Youppi!

A photo of Eric Gagne and his off-season conditioning work.

So, last night I decided to settle in and watch some playoff hockey. I figured I had a pretty good idea of what the outcome of the Brewers game was going to be and didn't have much of a desire to watch the Cubs and the Mets. I think a game 7 is pretty exciting in the NHL Playoffs and the Canadians are my favorite hockey team, so I figured why not.

While watching Montreal destroy the Bruins 5-0, I noticed the old Expos mascot, Youppi, was down by the boards. I guess I figured Youppi died with the Expos, but apparently he was revived by the Canadians. According to the always spot on Wikipedia:

After the Expos moved to the District of Columbia and became the Washington Nationals, the team claimed that Youppi! would still be a part of the team in some capacity. However, this proved untrue, as the Nationals adopted a new mascot, the eagle "Screech". For months after the move, the fate of Youppi! hung in the balance, with many believing that Youppi! would remain in Montreal as the mascot for one of its other two major-league teams, the NHL's Canadiens or the CFL's Alouettes. Indeed, on September 16, 2005, the Montreal Canadiens announced that Youppi! had been named the first official mascot of the organization, and the first league-switching mascot in professional sports history. Youppi! is still orange but now sports the Canadiens' bleu, blanc et rouge (blue, white, and red) jersey when working. Terms of the deal between the Expos and the Canadiens were not disclosed but one report said negotiations involved six figures. Youppi's first game in the Bell Centre was on October 18th, 2005.

Didn't know that. So when the Bucks move, do the Brewers add Bango to their ever increasing list of mascots?

Anyhow Youppi has a Gagne look to him. Must be the beard. I actually have a photo of Youppi and me from an Expos game I went to back in 1997. Good old Olympic Stadium was just a dank hole. Makes the Metrodome seem like a baseball palace. Must have been hard for Youppi to try and pump up the 5,000 fans that were in attendance the night I was there.

Anyhow, it was nice to see Youppi back in action last night.