67 days ’til Opening Day

There are 67 days left until that best day of the year, MLB Opening Day. 67 is also the number of wins the Montreal Expos had in their final season in Montreal (2004).

Even though the Expos are no more, I am still reminded of them from time to time, including last week, when Bugs & Cranks discovered you can still buy Expos bedding.

The Expos were my favorite National League team for many years, mainly because they were the classic underdog story that was fun to root for (especially in 2002-2003). They had lots of talent and were on the verge of greatness, only ownership and MLB itself was holding them back.

Despite having no owners and no money to spend, the 2003 Expos were in the NL wild card race until the end of the season, tied for the wild-card lead as late as Aug. 28. That team had Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Jose Vidro and Brad Wilkerson before he forgot how to hit. They had great seasons from Javier Vazquez and Livan Hernandez. They were just a couple of pieces away from being a playoff team — pieces their lack of an owner wouldn’t let them acquire. The other 29 MLB teams owned the Expos, an obvious huge conflict of interest. Why would they pay money to see the Expos hurt their own teams?

MLB and Jeffrey Loria really screwed the fans of Montreal. It was a sad day when the Expos left.

Stephen A. Smith joins the unqualified

I know Deadspin and other major blogs wrote about this yesterday, but since I’ve ripped Stephen A. Smith in the past, I had to mention this.

Stephen A. Smith has a blog now. Really.

If you don’t get the irony, he said this a while back:

And when you look at the internet business, what’s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses.

If he’s right, Stephen A. has found the perfect medium to express his thoughts. And go visit his blog, commenters have already had a field day making fun of him.

UPDATE: When I first saw the comments, they were mostly funny. Then there were more of them that were just wrong. You went too far people. Making fun of him for the things he has said or for talking really loudly = funny. Being racist and threatening = VERY NOT FUNNY.