Washington lobby

Sporting News, The, March 15, 1999

Baseball in Montreal received a 90-day stay of execution from commissioner Bud Selig over the weekend, but chances are the Expos are history after this season.

Best bet for a destination: The Washington, D.C., area, which is the seventh-largest television market and has been waiting for baseball since the Senators left for Texas afteer the 1971 season. Two group from the area stand ready to negotiate with Expos owner Claude Brochu as soon as Selig gives the OK. A group from Charlotte, N.C., also is expressing interest.

But our money's on our nation's capital, and as a service to our friends there busy making our country's laws, we're presenting a batch of potential nicknames for Washington's next baseball team:

Senators. An oldie but a goodie, although do you really want to use a name that was bad luck not once, but twice?

Beltways. A local moniker with which headline writers could have a field day: Beltways belt big ones or Inside the Beltways.

Scandals. Because it's always nice to capture the nuances and local flavor of the host city. The team could wear berets instead of caps.

Monuments. It's already what everybody comes to Washington to see, anyway.

D.C. Cabs, A 1983 movie about a bunch of likeable misfits who get their act together when it really counts. Kind of like baseball in the next century. Hopefully.