I missed maybe two of their games in their last three years. I live in Boston so I was limited to listening online most of the time with ~50 or so on MLB Extra Innings and about 20 each year at Olympic Stadium. Hockey is by far my favorite sport and I love the Canadiens, but the Expos were my favorite team if that makes any sense. When they left I thought I'd never get over it.
After their departure, I swore off baseball completely although I continue to check the box scores every day to cheer against Florida and Washington. Two years ago I thought about it quite a bit and eventually decided to give another team a chance and after much debate decided to go with Toronto over Vladdy's Angels. Sadly it just didn't click. The Jays could never be nos amours, I much prefer National League rules, and most of all I have a hard time supporting a team that voted to eliminate my Expos.
I really wish Toronto would play a series at Olympic Stadium every summer and then I'd probably be able to embrace them. I don't know how well Montrealers would support this (justifiably bitter against MLB and it is Toronto), but considering the reaction when the Raptors played at the Bell Centre I think it could work. I'd give anything to head back to my favorite seat behind home plate and watch a game one more time. Sadly it will never happen.
I hate saying this but keep dreaming. The new generation cares about hockey, football and soccer. Despite everything that the MLB and that ****ing ******* Loria did to us, the city stopped supporting the Expos and let them die. Nobody cared about the Expos.
At some point, if people want the MLB back, they'll have to start with AAA team or something like that.
That's the worst attitude you could have. Baseball worked for nearly 40 years in this city, and this city has a rich baseball history. It's people that are complacent and give up such as yourself that give Montreal a bad name when it comes to it being a "sports town". People still go walk around with expos gear, young college students from the states and all over Canada litter the streets of our city during the summer. Festivals attract people from all over. We have a huge population compared to many cities that still have a team. With a proper stadium, baseball would not only work be very popular in this city.
We just need to rally and at least TRY to get baseball back. This is a real city, it doesn't need a AAA team, it needs an MLB back
Miss the Expos terribly....I don't even watch MLB anymore...do you guys think an owner with big $$$ will ever try to bring them back???
Summer and the Expos were always synonymous when growing up in Quebec. I now live in Cincinnati, five minutes from a beautiful ballpark and a team that is easy to cheer for (especially with Votto), but I can't stomach the thought of putting 10 cents into MLB coffers.
i still follow the jays religiously
i hope they are respectable this year
i have come to realize that they will never make the playoffs being in the AL East
Hockey aside, the expos were my favourite NL team in the MLB. I was really sad when they left and still am. I wish Montreal would have built the team a stadium because I do think that was the death of the team... playing in the big owe.
People loved going to jarry park in the late 60s and 70s in the spring/summer. I wish that the people in charge of the olympics in montreal would have built the big owe as a baseball stadium first that could accomodate the olympics rather than the other way around (kind of like Atlanta).
Anyway, I would welcome any one of you baseball widdows without a team to root for the jays. The reasons?
- Canadian team (obviously)
- Underdog
- GM is from Montreal
- Scrappy young team
- If they get to the world series in my lifetime I'm making a HUGE expos sign so that the people in the US can see how we still love the expos... Canada's first MLB team.
- The video below.
Amen Brother. Couldn't have said it better myself. Canada's team...
I'm a Yankees fan but the first baseball game I ever went to outside of New York as at the Big O. I hate how the league screwed over the Expos and would love to see them back.
I'm going to a Nationals game tomorrow for a friend's birthday (tickets are insanely cheap). I plan on wearing Expos gear and heckling the Nats all game. As far as I'm concerned Washington is holding Montreal's team hostage.
So, Pavano is throwing for the Twins, the team who was apparently going to be diluted with the Expos. Now they have a brand new stadium to play in and we have to root for the Jays now. I only went to one baseball game in my life at the Big O, but I remember acting sick one year for me not to miss the Opening game of the season when I was a kid, ended up being the game when the umpire died on the field.
So, Pavano is throwing for the Twins, the team who was apparently going to be diluted with the Expos. Now they have a brand new stadium to play in and we have to root for the Jays now. I only went to one baseball game in my life at the Big O, but I remember acting sick one year for me not to miss the Opening game of the season when I was a kid, ended up being the game when the umpire died on the field.
Yup. A new stadium and an owner willing to put money into the team would have done wonders. Just look at the difference between the Tampa Bay Lightning old owners and the new one. HUGE.
After Bronfman sold the team, Brochu and co. would keep the payroll at minimum to make profit, wanted the govt to fund 100% of a new stadium and would not sign any FA. 1994 was the year the scouting staff made their marks and it was shattered.
No Expos owner after Bronfman wanted to spend money on the team. He sold them in 1989. So for the last 15 years they had nothing. BAH
Anybody from Montreal who cheers for the Toronto Blue Jays can press their nose against my nether regions.
Toronto voted to contract the Montreal Expos. That's all that needs to be said.
Yet, right now, Blue Jays GM is a guy from Montreal. Things change and evolve, at one point, it still makes more sense to cheer for them than to cheer for the Pittsburgh Pirates....Pretty tough when you don't have that big of a culture, to be able to have another favorite team than the Expos. The easiest thing would be to go for the Red Sox like most people do mostly based on the fact that for some easy reasons, you HAVE to hate the Yankees. So going for the Red Sox is more about going for a team who hates the Yankees than cheering for the Sox....If not...who else?
Personnally, I always like the Red Sox for one stupid reason...At almost 40 years old, the player's name and way of being at bat that impressed me the most was....Cal Yastrzemski. Always fascinated by the name and the player when I was young. Yet....as as I grow old, I'm having more trouble in liking whatever is coming out from the Boston area who I'm starting to dislike all around....
I like to see our local products do well which at one point might make me a Yankees fan till Martin gets out....But that much of a fan? Probably not. So everything else goes back to TO. But at one point, I'm way more a fan of the game than of any team which at one point though isn't as fun as really cheering for somebody.
While I don't believe in the Expos return, I kinda don't believe that there's anybody in Montreal, Labeaume style, who's crazy enough to have an idea like that, I just wish that we'd have a AAA farm team of a good team. A nice outdoor 30 000 seats stadium with players that you can not only like but also you can then follow to the main team and then have some kind of attachment to it. THAT would make me a fan of that team.
Until then....it's not like there's TONS of choices....
Not going to lie, I am now a Blue Jays fan a la Nordiques fan becoming Habs fan. Took me a couple years after the move but I went from not following baseball at all, to watching the Blue Jays and being very critical, to kinda liking them but being cynical and not caring if they lost, to last season where I can genuinely say I routed for them to win. They are pretty likable team these past couple seasons. I really like the path Alex Anthopoulos is taking the team. I live in Toronto and have seen them live many times so I guess as a baseball fan it's an obvious path to take.
That's the worst attitude you could have. Baseball worked for nearly 40 years in this city, and this city has a rich baseball history. It's people that are complacent and give up such as yourself that give Montreal a bad name when it comes to it being a "sports town". People still go walk around with expos gear, young college students from the states and all over Canada litter the streets of our city during the summer. Festivals attract people from all over. We have a huge population compared to many cities that still have a team. With a proper stadium, baseball would not only work be very popular in this city.
We just need to rally and at least TRY to get baseball back. This is a real city, it doesn't need a AAA team, it needs an MLB back
True but to be honest, I don't even like baseball. I'll support my Habs, Als and Impact.
Still, while I might be a bit biased, I don't think baseball will even work again in this city.
I will never cheer for the Jays I just I can't. I hate them and I will always hate them
I started cheering for a team again two years ago but even if they lose i don't really care and it's the Yankees. I hated them when the Expos was there but now I prefer cheering for the team with the biggest payroll. To me it's like if the Expos can not survive in a league without cap space i want the most evil team to win year after year. That way i can say to myself that MLB is a big joke.
and i hate the Rays they are like the Expos but with wildcard rule and with a horrible jersey.
That's the worst attitude you could have. Baseball worked for nearly 40 years in this city, and this city has a rich baseball history. It's people that are complacent and give up such as yourself that give Montreal a bad name when it comes to it being a "sports town". People still go walk around with expos gear, young college students from the states and all over Canada litter the streets of our city during the summer. Festivals attract people from all over. We have a huge population compared to many cities that still have a team. With a proper stadium, baseball would not only work be very popular in this city.
We just need to rally and at least TRY to get baseball back. This is a real city, it doesn't need a AAA team, it needs an MLB back
If Montreal had never gotten the 1976 Olympics, we are not having this conversation. In more ways than one.
The Expos would have gotten a decent stadium and Quebec would not be so hostile to public financing for stadiums. Not that I think public financing should be an option, but it's fair to say WTF? when the provincial government bent over to build an arena for a hockey team that may never come.
That's the worst attitude you could have. Baseball worked for nearly 40 years in this city, and this city has a rich baseball history. It's people that are complacent and give up such as yourself that give Montreal a bad name when it comes to it being a "sports town". People still go walk around with expos gear, young college students from the states and all over Canada litter the streets of our city during the summer. Festivals attract people from all over. We have a huge population compared to many cities that still have a team. With a proper stadium, baseball would not only work be very popular in this city.
We just need to rally and at least TRY to get baseball back. This is a real city, it doesn't need a AAA team, it needs an MLB back
The thing with the Expos is things started to go sour at the worst possible time. Back in the late 90s, public financing of stadiums was not an option, professional sport was not as popular as it is today across North America, the Canadian dollar value was low and Canada had just lost the Nordiques and the Jets. And of course the strike in 1994 was very damaging, for Montreal, as well as MLB in general. Loria sold the team and MLB was forced to buy it since there were no buyers who wanted to keep the team in Montreal, and it was over from that moment.
Now, in 2011, they're going to build an arena in Quebec City with public funds only, professional sport is way more popular than it was and teams make much more money than they did 15 years ago, the Canadian dollar value is high and we're talking of having NHL teams back in Winnipeg and Quebec City.
If the Expos could have survived the late 90s to early 2000s with a local owner, I'm sure the government would have been open to pay for part of a stadium a few years ago, and the team would still be here. Remember, the Expos were only asking for around 70 million $ from the government for the new stadium, the rest was paid by the private funds. They had sold all the luxury boxes and most of the seats in the new stadium before they even broke ground.
I am (slightly) embarrassed to admit I followed the Expos to Washington after the move. I couldn't bring myself to not follow baseball anymore, and I couldn't tear myself away from the team.
I know it's considered an unspeakable sin to be a Nationals fan and former Expos fan, but that's what I am. Yes, the Nats suck (but maybe things will go better this year), and yes, I'd die for baseball to return to this city. Sadly, don't think it'll happen as long as Selig is still alive.
