Fans must step up (Jack Todd's appeal to Montreal)

I'll be at 3 of 4 games versus the Phillies, and EVERYONE should make
a point of going, (Monday = $5)read the following:

Fans must step up
"The series against the Phillies could be the most pivotal in Expos
history."

JACK TODD
The Gazette

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

There is no such thing as a short flight to Los Angeles, but you
figure the Expos shaved maybe an hour after completing a four-game
sweep of Felipe Alou's Giants yesterday - or at least it will seem
that way.

The salsa music was booming in the clubhouse yesterday afternoon. The
walking wounded, like Jose Vidro, wore their ice packs like badges of
victory. All the aches and pains of a long season hurt a little less
when you've just won five straight.

There were even signs this weekend that Montreal is beginning to
notice. For a Monday afternoon getaway game, the crowd the Expos drew
yesterday was double what you might expect: 9,224. That follows 17,665
Sunday, 16,446 Saturday and 10,551 Friday evening.

By the standards of Yankee Stadium or Pac Bell, a disaster. At the Big
O, a statement.

The Expos need more.

Next week's series against the Philadelphia Phillies could be the most
pivotal in Expos history. Not only because the Phillies are sitting in
the wild-card spot, but because it's on the eve of baseball's promised
decision on where the Expos will play next season.

The series begins Monday evening with a $5-night promotion that will
definitely draw some fans and ends Thursday with an afternoon hookey
special. If ever there was an opportunity for the baseball fans in
this city to influence the course of events, this is it.

Come out to the ball park next week and you make it easy for Bud Selig
Jr. to decide that the Expos will remain where they are for another
season. Stay away and it becomes that much more likely that the next
10 home games will be the last.

Last week, Expos president Tony Tavares said it's 50/50 the Expos will
be back for another season. With the cities that rank as possible
future homes for the club all weeks or months from making a firm bid,
baseball has no clear alternative. If they did, as we've said before,
the Expos would already be gone.

The commissioner is on record as saying the Expos will play in the NL
East next year, which would appear to eliminate Monterrey despite a
satisfactory ball park and the deep pockets of Carlos Bremer. Because
Arlington, Portland and Washington D.C. still have huge question marks
surrounding their attempts to land the team, it's a two-horse race
between Montreal and San Juan.

And right now, the Expos are Seabiscuit challenging War Admiral. The
underdog, in other words.

While this city may have two strikes against it, the biggest single
factor working against Montreal is still the relative absence of fans
at the Big O. In a decision that will be this close, four healthy
crowds next week could tip the balance.

Believe it or not, Montreal also has several factors in its favour
even at this late date. First and foremost, this city is the incumbent
and the incumbent is always hard to beat. Second, there's the little
matter of that lawsuit filed against baseball and Jeffrey Loria by the
Expos former limited partners in Miami. The lawsuit is still pending
and Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages has already instructed baseball to
give 90 days notice before moving the club. If baseball fails to
provide the required notice, Ungaro-Benages has said, she will hear
arguments for an injunction from the limited partners.

That isn't the same as promising an injunction, but it's close.

Selig is a cautious man. Knowing that baseball has made some stunning
mistakes in franchise location over the past decade (think the Tampa
Bay Fighting Seaweed) Selig wants to make the right move this time.
Right now he has 30 major-league venues desperate to know when they
can schedule concerts, auto shows and fireworks displays and 30 teams
wanting to get started on their travel arrangements for next season.
The pressure is on to make a decision by the end of the Labour Day
weekend and that pressure works in Montreal's favour.

Teams work with travel partners; the Expos travel partners are New
York and sometimes Philadelphia. That means if the Cardinals or the
Giants or the Diamondbacks visit the northeast, they play the Mets and
Expos or the Phillies and Expos or sometimes all three.

Throw in San Juan and suddenly a West Coast team is bouncing from New
York to San Juan to Philadelphia. Given enough notice, it's possible
that baseball could shift travel partners and have the Expos work in
tandem with the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves - but the easiest
option is still to leave the club in Montreal until something
permanent can be worked out.

We all tend to take the easy way out when it comes to difficult
decisions. Bud Selig and Major League Baseball are no exception. All
they need is the right kind of nudge.

It's simple, really. If you want the Expos to back in 2004, stop
blaming their woes on everything from The Gazette and Rick Monday to
Mother Teresa. Buy tickets for the Philadelphia series - and see if
the Expos can pull off another four-game sweep.

In article <85345f17.0308242017.74e32ce4.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>,
ad1980.DeleteThis@care2.com (Hans Moleman) wrote:

> I'll be at 3 of 4 games versus the Phillies, and EVERYONE should make
> a point of going, (Monday = $5)read the following:

I WON'T be going, as I'm in California, but I have a ticket for Tuesday.

I'll repost something I put up the other day:

____
There are many Expos fans such as myself that love the team, but live
too far from Montréal to regularly attend games (although I'll be in
town for the final series against the Braves). With Bud Selig and Co.
deciding in the next couple weeks where the team will play next season,
it's important that we show our support.

Next week's series against the Phillies is critical -- if we can get
good crowds, it'll be difficult for MLB to decide to put the team
anywhere but Montréal next year. I suggest that all of us buy at least
one ticket for the series, even if we can't attend (attendance is based
on ticket sales, not actual bodies in the seats).

If you go to www.admission.com, you can get a general admission ticket
for just $8 Can. ($5.75 US). I suggest everyone buy a ticket for
Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, as Monday is a $5 night and will
probably already have a good crowd.