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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

More Gary...

Carey Price during the pregame warmup wearing Carter's #8.

The Canadiens honoured Gary Carter before the game against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night and as per form, it was first class all the way. The players wore Carter's iconic number 8 on their jerseys for pre-game warmup, which will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to The Gary Carter Foundation. They also sported #8 on their helmets, and Youppi! wore his old Expos cap and jersey, with Carter's name and number.

He then returned later sporting a Habs jersey, also with a #8. It was nice to see ol' Youppi! in his former threads, even under such circumstances.

Great tribute to the music of the Eagle's "New Kid in Town."

I cried, as I'm sure many others did. I still can't believe it.
Anyhow here's the tribute if you haven't seen it:



Now if only the team could have picked up the win for "The Kid."

I kind of spent the entire weekend thinking about Gary Carter.

Yeah! Gary Carter in his trademark pose, showing the ump the ball after he tagged out a runner at home. Way to go Gary!!! Pic courtesy of Sports Illustrated.

In retrospect, I think the passing of Gary Carter was a bit emotional for me for a variety of reasons: it made me think of my late father, who also passed away before his time at age 51 from cancer in 1980 -- as Carter was entering his prime; it also made me think about all the great memories I had of the Expos and specifically of Gary; and especially made me sad about how much I really, really miss the Expos. No matter how bad their record may have been, no matter how bad a place the Olympic Stadium is to see a game -- it's better to have a team to not have one at all.

Here's a great recap of Carter's career more focused on his prime with the Expos:


It also made me realize that Gary Carter represented something more to us. He represented a sense of optimism, a sense of passion, of winning and hopefulness that used to exist in Montreal that is no longer there. That is very sad too. With the clusterf@#$ season we're having with the Canadiens this year and the, some may say, mismanaging of the team, it makes me wonder how this has gone terribly wrong? Where are our standards of sports excellence that once permeated through everything that was done in the Montreal sports scene? At one time, the Expos were getting to be contenders, the Canadiens were Stanley Cup champs, and the Alouettes were Grey Cup champs.

How times have changed...

I'm also sad because Carter truly was one of the good ones. We're so lucky to have had him in our lives one way or the other.

"The Kid" with ever-present smile, congratulates Steve Rogers after a win during the '81 run. Pic courtesy of Sports Illustrated.

THANK YOU GARY!!!!!!!!!!! Mow 'em down trying to steal second in the Field of Dreams.

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On a hockey note, the Habs plays the Dallas Stars tonight. Unbelievably, the Habs are still only 6 points out of the playoffs, but just to bring you back to reality, no team has made up such an amount of points to make the playoffs at this time of the year (post lockout). Good luck.

And the thrill that was Hal Gill is no more, off to Nashville for a draft pick and two prospects including Blake Geoffrion, the grandson of former Habs great Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion. No pressure Blake...

Gee, we're sure cornering the market on players with French names that donm't speak a lick of French, eh? Rene Bourque, prospect Nathan Beaulieu, coach Randy Ladouceur, now Blake Geoffrion.

3 comments:

  1. I still remember hearing that song each time Carter walked to the plate.

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  2. The loss of Gary Carter is like losing a part of my youthful innocence...I only have the best of memories when I think of him in an Expos uniform and the years spent listening to Dave Van Horne call the games on the radio and on television. Makes me feel homesick for my Montreal childhood...
    We will always have him in our hearts, esp. when playing baseball with our own kids.
    Thanks for the tribute.

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  3. Yep, that's what it is, for us along with many millions of others. It's a walk down memory lane that takes us back to a time where we were young but when Montreal as a city still had an aura of hope and optimism which is now unfortunately long gone. The Expos in itself is a bit of a metaphor for the city -- never fully lived up to its potential. Now I sort of know what Yankee fans felt like when DiMaggio and Mantle died...better to have these memories than none at all, eh? I feel bad for all the little kids living in Montreal now who will never have their own Gaaarrrry!!!

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