The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News October 1, 2004

Outside Oberlin

A new beginning for the Expos

The Montreal Expos franchise played its last home game Wednesday night, the same day Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams enthusiastically announced the return of Major League Baseball to the nation’s capital. The franchise relocation is baseball’s first since 1971, when the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers.

The move ends years of speculation as well as the embarrassment to the league that the Expos franchise had become. Baseball in Montreal never truly recovered from the players’ strike that canceled the 1994 World Series. The Expos had the best record in baseball when that season was chalked, with a roster that featured such stars as Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd and Moises Alou. When baseball returned, Montreal’s fans did not and the team was forced to sell off its star players to more financially secure clubs. This revolving door of players further turned off potential fans, and crowds of under 10,000 became the norm at Olympic Stadium.

In 2002, Les Expos were unable to find an owner, so the 29 other teams in Major League Baseball bought the club and would not finance the competitive team. Home attendance became so pitiful that half the team’s home games were played in Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004.

Yuoppi!, the team’s longtime mascot, will not retire, however. Team officials assured that he will not die with the club.

The final Expos game will be played Oct. 3 against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Au revoir.

– Billy Weisbrod

Rooney fires debut hat trick

It was worth the wait. Playing his first game since England’s quarterfinal exit in Euro 2004, teenage striker Wayne Rooney, a $42 million signing from Everton last month, scored a hat trick on a sensational debut for Manchester United as they crushed Fenerbahçe 6-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday. In Group D, Olympique Lyon had Sylvain Wiltord to thank for a 58th minute strike in a 2-1 away victory over Sparta Prague, their first win of the campaign.

Tomas Jun put Sparta in front in the seventh minute with a well-placed header, but Olympique managed to pull level in the 25th minute on Mickael Essien’s long-range drive that curved into the far corner.

Roy Makaay destroyed Ajax with a hat trick to help Bayern Munich to a convincing 4-0 Champions League win on Tuesday in Group C. The Dutch striker put his side two up by half-time before adding a penalty and supplying a pass for Ze Roberto to add a fourth.

– Vlado Pupinoski

Chinese GP new star of F1 circuit

A success both on and off the track, Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix showed Formula One there is life outside Europe. While the Old Continent public has become blasé, the 160,000 packed into the state-of-the-art track complex in Shanghai ensured the off-track success of a race which provided on-piste drama.

Rubens Barrichello’s start-to-finish win — holding off the double challenge of young guns Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen — enthralled genuine sports fans and undoubtedly had the marketing men rubbing their hands as the sport sunk its claws into China’s 1.3 billion person population.

– Vlado Pupinoski
 
 

   

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