Todd: Bring baseball back to Montreal

MONTREAL - It was somewhere between Yoenis C?spedes clouting the bejeepers out of Bryce Harper in the Home Run Derby and Chris Sale on the mound in the All-Star game itself, dangling like a skeleton from a coat-hanger and throwing pitches that are outlawed between consenting adults in Georgia.

That?s when it hit me: I miss baseball. Not baseball on television ? even without the pricey packages, there?s more than enough. I mean baseball that is 30 minutes away by m?tro, baseball with players you care about, baseball where you can smell the popcorn, see the second baseman cheating to the bag, dodge the occasional screaming foul ball.

Because baseball may be gone from Montreal ? but it isn?t dead.

Funny how baseball (?poor, schnooky baseball,? George Vecsey once called it) hangs around, even in a town where every 9-year-old can recite the numbers in Ryan White?s contract.

Funny too how the Expos seem more alive today than they did that sad day when they played their last game at the Big O.

If you were watching the Jays and the Rays Saturday afternoon, you probably saw the ExposNation crew in left field, a thousand Expos fans making Major League Baseball sit up and take notice.

?Today,? said Matthew Ross, chairman of the ExposNation Committee, ?was a clear demonstration that Expos fans are still passionate about their team and want baseball back in Montreal.

?Our hope is that this event will lead to sponsorship in order for us to put on related events, to further the cause of bringing a MLB team back here.

?We want to start a season-ticket drive to present to prospective investors and the government.?

A cynic might say the Expos had a stronger presence in Toronto this weekend than they had at the Big O during the last years of their existence ? but this isn?t a time to be cynical.

Personally, I would love to see Major League Baseball back in Montreal and I would do anything in my power to make it happen.

Unfortunately, that ?in my power? does not include the ability to kick in a billion dollars to help revive the Expos.

But my name isn?t Stephen Bronfman, Pierre Karl P?ladeau, Geoff Molson or Guy Lalibert?. There is plenty of goodwill toward an Expos revival waiting to be tapped. It?s a very long way from there to a reborn franchise ? but a deep-pockets investor with a bunch of zeros after his name could close that gap in a hurry.

Meanwhile, out in red-state Alberta: Those were your Montreal Alouettes in Calgary Saturday night, pulling an epic, history-making fold, somehow turning a 24-point first-quarter lead into a 38-27 loss.

We?re tempted to say that, right now, the Expos look more alive than the Alouettes. This was uglier than last call at a trailer-trash roadhouse in Tulsa.

At that, the Als might have pulled it out after blowing the lead ? but with Noel Devine about to score on a kick return, Fred Bennett punched the ball out, Alvin Bowen recovered in the end zone and the Stamps took the ball the other way for a touchdown.

If you didn?t have doubts before, it?s OK to have them now. GM Jim Popp made a brilliant head-coaching hire by thinking outside the box when he brought in Marc Trestman.

This time, he may have gone too far outside the box with Dan Hawkins, a coach with no previous pro experience and little success at the college level.

Game after game, the Alouettes are getting bulldozed in the third quarter, a sign that whatever adjustments Hawkins and offensive co-ordinator Mike Miller are making at halftime, the coaches in the opposing dressing room are out-thinking them.

Trestman might be a walking clich? machine who says ?each and every day? at least 100 times each and every day. He?s also a brilliant coach and he was especially brilliant working with Anthony Calvillo.

Hawkins? As someone said on Twitter yesterday ? so far, Hawkins is Joe Galat to Trestman?s Marv Levy.

Waitin? for the Wings: The best part of the new NHL realignment is that we?ll get to see far more of the Detroit Red Wings. The worst part is that the Canadiens will now have to battle the Wings for a playoff spot.

But unless I?m blind as well as dumb, the new schedule doesn?t have the Habs meeting the Red Wings until Jan. 24 ? and Detroit won?t visit Montreal until Feb. 26. The teams will meet again in Detroit on March 27 and at the Bell Centre on April 5, with a week left in the season.

Personally, I would much rather sacrifice the home-and-home with teams like Nashville, Columbus and Phoenix in return for more of Detroit, Toronto and Boston ? but it won?t happen this year. Other than those late-season meetings with Detroit, the most interesting date on the schedule is Oct. 24, when the Anaheim Ducks, with Saku Koivu signed to a new, one-year deal, will come to the Bell Centre.

Lies, rumours and vicious innuendo: Didn?t find the Tour de France as compelling as the Giro d?Italia this year ? but winner Chris Froome is definitely the anti-Lance Armstrong. Maybe we can?t be absolutely certain that Froome is clean but at least he?s human, humble and sweet-tempered ? three things you?ll never say about Armstrong. ?

Isn?t it sweet to see nice guy Phil Mickelson win another major? Mickelson gets the win and 10 per cent of the media coverage ? while 90 per cent goes to Tiger Woods and the relentlessly self-promoting Lindsey Vonn, who has finally found a way to get her picture on every sports-related website in the universe. ?

Another date to circle on your NHL calendar is Jan. 14, when Koivu?s Ducks meet the Kings outdoors in Los Angeles. To be followed, five months later, by the Stanley Cup final ? outdoors in Qatar. ?

Now Sepp Blatter wants to move the absurd Qatar World Cup from summer to winter. What? And miss a chance to see English soccer hooligans perishing while facing 120-degree heat without their customary 20 pints a day? ?

Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel might not be a big idiot like Ryan Leaf. But he is definitely a little idiot. ?

And our newest addition to the Fennis Dembo Hall of Fame, a golfer who is already one of the immortals: Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Heroes: Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, Richie Porte, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama, Steve Williams, Blake Geoffrion, Yoenis C?spedes, Manny Machado, Yasiel Puig, Chris Sale, Chris Davis, Miguel Cabrera, Clayton Kershaw, ExposNation, Scott Flory and last but not least, Kiradech Aphibarnrat ? just because.

Zeros: Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn, Chris Xuereb, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Lance Armstrong, Victor Cruz, Charles Barkley, interleague baseball, the designated hitter, Bryce Harper, Johnny Manziel, Pierre Gauthier, Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

jacktodd46@yahoo.com
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Twitter: jacktodd46

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F299/~3/qRtqtPH1Ctw/story.html

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