Time to finally turn the page on the last short story, which felt like I was writing that for so long. I really like it. I don't know how a reader would like that last story though. I mean, you'd need to be a fan of 70s TV detective shows to really wig for the nostalgia ... and even then ... without that ... it's so confusing. I re-read it for spelling errors the other day and, yes, it's confusing on purpose ... I did that on purpose. I mean, to me, the fact that a good chunk of the dialogue was going to be Kojak talking to Kolchak... was really the initial reason I thought it would be fun to write... but... it's confusing.
I like it though. I remember when the channel A&E first came out in the 90s, it was supposed to be about Arts and Entertainment.... just like TLC was supposed to be the learning channel when it started... A&E was going to be about operas and plays and smart people stuff... but it only had so many operas and plays to air so a good 60% of its roster of programming back then was 70s Detective shows! I watched them all, I really liked them, I leaned towards Columbo as my favorite... though the theme from Rockford I considered as being the greatest theme of any of them.
I did a bit of research, watching some Cannons and stuff, that was never on re-runs I watched back then... I like William Conrad... he's the narrator on Rocky and Bullwinkle too... so his voice is familiar to me.
Anyways, I have a feeling that story is considered craptastic by the literary world but it was soooo fun for me to write that thing. I loved doing it. I loved every second of writing it.
But, now its time to turn the page on that....
Any new readers to this blog who weren't on board in the past might not know that I am a gigantic Montreal Expos fan. Searching "Montreal Expos" in my blog will likely bring up dozens of articles. I've been on board with the Re-Rise of the Great Expos since... honestly... maybe even before anyone. I've been a die-hard not-switching-to-another-team Expos fan since they left in 2004 still. I never gave up being an Expos fan.
Every spring, I usually start a Baseball Mogul video game campaign, and by campaign I really mean it, I start as the Expos in the game in 1969 and play until 2004. I play with some caveats... any player who enters my roster at any point from 1969 to 2004 MUST HAVE played at least one game in an Expos uniform in real life to be allowed on my roster.... it keeps it historically much-more accurate and keeps the world feeling far-more real for me. Far more realer than if Tony Gwynn was signed as a free agent one year or I drafted Ken Griffey Jr. or Matt Williams one year.... doing stuff like that would take me out of the world I am creating in the game if Griffey was an Expo...it would no longer feel real to me.
I manage everything and tend to win many World Serieses... things often happen like in True History like trading Randy Johnson (Even though I know he will become a Cy Young caliber pitcher) because it makes it feel ever-more realer to me when I do that... but then again... many things don't happen as in History because this campaign really only exists in my computer... so obviously there's no 1994 play stoppage and the Expos get to finish the year and things like that. Since there's no Japan league simulations... I usually tend to keep Warren Cromartie as a life-long Expo since he can't leave for Japan anyhow in this game.
For me, its odd that this simulation, which thanks to my historical-based caveats for who is traded-for or signed onto my team over the course of 1969 to 2004.... can feel very real at times. Very much so.
I've seen Steve Rogers pitch a no-hitter in the World Series, I've seen Tim Raines hit a game winning inside-the-park homerun at Tiger Stadium to win a World Series... I've seen things that have made me lose-my-mind and I know they are not even real.
I have truly created a video game world in this game that is totally self-hypnotically believable to me. I really recommend to any baseball fan who hasn't played Baseball Mogul to try it...I've had it since I ordered the 1999 version more than 20 years ago! I've been playing this game for more than 20 years.
The Expos are very much being talked about in media, mostly Montreal region media, this week. We have gained a lot of ground on one day getting the franchise to return to MLB over the last decade... yes, this Return of the Expos is now over 10 years old. I have articles from 2011 about Cromartie's five-tool plan from his old "Expo Manifesto" on his old website. I've been emotionally-invested in this for over a decade....
...but, I know its a marathon and not a race. Many people in Montreal media have now given up Hope on the Return of the Expos... but not me. Just like Cro was saying on the radio today... people who chose to never stop believing in the Expos were always lauged-at and called crazy for a decade now.
If I haven't given up on the Expos as being my baseball team since 2004....I really doubt I ever will. I've been a supporter of the Return since the day they left... and that will never change.
You can bruise my insides... and I'll still be an Expos fan.
You can laugh at me for my silly dreams.... and I will still be an Expos fan.
You can say I'm out-of-touch with reality... well, yeah, that's true but.... I'm still an Expos fan.
You can tempt me with Blue Jays baseball but.... I'll still be an Expos fan.
You can pour the salt on the earth of Expos History and try to bury it but I'm STILL an Expos fan.
....and I will be an Expos fan... forever.
There's some things in a person's body that are too powerful to ever be removed. I don't know how it happened... but the Red n' White n' the Blue of that Expos team is too powerful a force to ever be removed from the inside of me. It's just how it is.
I remember having tickets to the Yankees spring training game in March 2020 at the Big O, me and my mom were gonna go.... and that's when the lockdowns hit for the pandemic. There was gonna be 40,000+ fans at Olympic Stadium again for baseball. It's strange to think that was two years ago now. It feels like nothing but only just Yesterday....
Just like other moments I witnessed at the Big O.... they feel like they happened only yesterday... they're still inside of me as powerful memories. I think that's why when I play Baseball Mogul sometimes and its game seven of the NLCS and my computerized Expos come from behind to win and advance to the World Series... it feels very real. I feel like I'm back at the Big O and Curtis Pride just doubled to center and almost 50,000 people are standing and cheering... because its a very powerful memory that is still inside of me.
Expos fans, we've seen hard roads before. If you're like me and still an Expos fan after almost 20 years of them being gone.... I don't think this latest development will finally be the moment you switch over the the Jays or another team. If you've made it this far with the Expos fires still burning inside of you... I doubt anything will ever quench them.
We're rounding third now, heading home.....but we're in a run-down with the catcher and the thirdbaseman. Both sides like crab pincers... clamping down on us from both sides... home is right in front of us... but the catcher now has the ball and wants to tag us out.
We've been here before... so close to the end......is this really the Final Chapter on the Return of The Expos? I don't know... all I know is...
....I'm Still an Expos Fan.
