Monday, August 25, 2003
Portland Battling For Expos
Senate Bill 5, the bill that would go a long way towards bringing the troubled Montreal Expos to Portland, went up for a vote last week, passing in the House but failing in the Senate. However, after a bit of tweaking, the Senate reconsidered and gave it support, so now it goes back to the House for an expected approval there. For crusaders trying to bring baseball to Portland, things are looking rosy in the Rose City.
I'm all for bringing Major League Baseball to Portland, as long as the taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for a stadium. And indeed, taxpayers won't have to pick up the bill if the Expos come here. Plus, it will create hundreds (thousands) of jobs in a suffering local economy and that can only be a good thing for the city. But it will be kind of weird, having a team in my hometown but being a fan of another team. I'll still be a Giants fan, but I'll root, when I can, for the Portland team in a manner reflective of the way current Portlanders root for the Mariners. And I'll certainly attend many games. No problem.
Cruz gets high praise from Alou: Check out Felipe Alou's comments on Jose Cruz and his defensive skills. On a par with Roberto Clemente. That's some high praise right there.
What Can We Learn From The Kids?: The Little League team from Boynton Beach, Florida, got their butts kicked last night, quite frankly, in the world championship game against Japan. But were the kids crying and sulking, like players so often do in this tournament? Nope. In fact, most of them had smiles on their faces throughout. And how cool was it that when the Japanese players ran out to center field after their victory to pay homage to Howard Lamade's bust beyond the centerfield fence--Lamade was the newspaper publisher who gave the land to the Little League--the Boynton Beach players soon followed, and happily leaped around and gave the Japanese players high fives, and some of them even started dancing? How cool was that? I wish we could see sights like this more often in sports. It was a class act by the Florida kids.
I'm all for bringing Major League Baseball to Portland, as long as the taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for a stadium. And indeed, taxpayers won't have to pick up the bill if the Expos come here. Plus, it will create hundreds (thousands) of jobs in a suffering local economy and that can only be a good thing for the city. But it will be kind of weird, having a team in my hometown but being a fan of another team. I'll still be a Giants fan, but I'll root, when I can, for the Portland team in a manner reflective of the way current Portlanders root for the Mariners. And I'll certainly attend many games. No problem.
Cruz gets high praise from Alou: Check out Felipe Alou's comments on Jose Cruz and his defensive skills. On a par with Roberto Clemente. That's some high praise right there.
What Can We Learn From The Kids?: The Little League team from Boynton Beach, Florida, got their butts kicked last night, quite frankly, in the world championship game against Japan. But were the kids crying and sulking, like players so often do in this tournament? Nope. In fact, most of them had smiles on their faces throughout. And how cool was it that when the Japanese players ran out to center field after their victory to pay homage to Howard Lamade's bust beyond the centerfield fence--Lamade was the newspaper publisher who gave the land to the Little League--the Boynton Beach players soon followed, and happily leaped around and gave the Japanese players high fives, and some of them even started dancing? How cool was that? I wish we could see sights like this more often in sports. It was a class act by the Florida kids.
