Making a pitch for positivity

The Blue Jays spring training series at the Big O drew fewer fans than in previous years. I understand why this is fodder for negative people to argue against a return of the Expos to Montreal. However, these people seem to be intentionally focusing on whatever negativity they can find to feed their need to diminish Montreal as a “real” sports town.

Monday’s Jays-Cardinals game drew 25,335 to Olympic Stadium — probably one of the worst venues in North American sports — for a meaningless game between two teams that have nothing to do with our city.

Weekday games always draw less than weekend games. And yet, attendance at the Big O was better than the average for teams hosting games across the league on Monday. Montreal even outdrew the defending World Series champion Astros in Houston (20,276)! There are a lot of ducks to line up to make the Expos work in Montreal again, but we should start by being positive about our city and its potential.

This isn’t just about baseball — it’s about an attitude shift. We are no longer the shrinking, suffering Montreal of the early 1990s. We are in a boom time — investment is up, the city is being rebuilt, and we have a new administration that appears to be willing to try new things to make Montreal exciting.

It’s about being positive instead of nitpicking on the negative.

Montreal is a great place, and the return of baseball to our city will add to a growing list of reasons why that is so. Noah Sidel, N.D.G.