OTTAWA LYNX WILL SOON BE NO MORE; INSERT CHEAP BASEBALL METAPHOR HERE

(Originally posted earlier today.)

Well, this was about as predictable as Bengie Molina hitting into a double play with the bases loaded: The Ottawa Lynx have become the second sports franchise in the nation's capital to cease to exist within the past six months. (Coincidentally or not, I moved here six months ago. Cue the Twilight Zone music.)

Following next season, the triple-A baseball club is going to be moved to Allentown, Pa., and become the top affiliate of the Philadephia Phillies.

I lack a clear perspective here. As a sports fan, the feeling here is that a city the size of Ottawa-Gatineau should be able to support a minor-league ball team and a Canadian Football League team, if it's not too much to ask. So the hope is that an independent-league team gets off the ground (hey, I would love to be involved), but yours truly knows that former Triple-A centres such as Calgary and Edmonton have had poor track records with their indie-league teams.

It just seems too easy, too pat, to point to this as the latest example of Ottawa being a lousy sports town. We know that this is a city with a lot of government workers and techies who didn't grow up here and thus have no built-in loyalty to the hometown teams, and that the average person here values comfortable footwear and being in bed by 11 p.m. over ostentation.

A sports-liking newcomer doesn't know what to think: Make a throwaway comment about poor Lynx attendance, and someone tells you to "leave town"; defend said town and someone is saying this just isn't a very vibrant place culturally.

Meantime, those of you with a morbid streak may want to make a point to check out a few Lynx games next season, just to see how low attendance will get now that everyone knows the team will soon be gone for good. It's too bad for the people who hung in there as Lynx fans all these years, but there aren't another 5,000 of them.

Related:
Rounding third: Lynx sold, Allentown stadium work planned (Allentown Morning Call)
Lynx sold; franchise headed for Allentown (Ottawa Citizen)
Lynx Soon To Be Sold ... And Gone For Good (Ottawa Sun)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.