[frankydee]

Thanks Jim Caple. Agreed !

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/column...page=caple_jim

By Jim Caple
ESPN.com

Major League officials are congratulating themselves today but the announcement that the Montreal Expos are moving to Washington, D.C. is a colossal failure and a downright shame.



The Expos weren't completely void of fan support.


Everyone insists the Expos are finally moving but I'm not so sure. Remember, before the Expos move there is still the little matter of finding an owner, getting a stadium officially approved by the city and fighting off any lawsuits from Montreal. Despite what everyone is saying, I think there is at least as good a chance that the Expos will play next season in Montreal as in RFK Stadium.


And frankly, no one ever goes broke betting against baseball accomplishing an objective on time.


Even if the deal goes through as planned, it seems foolhardy. Jayson Stark reports that Orioles owner Peter Angelos has to be guaranteed revenues in order to allow the move. When you consider that, plus all the money major league teams paid out running the Expos the past couple years, wouldn't it have been much easier to have simply used that money to build the Expos a stadium in Montreal and keep them in one of North America's largest markets?


Of course, it would have. But that would have meant undermining ownership's indefensible policy of forcing communities to build stadiums at taxpayer expense. It would have meant treating fans with respect rather than disdain. So it was never even considered.


The fans in Montreal were treated abysmally in all this. They supported their team loyally for years until the 1994 strike ruined what promised to be their finest season. And after that, the city was abused and let down by baseball again and again. As the league repeatedly hinted at the Expos demise, Jeffrey Loria was allowed to purchase the team amid promises that he would oversee the team's renaissance. Instead, he ran the club into the ground, failing to put the games on radio in English at one point, and was rewarded with a sweetheart deal to go to Florida while the Expos were threatened with contraction. They also had many of their home games moved closer to Venezuela than Montreal. And baseball pointed to the low attendance as proof that the game would never be supported in Montreal.


Had any of this happened to a team in the U.S. -- the contraction policy, the shifted home games, the conflict of interests -- there would have been an enormous outcry. But because it happened to a Canadian team, no one noticed. Or cared.


That's the real crime here. Baseball treated a team and a city about as badly as it could and no one paid attention.


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.


Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.