Boston Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs is now an NHL Hall of Famer… You’re probably wondering why… Well, you’re not alone.
This is not going to be an article explaining why Jacobs deserves this, but the exact opposite. There is no reason why Jacobs should be in the Hall of Fame. You could make the argument that because he was owner when the Bruins broke their 39-year drought and won their sixth Stanley Cup, he deserves some recognition, but shouldn’t Peter Chiarelli really be the one to thank for that? Yes. That entire 2010-11 team was the work of Chiarelli. You could even say that Jeff Gorton deserves some recognition, as well because he drafted a great deal of that team (Chiarelli and Gorton were Bruins general managers), but Chiarelli made the trades to make that team. Jacobs did not of that. Even if he did have some say, as hard as it is to say being a die-hard Bruins fan, but the 2010-11 wasn’t even good! Sure, Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci were all in their prime, Tyler Seguin was still showing off his skills in Beantown, and Brad Marchand was on the rise, but they got lucky in the postseason. Granted, they had a fine regular season at 46-25-11, but they were barely able to succeed. Sure, the Flyers went down easy in the second round, but they took their rival Canadiens in Round One to an overtime victory in Game Seven. The Third Round came down to one of the greatest Game Sevens in NHL history with no penalties, Thomas making the save of the century, and a late Nathan Horton goal that decided that Boston would face Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals. Along with the Canucks’ Alexandre Burrows biting Bergeron during a brawl, the Canucks’ taking the first two games on the road was not unexpected, but Aaron Rome’s elbowing Horton in the back of the head in the Boston 8-1 Game Three win was. Scraping together a Game Four and Game Six victory, along with losing Game Five in Massachusetts, the B’s brought the series back to British Columbia for Game Seven. The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada literally burned after Bergeron and Marchand scored two goals each to win Game Seven 4-0 on the road and took the Cup. The Green Guys outside the Canucks’ penalty box were two of the few fans to congratulate Vancouver native Milan Lucic on his new engraving on the Cup, but you can’t say that Jacobs won them the Cup. He was rather stern two years later during the NHL lockout, but his refusal to pay the players more money at the expiration of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement is what helped cause it. Jacobs is probably one of the most unimportant, uninfluential people in NHL history. His being in Toronto (the location of the NHL Hall of Fame) makes absolutely no sense. Jesse A. Cook “Jeremy Jacobs: NHL Hall Of Fame” June 27, 2017
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There have been rumors of bringing back the Expos to Montréal, Québec. How will this happen? Well, before I answer that, we must take a look at why they left:
Owner Frank Loria faced a financial problem with the Expos. Most of the people funding the team had left them, causing Loria to increase his shares up to 92%. At this point, he realized that the main issue was the annual revenue that fans brought in. Why were ticket sales so terrible? That, you can blame on their ballpark, Olympic Stadium. It’s a pretty ugly place and it sort of resembles Tropicana Park in Tampa Bay, Florida where the Rays reside. Loria then searched for a new area for the park, but he had no use for the area as neither did the MLB, the province of Québec, nor an architecture firm that would’ve aided in the building of a second Expos field. This lack of a stadium would force fans to fear getting to April and having no team in their city. Just 72 hours before spring training in 2002, Loria left for the Florida Marlins and Omar Minaya was left in charge. The franchise was saved by a new bargaining agreement that guaranteed the existence of the team until 2006, however, it looked to be as if the best option for maintaining the baseball program would be relocation. After the 2004 season, baseball left Montréal and returned to Washington D.C. as the Washington Nationals in 2005. The Nationals have not honored the Expos with retiring their numbers of Gary Carter’s #8, Andre Dawson’s #10, Rusty Staub’s #10, and Tim Raines’ #30, yet they do have the universally retired Jackie Robinson’s #42. These numbers do, however, hang up in the rafters of the Centre Bell, the home arena of Montréal’s NHL team, the Montréal Canadians. So, getting back to the main idea, how will the Expos make a comeback to Québec? The Montréal Baseball Project (MBP) was founded by former player and star of the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, Warren Cromartie. Currently, Montréal is home to the Canadians, the Impact of the MLS, the Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and the Jazz of the National Basketball League of Canada; how and where does baseball fit into this mix? The MBP is looking into 5 main locations: Bonaventure Expressway, Wellington Basin, the Montréal Children’s Hospital, the Montréal Hippodrome, and Olympic Stadium. Wellington Basin looks to be the best and most feasible option for a new ballpark. Though there is a likelihood of land contamination, it wouldn’t require demolition, public transit is available, there’s good parking available, it’s within walking distance of downtown Montréal, there’s a great deal of space ready, and there’s a great deal of renewal potential. The MLB doesn’t want to add a team, like the soon-to-be 31 team NHL with the addition of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, so the only option for a second Canadian baseball team (in addition to the Toronto Blue Jays) would be the relocation of another team. The Tampa Bay Rays are a prime candidate for relocation: their stadium is falling apart, they’re dead last in yearly revenue, and frankly, they have no potential. Even the Reds and Phillies have their farm systems in the works. Sure, they have Evan Longoria, but ever since Ben Zobrist, James Shields, and David Price left, there hasn’t been much keeping them there. One might argue that the Reds or Phillies should move, but they have wonderful ballparks, they still bring in a good amount of revenue, they’ve got great potential, they’ve got the history, and they have something else that the Rays don’t: a large fanbase. Have you ever tuned into a Rays home game? The crowd is essentially empty! The Expos would surely sell out. There is a thirst for baseball in southern Québec that must be quenched. Whether it’s by importing some fishes from Florida or expanding the MLB, it’s got to happen, and they have the means, the might, and the manner of doing so. Let’s bring back the Montréal Expos, we need le retour de Nos Amours. Jesse A. Cook “Le Retour De Nos Amours: Bringing The Expos Back To Montréal” January 6, 2017 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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