I had never tasted a playoff game in major league baseball until recently. Indeed, to do so, I had to drive six hours early on Saturday, October 8 to watch the Blue Jays lose an 8-1 fifth-inning lead to the Mariners.
I would have really liked this first experience to take place on Montreal soil, encouraging the Expos. Well despite myself, this is not the case and it will not be for a damn long time yet, if we trust the words of the Montreal Baseball Group. We understand that with the failed joint custody project, it’s pretty much the end of this project. We must get used to the idea, dear friends.
There is always this part of me that is a little angry about all this. If I want to see baseball, I have to go to Toronto and I have to cheer on the Jays, even though I’m aware of my agency. If I want to see basketball from the best league in the world, I expect the Raptors to visit the Bell Centre. If one day CF Montreal were to leave, just like the Alouettes and the Canadiens, would I also become a fan of the TFC, the Argos and the Leafs over time?
So what is Toronto’s winning recipe, which is missing in Montreal? What would make it so that Montreal could find a baseball club one day and that I wouldn’t have to drive six hours to see my club lose an 8-1 lead?
Unity is strength
There is this African proverb which mentions: Alone we advance faster, together we advance further. This is perhaps precisely what is lacking in Montreal. A kind of conglomerate at MLSE that would allow us to achieve great things collectively, because, in my opinion, this mega corporation explains the success of the city of Toronto in terms of sport.
MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment) is the company that owns the Maple Leafs and also includes the Marlies, Raptors, Toronto FC and Argonauts. Only the Blue Jays are not in the lot, but this allows the smaller clubs to have the support of the larger ones. A club like the Argos can lose money without any problem.
Yes, we could do it in Montreal. Why wouldn’t we do it in Montreal, then?
I don’t know if they talk to each other in real life, but imagine if players in the middle such as Geoff Molson, with all his expertise and his luster in connection with Group CH, Joey Saputo, whose family is the richest in Quebec , Mitch Garber, part owner of the Seattle Kraken and, let’s add to that a man like Lawrence Stroll, owner of a Formula 1 team with all the prestige that comes with it, decided to sit around a table with head a common sports project?
Add to that a man like Guy Laliberté, because, why not, I have the right to dream! Gentlemen, I personally take care of reserving a room at the location of your choice in Montreal and I am the host of the meeting!
As in sport, we should play as a team and I am really humbled to think that more sports training in town would only increase the visibility and the attention on sport in general. It was beautiful, Friday night, when the Alouettes played in Ottawa, the CH in Washington, the Rocket held its opening game and the Bell Center was occupied by the Raptors. Sport monopolized the attention that evening and everyone benefited.
We are maybe something like a great people
Quebecers and Montrealers have the right to have major projects in life. Sources of pride, rallying and wonder. Major projects other than a third link in Quebec, a REM or bike paths in Montreal.
Quebecers are the founding people of the country where we live. A people with a unique culture, unique values. In this sense, it is not normal to have to encourage the teams of another Canadian metropolis. Damn it’s fun when the Montreal club beats TFC, the Argos or the Leafs, right?
