& the long gone Montreal Expos.

Tugged at my heart strings there. I have not liked another team nor really enjoyed baseball since they moved. We can have a - MLB killed a team - discussion. (I am resisting) I remember you mentioning before that you are an Expos fan.

I am like you as I grew up in Montreal and was a Chicago Blackhawks fan. This in an era where Montreal ruled the NHL for the most part. I took lots of ribbing back then. I waited over 40 years to get my revenge but it is sweet.

[Edited on 5/8/2016 by CanadianMule]

& the long gone Montreal Expos.

Tugged at my heart strings there.

Same here....I'm also a Montrealer and when I still cared about hockey (or sports for that matter) I was a Philadelphia Flyers fan.

[Edited on 5/9/2016 by Stephane]

I grew up a die hard University of Michigan football fan. When I was 28 I went to graduate school at Michigan State of all places and remained a Michigan fan. I have friends of both schools that are confused by it.

I grew up in WI and have lived in NYC for over 10 years. Naturally I'm a big Packers fan, and though I still root for the Brewers, I've always rooted for the Yankees as well - especially after the Crew moved to the National League. I dig watching NBA, but really just watch the playoffs when they get good. The Bucks haven't been good (aside from getting the Bucksth playoff seed every other year, aka, the 8th spot) since George Karl signed Anthony Mason (RIP) and ruined a great Bucks team.

I also went to UW, so I still root for the Badgers now and then (mostly basketball or hockey, college football is totally broken to me). After I graduated, it seemed silly to get too excited about arbitrary college kids playing sports. Also, it will be hard to get excited about college sports until after my damn student loans are paid off. For the most part, college sports aren't very big in NYC anyways, outside of the affiliations people bring here with them.

Expos Trivia for Big V and others.

My buddy's Dad, Ted Blackman, covered the Expos since day 1 and was the guy to give Rusty Staub his nickname of "Le Grande Orange" and gave the bleachers the name "Jonesville" as a tribute to long ball hitter Mack Jones.

When we were young it was cool to have contact with the team. Ted was also tied into the music scene and had his reserved seats which were front row and center for every show In Montreal. My buddy Scott had us spoiled with those seats over the years. Front row and free. Doesn't get better. Not to mention the backstage passes from an early age. Oh and of course the free beer that accompanied all of the perks.

Expos Trivia for Big V and others.

My buddy's Dad, Ted Blackman, covered the Expos since day 1 and was the guy to give Rusty Staub his nickname of "Le Grande Orange" and gave the bleachers the name "Jonesville" as a tribute to long ball hitter Mack Jones.

Do you remember.... "Le petite strawberry"?

[Edited on 5/9/2016 by BIGV]

Ron Fairly - Le Petite Strawberry

Hated when Montreal traded him away and then hated that he was traded to the Blue Jays a few years later.

Ron Fairly - Le Petite Strawberry

Hated when Montreal traded him away and then hated that he was traded to the Blue Jays a few years later.

Cool. Let me see what I can dial up off the top of head......Staub to the Mets in exchange for SS Tim Foli, OF Ken Singleton and OF/1B Mike Jorgensen....Foli played hard and was a good SS, maybe .240?....Singleton was about a 20 HR 80 rbi .285 or so...and Jorgensen was glove with an average stick. Larry Lintz!...Rodney Scott, Ron LeFlore......Ernie McAnally, Steve Renko....Carl Morton

Boots Day & John Bok-a-bella......

Which Expo pitcher threw 2 No-Hitters?

Which Expo pitcher threw 2 No-Hitters?

Bill Stoneman got that done. My brother and I were at the 2nd game. My Mom always sent my brother and I to double headers to get rid of us for a full day. Believe it was the first game but could have been the 2nd. I used to actually have the scoring sheet that you would fill in during the game. Collected them for years along with other sports programs and stubs. Lost them all during one of my parents moves after I had left home. Mom kept my sports cards but all sports and music magazines went. Would be worth a fortune now. Oh well.

That was back in the Jarry Park days. Was the most amazing park to see a game as a kid. You could go lie on top of the dugouts, lean over and toss the guys a ball. They would sign, pass it around and then give it back. Even the visiting team would do it. Try that with modern day athletes. It was so common to get things signed that kids would actually end up using the balls we got signed. Still have a couple but the signatures have faded greatly over the years.

Rusty used to take balls over the right field fence into the swimming pool outside the stadium. I thought he was a God. LOL

Tickets in bleachers were $1.

Huge bag of peanuts - 25 cents
Drink 25 cents

Mom would give us two bus tickets and $2 each. Would double it for double headers. I used to buy three bags of peanuts and a coke. LMAO! Must have been 2-3 pounds of peanuts.

The move to the Olympic Stadium sucked as those prices skyrocketed. 75 cents for a small bag of peanuts. The horror of the bastards stealing away my peanuts. Although we could easily smuggle in beer especially as attendance dropped so that was a bonus.

In the end, they even ended up selling their mascot- Youppi to the Canadiens.

MLB killed the team. (Still resisting my rant)

Not sure this qualifies as weird, but grew up a Browns and Indians fan. Moved to Columbus, Ohio to go to college (not Ohio State) and then became a Buckeye fan in earnest.

Moved to Jacksonville, Florida - retained all those alliances, Browns fled to Baltimore, Jacksonville Jaguars became a team, Cleveland got the Browns back.

Now I live in SW FL where there are no pro sports teams, I still hang onto my Jags, Browns, Indians and Buckeyes.

I follow the Cavs also but being a Cleveland sports fan, we are trained to not expect anything, so holding my breath there.

I always find it interesting that someone can be a fan of a team from a city they have never visited/lived in or have connection to.

Here on Van Isle there are a bunch of New Orleans Saints fans. I know of one of several that have actually been to New Orleans.

I once asked a guy cheering for the flyers if he had ever been to Philly? He said no and I bet he couldn't find it on a map either. I get why he liked the Flyers but seems goofy to like a team so far away from Van Isle.

Lots of folks that grew up here on Van Isle hate the Seahawks and cheer for the 9er's. Always makes for great Sunday afternoon rivalry games at my local sports bar.

I always find it interesting that someone can be a fan of a team from a city they have never visited/lived in or have connection to.

Gotta respectfully disagree. Growing up outside of Detroit as a Tigers fan, they were (and are) my favorite team. When I was a little kid I went to a game at Tiger Stadium and they played the Royals. George Brett hit a ball to dead center (which was 440 feet) for a double. I think he had two other hits.

He became my hero and I have rooted for the Royals ever since.

Doesn't seem that odd to me.

I always liked to be different and not follow the crowd,even when I was a little kid..I also liked to root for teams that sucked and hope to watch them get better.

So being born,raised,and still living in NYC I root for

Boston Red Sox(despite Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle occasionally visiting my house when I was a kid)
Philadelphia Flyers(I picked an expansion team)
Denver Broncos

I rooted for the Mets in the NL when I was younger,the only NY team I ever rooted for.

I always find it interesting that someone can be a fan of a team from a city they have never visited/lived in or have connection to.

Here on Van Isle there are a bunch of New Orleans Saints fans. I know of one of several that have actually been to New Orleans.

I don't think it's that odd when it comes to professional sports fandom - you can be a fan of a the spirit of another city (like New Orleans or New York, etc), the tradition of the franchise itself (like the Packers, Steelers, Yankees, Red Sox, Lakers, etc), or a franchise that has little connection to the city itself but you latched onto a popular player (OKC Thunder, Washington Nationals). I rooted for the Utah Jazz during the Malone/Stockton years in the 1990s - I don't remember what started it at all, I must have been watching a playoff game that caught my attention as a 10 year old. I don't think I've even seen a Jazz game since Stockton retired and Malone went to LA over a decade ago.

I find it odder when people root for a college sports team that they didn't attend or don't live near (unless it's Notre Dame. Because Irish people).

Ron Fairly - Le Petite Strawberry

Hated when Montreal traded him away and then hated that he was traded to the Blue Jays a few years later.

Cool. Let me see what I can dial up off the top of head......Staub to the Mets in exchange for SS Tim Foli, OF Ken Singleton and OF/1B Mike Jorgensen....Foli played hard and was a good SS, maybe .240?....Singleton was about a 20 HR 80 rbi .285 or so...and Jorgensen was glove with an average stick. Larry Lintz!...Rodney Scott, Ron LeFlore......Ernie McAnally, Steve Renko....Carl Morton

Boots Day & John Bok-a-bella......

Claude Raymond, Dan (Don?) McGinn. I remember they called Tim Foli "Crazy Horse"

Too bad they didn't make a deal for John Boozer. Then they would have had Wine and Boozer.

Coco Laboy!

[Edited on 5/11/2016 by alloak41]

Ron Fairly - Le Petite Strawberry

Hated when Montreal traded him away and then hated that he was traded to the Blue Jays a few years later.

Cool. Let me see what I can dial up off the top of head......Staub to the Mets in exchange for SS Tim Foli, OF Ken Singleton and OF/1B Mike Jorgensen....Foli played hard and was a good SS, maybe .240?....Singleton was about a 20 HR 80 rbi .285 or so...and Jorgensen was glove with an average stick. Larry Lintz!...Rodney Scott, Ron LeFlore......Ernie McAnally, Steve Renko....Carl Morton

Boots Day & John Bok-a-bella......

Claude Raymond, Dan (Don?) McGinn. I remember they called Tim Foli "Crazy Horse"

Too bad they didn't make a deal for John Boozer. Then they would have had Wine and Boozer.

Coco Laboy!

Jesus Frias, Jim Gosger, Bob Bailey, John Bateman, Terry Humphrey, Barry Foote, Gary Carter

Gene Mauch, Balor Moore, Remember this kid?...The lefty right out of H.S. who could really bring the heat. Or Floyd Youmans whose only claim to fame was being the cousin of ?

I find it odder when people root for a college sports team that they didn't attend or don't live near (unless it's Notre Dame. Because Irish people).

I don't know why college sports are any different than pros in this regard. Plenty of people act sanctimoniously about their attendance at some college and wonder how someone could possibly be a fan if they are not an alum, but I do not agree, at all.

Why is this any different than rooting for a pro team?

I find it odder when people root for a college sports team that they didn't attend or don't live near (unless it's Notre Dame. Because Irish people).

I don't know why college sports are any different than pros in this regard. Plenty of people act sanctimoniously about their attendance at some college and wonder how someone could possibly be a fan if they are not an alum, but I do not agree, at all.

Why is this any different than rooting for a pro team?

I think it's much different, and I'm not just talking about turning on a BIG 10 game and rooting against Michigan, I mean being a year-in, year-out fan.

Colleges are schools first, not sports franchises - the athletics are representative and inclusive, but secondary to education. College sports fandom is much more personal, it is usually rooted in actually having gone to that university and being a part of it, or living in the region and being a part of the community that the University serves. What would possess a person who has never left Oregon to root for Florida State? You're not latching on to a long term personality - you are rooting for a random bunch of kids that happen to go to a school. I'm not being sanctimonious, college sports can be a lot of fun for the whole community - but to have no ties to a school, personally or geographically, and be a huge fan (or even odder, hating a random school) is a little more random than rooting for a pro team which are solely about sports.

I think it's much different, and I'm not just talking about turning on a BIG 10 game and rooting against Michigan, I mean being a year-in, year-out fan.

Colleges are schools first, not sports franchises - the athletics are representative and inclusive, but secondary to education. College sports fandom is much more personal, it is usually rooted in actually having gone to that university and being a part of it, or living in the region and being a part of the community that the University serves. What would possess a person who has never left Oregon to root for Florida State? You're not latching on to a long term personality - you are rooting for a random bunch of kids that happen to go to a school. I'm not being sanctimonious, college sports can be a lot of fun for the whole community - but to have no ties to a school, personally or geographically, and be a huge fan (or even odder, hating a random school) is a little more random than rooting for a pro team which are solely about sports.

OK, I see your point also, but would maybe argue that some of these schools have indeed become sports franchises.

I understand what you are saying about the year in and year out thing.

The college sports teams that I do follow are ones I do have some sort of connection to.

At times if I flip on a game and I know someone who has a kid that goes to one of the schools that are playing, I may pull for them in that game, but that connection would not necessarily result in a year to year thing.

I think what I was saying is that one does not have to have attended a college to be a fan of their sports teams.

I find it odder when people root for a college sports team that they didn't attend or don't live near (unless it's Notre Dame. Because Irish people).

I don't know why college sports are any different than pros in this regard. Plenty of people act sanctimoniously about their attendance at some college and wonder how someone could possibly be a fan if they are not an alum, but I do not agree, at all.

Why is this any different than rooting for a pro team?

I think it's much different, and I'm not just talking about turning on a BIG 10 game and rooting against Michigan, I mean being a year-in, year-out fan.

Colleges are schools first, not sports franchises - the athletics are representative and inclusive, but secondary to education. College sports fandom is much more personal, it is usually rooted in actually having gone to that university and being a part of it, or living in the region and being a part of the community that the University serves. What would possess a person who has never left Oregon to root for Florida State? You're not latching on to a long term personality - you are rooting for a random bunch of kids that happen to go to a school. I'm not being sanctimonious, college sports can be a lot of fun for the whole community - but to have no ties to a school, personally or geographically, and be a huge fan (or even odder, hating a random school) is a little more random than rooting for a pro team which are solely about sports.

I respectfully disagree - at the Div 1 level in both football and basketball the sports teams representing those schools function as close to professional teams as you can be - with the exception that the players get a grossly inequitable share of the massive revenue that is created. I'm a Canadian - lived in Canada my whole life - and I have been a huge fan of a Div 1 basketball and a Div 1 football team my whole life - without ever going to the schools in question. In the case of the basketball team - I've never even been to that state. When I say fan - I'm talking watch every game they play, follow recruiting year round, follow their coaching searches when that comes around - the whole thing. As a Canadian sports junkie - all the teams I root for are in places I have no geographic connection too whatsoever. All chosen as a small child getting into sports - and all basically lifetime commitments.

First NFL game I saw was part of the 83 Superbowl. The following season I decided to take an interest in the game via Channel 4 in the UK's 75 minute highlight show 7!!! days behind. The main game featured was usually the Champion Redskins so they became "my team" I learnt the game watching Theisman, Riggins, Monk and co. . We used to get only the Superbowl live back then, so the first full game i saw was The Raiders dismantling Washington the following year. Fast forward a few years and work took me to LA a few times so I saw the Raiders twice in The LA Coliseum and I became a bit of a Raiders fan. still later I started to visit friends in New Orleans regularly so I became a Saints fan....Flip flopper, I'm afraid..

Flip flopper, I'm afraid..

hahaha

...Love the one you're with

I think it's much different, and I'm not just talking about turning on a BIG 10 game and rooting against Michigan, I mean being a year-in, year-out fan.

Colleges are schools first, not sports franchises - the athletics are representative and inclusive, but secondary to education.

No offense porkchop but I literally laughed out loud at your first comment. I have degrees from two division one schools including one Big Ten school and I can tell you that while I agree with your premise and in an ideal world, this would be great. But this has not been my experience at all. I wouldn't trade my educational background for the world but I think what you are saying is a bit too idealistic, whether we might agree with it or not.

Major colleges ARE sports franchises and I think in some respects that is unfortunate. Football and basketball are huge money makers for their respective universities and help generate revenue to fund basically every other athletic program. This funds scholarships for a lot of kids who wouldn't otherwise receive funding.

Agree with this or not, and in many respects I do agree with you, this is the way college athletics (at least in football and basketball) has become.

😉

Colleges are schools first, not sports franchises - the athletics are representative and inclusive, but secondary to education.

I attended the University of Oklahoma. I am unfamiliar with this notion of which you speak.

Agree with this or not, and in many respects I do agree with you, this is the way college athletics (at least in football and basketball) has become.

😉

I'm not looking at college athletics through rose-tinted glasses. I know college sports are covered by the sports media with all of the excitement and scrutiny of professional athletics and provide huge revenue streams for schools, for better or worse. But colleges represent a community even more so than professional sports franchises (they won't move to another city and average people in the region work for and attend the actual college) so the attachment is typically more personal than pro sports attachments.

My point is that because of that communal aspect of the school, someone rooting for a school they have no personal attachment to (not just because Gramps went to Fordham) is more random than someone rooting for a professional sports team in another city. That's all. I get that if you are in Canada, you can still pick a Division 1 school to follow - that's great! Don't you agree it's less surprising that a bloke from Arizona would root for The KC Royals than it is that he roots for Nebraska? Wouldn't you be more interested in how he chose Nebraska than why he roots for the Royals? I am much more interested in finding out what US Div 1 school and why slothrop chose to root for than which professional European Soccer Club he chose to root for.

Agree with this or not, and in many respects I do agree with you, this is the way college athletics (at least in football and basketball) has become.

😉

I'm not looking at college athletics through rose-tinted glasses. I know college sports are covered by the sports media with all of the excitement and scrutiny of professional athletics and provide huge revenue streams for schools, for better or worse. But colleges represent a community even more so than professional sports franchises (they won't move to another city and average people in the region work for and attend the actual college) so the attachment is typically more personal than pro sports attachments.

My point is that because of that communal aspect of the school, someone rooting for a school they have no personal attachment to (not just because Gramps went to Fordham) is more random than someone rooting for a professional sports team in another city. That's all. I get that if you are in Canada, you can still pick a Division 1 school to follow - that's great! Don't you agree it's less surprising that a bloke from Arizona would root for The KC Royals than it is that he roots for Nebraska? Wouldn't you be more interested in how he chose Nebraska than why he roots for the Royals? I am much more interested in finding out what US Div 1 school and why slothrop chose to root for than which professional European Soccer Club he chose to root for.

I take your point and hear what you're saying. I treat Div 1 sports so similarly to how I treat pro sports that I can imagine your hypothetical Arizona man going out of state for his Div 1 rooting interest as easily as I can him going out of state for his pro team. It's certainly even worse if he went to U of Arizona and cheers for a different Div 1 school - that would be interesting.

I cheer for UNC because when I was young in the 80s and getting into sports UNC's best player was a Canadian - Rick Fox. So I gravitated to them as there were hardly any Canadians playing Div 1 at that time. Now there's lots of Canadians in Div 1 basketball - but then it was much more rare - and Fox was actually really good. UNC has never had another Canadian since - but I've been following them all that time.

Another way someone can become a fan of a team from out of town

A 7 year old girl from NYC is having brunch in a New Jersey hotel with her mother and friend.She has to use the bathroom really bad but security won't let her cross the lobby because a very large contingent of VERY large men are passing by.A couple of the men stop and give the guard a dressing down for not letting the little girl cross and let her go.

For the past 13 years my daughter has been a Dallas Cowboy fan.

On another note,for the Expos fans,MLB has a special show on them tonight at 9:00 EST.

On another note,for the Expos fans, MLB has a special show on them tonight at 9:00 EST.

Very cool and thanks for the heads up!

......and there is never a good reason for being a cowboys fan

On another note,for the Expos fans, MLB has a special show on them tonight at 9:00 EST.

Very cool and thanks for the heads up!

Damn I just saw this now. What was it?