Baseball 1 – Common Sense 0

The Montreal Expos are being moved to Washington, D.C. Their name will undoubtedly be

changed to something "patriotic" and politically lathered by order of the president or v.p. or someone within that sphere of the über-fanatical; can’t be the Senators though, the Rangers own that name. This turns the team into a political platform for those in Washington instead of a baseball team. "See what we did? We took baseball out of the hands of those dirty, Iraq War pooh-poohing Canadians, and put it right back in the good ol' U.S. of A. YEEHAH!" Maybe they'll let the president own the team, and we'll all see, again, the wonderful business tactics that he uses. Do you remember his ability to drive the Rangers into a massive debt? Yeah. Business savvy? Sure.

Regardless, the move pissed off Montreal as they submitted a lawsuit to the Major League

Baseball, and for good reason. The MLB is pulling a team out of a city that had supported them, although not to the extent that MLB wanted, without weighing other options for a city in close proximity to another city with a ball team. This all makes so much sense. Move a team that had fan support from one of the largest cities in North America and could have been developed a bit more by the MLB to a city where a market already exists. This way Baltimore will suffer as well. This smacks of something the president is all too familiar with, bad “strategery”. Why doesn’t the MLB use the funds they would have to use to entice an honor, build a stadium, and pay off the Orioles to build up a marketing campaign in Montreal to bring more fans into the park? Honestly, the team wasn’t half bad this year. They need some development as well. Early this year they lost Vladimir Guerrero because of budget cuts, but if the MLB gave them more money they might have kept the guy, and his .333 batting average could be helping them to win more games instead of the Angels.

Jim Caple said it best, "If tonight's game is to be the final one at Stadium Olympique, I suggest

the fans enjoy some final smoked meat sandwiches, sing 'O, Canada' at the top of their lungs, cheer their Expos and then give baseball the raised middle finger it deserves."