dietzie27 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 I just saw on the cnn ticker. Sorry to all you canadian baseball fans. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D3nZ 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 Sad day for baseball in Canada, the sport is already goign down the drain with kids getting more and more in skateboard and mountain bike to see the Expos leave will probably kill the sport in the eastern part of the country for sure. I personally was a baseball player in my young days, went to 3 provincial championships and the thing that killed my interest was the strike and then the Loria fucktard (like JR would say). The thing with baseball is that you get to see too much games compared to other sports (41 home games for a hockey, football about 10 and list goes on...) for baseball you get to see 70 something baseball games and for a city like Montreal who their interest is getting more and more into soccer and football, the happening fact wasn't at the Olympic Stadium anymore and the "ambiance" was getting transfered to smaller stadiums. Long live the Xpos. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
QandA 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 Especially, here in NB soccer has taken over, specially up here where me and Denis live! We beat Edmundston a few times :D ! Baseball is still fun for some but it's all soccer. It's sad to see what the lockout did to Montreal, and hopefully it won't happen to the American Hockey teams. Expos we're a pleasure to watch! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3803 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 I wonder if Youppi is making the road trip with them... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D3nZ 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=100299 (For JR's Interest about Youppi!!). And by the way QandA there is a good chance that I'll play for the Ambassadeurs this year, were are playing in Grand-Falls on the 4th of november come check us out ;). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3803 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 LOL I forgot to put the exclamation point. I knew there was one... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mack 44 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 I just saw on the cnn ticker. Sorry to all you canadian baseball fans. All 331 of you will be sad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dangles 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 I just saw on the cnn ticker. Sorry to all you canadian baseball fans. All 331 of you will be sad. Just because the crowds wern't that big doesn't mean that it's not good baseball to be watched. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LkptTiger 1 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 ...He wasn't saying it was bad baseball (although it really was). He was just poking fun at the fact that, on a busy night, Olympic Stadium might have about 6,000 people spread out all over the place - and that figure includes the players and personel for both teams. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kosydar 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2004 I really thought Portland was going to get them. I guess it just came down to Portland not wanting to build a new stadium. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D3nZ 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 I personally wept like a baby last night after the game with the ceremonies and stuff. The fans didn't give up on baseball but everyone knew it was comming so that's why the interest went down at the stadium, people found new interests in other games and how are fans supposed to believe in a team if the owners kept saying that they don't believe in the actual team but they would if a new stadium would be built. I remember the hot summer days outside on the patio watching the X-pos on small tv, Radio-Canada beeing the only chanel we would catch with our rabbit ears. We also brought that tv to the tent when we would go camping trying not to miss the game. I personally only went to one baseball game and it was during the Henry Rodriguez era and I would have went alot more but the time didn't permit me to do so. Montreal is a baseball city but after beeing played in the back for such a long time, owners trying to get more and more money (perfect exemple with Brochu and Loria.) Everyone is touched by this, and yes players are affected because of some fires sales the X-pos did it was possible for ordinary players to get thru and make the big team even if they were minor league caliber. Brad Wilkerson was weeping like a baby last night, this team was destined to move because of certain factors (stadium, government interest national, provincial and local wise). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDoom 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 Only 6,000 people in montreal can be upset about this. For everyone else who's sad to see them go, but didn't go to a game, well you didn't exactly do your part.Sure, blame it on a new stadium, but at least the Phils averaged 25k people a night in one of the worst stadiums ever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 ...He wasn't saying it was bad baseball (although it really was). He was just poking fun at the fact that, on a busy night, Olympic Stadium might have about 6,000 people spread out all over the place - and that figure includes the players and personel for both teams. You know what, if the Expos would have keep Guerrero and Pedro Martinez in Montreal and keep a winning team, it would have been crowd of 20000+ fans everygame. The MLB wants no more baseball club in Montreal and they have done all in their possible to discourage the fans. Too bad...it suc....s Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDoom 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 How is MLB responsible for trading Pedro?Where are the Expos getting the money to keep high profile players like Pedro and Vlad? And they kept vlad for 8 years. How long does he have to be there before fans show up?The reason they don't have a good team is because they didn't re-sign Larry Walker (in a year where they were the best team in baseball, they should've been able to lay out some cash for him) or re-sign Moises Alou. Getting Tony Tarasco, Estaban Yan, and Roberto Kelly for Marquis Grissom doesn't help either when Tarasco and Yan never panned out and Kelly just wasn't a good major league player. Cliff Floyd was their best prospect, they traded him away for Dustin Hermanson and Joe Orsulak. Hermanson was decent, but injury plagued. Either way, neither of those players were better prospects than Floyd was. Thjey traded away Ken Hill after the '94 season. The Pedro trade was just awful, although Pavano is having a better season than Pedro this year. The Randy Johnson trade wouldn't have been so bad if Langston would've stayed there for more than one year.In a nutshell, this team had quality drafts in the '80s and '90s only to have to later trade away those good players for prospects or just not sign them because they didn't have the money. Explain to me again why nobody showed up to games for a team with that much talent in the early to mid '90s? I mean, averaging barely more than 20k fans per game is terrible for a team that wins 85-90 games a season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mack 44 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 It's MLB's fault for sticking a team there. At least you had Andre Dawson there back in the day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ajd91187 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 The strike killed the expos... they were good up until 94.. then it killed them along with the rest of the montreal baseball fans on baseball... Im glad DC got the team... now i get to go see my cardinals play hehehe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDoom 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 How did the strike kill them? Because the players wanted more money and the Expos couldn't afford to pay anyone due to a small fan base and a stadium that's a quarter full. Maybe all the money went to trying to fix the retractable roof that never worked. After finishing the tower next to the stadium, they found out that the roof didn't fit into it anyway. And to make it worse, they ripped the kevlar roof while trying to do it. Having a roof cost $700k a year to maintain doesn't help when that's barely what they bring in with ticket prices.Now let's look at the moves they made after the strike:didn't re-sign Walkertraded Ken Hilltraded John WettlandCliff Floyd and Kirk Reuter were injured.None of that had to do with the strike. It was just bad baseball. And if it was because they couldn't afford to keep those players, then some of that has to be put on the fans that didn't show up for the games and support the team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mack 44 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 And then there was Delino DeShields's chihuahua-looking ass leaving. Not that he was the greatest, but he had good years and was another piece of the young team that could have ended up being something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDoom 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 I thought they traded Delino to the Dodgers for Pedro. Or was that a different deal? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mack 44 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 That's who they sent him to, was it for Astacio?Edit: Maybe it was for Martinez, but I thought Astacio factored in. Even though he stunk, any deal with Martinez for DeShields is a great one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucius 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 How did the strike kill them?Easy. They had a very real shot at going to the World Series in '94. They win the World Series, who knows what happens? Maybe the city builds a new stadium and the team is still playing in Montreal next season. Now, I'm not saying that they'd be selling out every night now, or even be in a new stadium, but I feel like things would be different. Attendance for '94 was roughly triple what is was through the same point this year. I agree that the team was likely to fail regardless - but the strike was the final nail in the coffin, if you will. What upsets me most is that '94 was their opportunity, and they never got the chance. That was one of the best teams that I've seen in my decade of baseball competency.But I digress. These things bother me, probably because I went through it when the Whalers left. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadd 916 Report post Posted September 30, 2004 Even if a new stadium would have been approved, something most experts disagree with, they would not have had the money to keep that team together. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDoom 0 Report post Posted October 1, 2004 The home attendence in 94 was still under 25k a game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
