The Zero-Sum Universe

The David Brooks column that Matt discusses forces me to confront a more profound problem. I am, you see, a hardcore Expos fan, but between the fact that my love for the team was bound up in its presence in Canada, where the great, star-crossed teams of the Dick Williams era created a buzz even in western Canada (and then Montreal, the first major league city I lived in–the first month in a half I spent in Montreal I went to 15 games, taking advantage of the C$1 bleachers) and the appalling decent into syndicate ownership, my allegiances don’t automatically transfer to Washington. The Mariners will remain my favorite AL team, but I yearn for an NL team to root for. Which brings us to a frightening series of facts. The first and last games in Expos history (the latter of which I attended) were against the Mets. The Mets have the Expos’ former GM. They play in my borough, and their run-down stadium (nostalgia for the Stade Olympique!) will be the destination of the vast majority of my live baseball watching. They signed one of my three all-time favorite players in the offseason (and, certainly, one of the best games I’ve ever attended was the classic when Pedro had a perfect game with 2 outs in the seventh, hit Reggie Sanders with an 0-2 pitch, and Sanders charged the mound.) Could I possibly pull a reverse Brooks and become…a….(gulp)…Mets fa…..er, I don’t want to think about that right now. (Although if a huge concrete block falls of the side of the stadium, my fate will be sealed.)

I suppose this would be a good a place as any to commemorate the retirement of The Big Cat, the best first baseman in Expos history. He ended his career with 399 homers and a .499 slugging percentage–now that’s an appropriate symbol for the franchise.