Dodger Blue is now my heart

After the Expos were sent packing, the question was asked 'will you pull for the new, naturalized Nationals?' Given the petty, pathetic, paltry amount of Expo fans that remained to begin with, I doubt the Montrealers migrated their support to Washington. Besides, it's not like the National organization showed any class in remembering their roots so screw them. I myself became a baseball atheist. I pulled for no one that is.

Until today. I thought about many teams. How can one not admire the New York Yankees and their tradition of excellence? As a Montreal Canadiens fan this should be a natural fit but for some reason I couldn't make the jump. The Boston Red Sox were tempting for their rebel image and history and I have been to Fenway but again I wasn't sure. Though I did pull for them in 2004. In both cases, both cities happen to be on my favorite list and both are superb sports towns. The St.Louis Cardinals were also under consideration. Another great sports city with great fans and possibly the best baseball fans - not to mention a winning baseball heritage. But the Cards were Expos killers in the 1980s. Cubs? Tigers? A's? Reds? All legitimate candidates. In fact, I wouldn't mind if any of them were to win the WS.

Then it hit me. The Los Angeles Dodgers. If one traces back the lineage of the forgotten Expos it all leads to the Dodgers organization. The Montreal Royals were the farm team for the Brookyln Dodgers back in the 40s and 50s. I have always felt there was a special bond between Brooklyn and Montreal as baseball towns. Both were hard luck baseball towns in that there always was a team in their way - Yankees, Cards and Braves. Ebbett's Filed was not that different fro DeLorimier or Jarry Park in some ways in terms of fan and player interaction. I'm not crazy about the city itself but I have been and loved Dodger Stadium. It's a great place to watch baseball. Dodgers fans rank, in my opinion, just as high as Yankees, Reds, Cubs, Red Sox and Cardinals fans.

History binds the two. Which leaves me with one thing to say: Go Dodgers!