by GABRIEL MORENCY

With the Canadiens' recent acquisitions (Kovalev, Dowd) and the club marching towards their first playoff appearance in two years, it would be easy not to notice that the Montreal Expos are just 27 days from opening what is expected to be their last season in this fine city and stadium of ours.

Who's to blame for that, you ask? Well, there's not enough space in this column - or paper for that matter - to get into that. (At least, not with the five pages dedicated to the "companions" in the back, though we are not complaining - I'm sure they are all lovely ladies!)

Let's just say it's ironic that opening day (April 6 in Miami), as well as the Expos' final home finale (September 29), will come against Lowlife and Scumbag's World Series champion Florida Marlins, making it easy to have a hate-on for the Fish. Aside from the obvious reasons, remember that Montreal's 6-13 record last year against Florida aided and abetted the Marlins' ability to grab the wild-card spot that the Expos so briefly flirted with late last summer.

However, despite trading away Vladimir Guerrero and Javier Vazquez, Expos management insists that with Nick Johnson, Tony Batista and Carl Everett they are a more complete, well-rounded team than the one that was 83-79 and ended up eight games out of the wild-card last year. In fact, manager Frank Robinson has already boldly guaranteed that they will be better this season.

With the Expo lineup nearly set, the competition for the third outfield spot is all that is up for grabs, and it is stiffer than the set of Porn-Star-Académie. Ron Calloway, Terrmel Sledge, Endy Chavez, Peter Bergeron, Matt Cepicky and Juan Rivera are all vying for the starting gig, and every seemingly meaningless Grapefruit League at-bat could mean the difference between the private chartered jets and five-star hotels of big league life and the 12-hour bus rides and Super 8s of the hick-town minors.

Throw in the money and the women who come along with the money and it's high-stakes stuff. And if it still seems mundane to you, then as much as it pains me to say this, maybe it's not just Lowlife and Scumbag's fault after all.

Boxing breakdown

Leo Dorin (21-0-1, 7KO) returns to the ring versus Chucky Tschorniawsky (23-7-1, 12KO) at the Casino de Montréal next Saturday (March 20). It will be Dorin's first ring appearance since he inexplicably failed to make weight for last year's WBA lightweight title defence versus Miguel Callist in his native Romania, forcing Dorin to relinquish his title and publicly state that he has lost his desire to fight.

It was strange behaviour from a two-time Olympic medalist and undefeated champion of the world, especially for someone known as the "Lion Heart." Some jaded players claim something or someone got to Dorin in the days leading up to the fight, especially considering the fact that Interbox sent a freaking dietician with the champ to Bucharest. Dorin later said it was the pressure of fighting in his homeland that made him miss his weight. I guess we will never know.

What we do know is that Dorin has moved up to the super-lightweight division (140 lbs) and should match up well against the former longshoreman from Philadelphia in what promises to be an entertaining, toe-to-toe, street-fight style scrap. If Dorin wins, it could set up a showdown with Montreal's Arturo Gatti for Gatti's WBC crown in what would be the city's biggest fight since Leonard-Duran in 1980. Prediction: Dorin, decision.

Leaf invasion

Alexei Kovalev and Jim Dowd make their home debuts tonight (Thursday) for the Canadiens versus Florida, but Saturday night's game against the Leafs is the ticket everybody in town is trying to get their hands on. The only question is, what town? If Montrealers once again let thousands of Leaf fans overtake the Bell Centre, then maybe it's time for a gutless bastard sermon again. This time they'll deserve it.

Plug: Don't forget Road Rage V, Friday, March 12, 8 p.m., Grand Bayou!

Puck Picks

March 11
Florida-Montreal (Under)
Pittsburgh-Toronto (Tor)
Chicago-New Jersey (N.J.)
March 13
Philadelphia-New Jersey (Under)
Carolina-Tampa Bay (T.B.)

Sports Rage with Gabriel Morency is vented weeknights 11 p.m.-2 a.m. on TEAM 990 AM. This column appears bi-weekly. Comments: sportsrage@team990.com