Rare is the opportunity to seize something great. Right now in this little Kansas town we have a chance to do something great. It’s a big idea, so you better be sitting down. Okay. Ready? We need to turn Lawrence into a big league city. I don’t just mean “big league” as in state of mind. I mean “big league” as in let’s get a team. In case you didn’t hear this week, the strange story of the erstwhile Montreal Expos just got [a little more bizarre.][1] You see, the Expos were supposed to move to Washington, D.C. Of course, there was no ownership group in place, and no stadium but that doesn’t matter to the [ idiotic powers that be][2] in Major League Baseball. So when the Washington city council told the Expos this week that any stadium would need to be half-financed by private money, the team panicked. Offices were closed, and tickets were refunded. I imagine the scene was very much like that Charley Steiner Sportscenter commercial (“follow me to freedom!”). So now, the Expos are, well, homeless, like the guys who hang out in Burcham Park. ![][3] They need a city and Lawrence needs a team. Let’s see if we can work something out. We already have a stadium, although improvements would have to be made to Hoglund Ballpark. There are no locker rooms at “the Hog” and capacity is around 2,000, but I really don’t see either as a problem. The players like Vinny Castilla can change in their cars, like [beer league softball players.][4] As for the low capacity, I don’t see that as much of a problem. After all, the Expos drew just over 9,000 last year at Olympic Stadium. Temporary bleachers can be wheeled over from the Jayhawk Soccer Complex for any overflow fans. Now, we need an owner — somebody with roots in the community, somebody with expendable income. Doug Compton, friend, neighbor I’m looking at you. Finally, our team needs a name. The “Lawrence Expos” is just too bland, and could be confused with [ this guy.][5] How about the Lawrence Freedom Fighters? The Lawrence Manginos? The Lawrence Smoking Ban? On second thought, maybe we could hire someone to come up with a team name. All that matters is that we have Major League Baseball next summer. [1]: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1946925 [2]: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/mlb_history_people.jsp?story=com_bio_9 [3]: http://www.highlandmint.com/ProductPics/ExposLogo.jpg [4]: http://kansansharks.tripod.com/ [5]: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/jul/25/suspect_exposes_himself_in/