by GABRIEL MORENCY

Montreal's biggest block party returns this Saturday night, when the Alouettes open their regular season against the Edmonton Eskimos. As good as the Als have been in years past, they should be even better this year. After appearing in back-to-back Grey Cups, the bar has been set higher than the fans who occupy the cheap seats of Molson Stadium. That smoke you see billowing from the mountain isn't just from the explosions that come with every Alouette score!

A potent but predictable offence has gotten stronger with running back Audrey Denson's arrival. Anthony Calvillo may have lost Pat Woodcock to the Ottawa Renegades but Jermaine Copeland, Ben Cahoon and Kwame Cavil all return. The league's best cornerback, Davis Sanchez, returns for his second stint as an Alouette, who along with former Stampeder DB Kelly Malveaux, gives Montreal what is arguably now the league's best secondary.

Don Matthews, the league's all-time leader in wins, is back on the sidelines and will no doubt be in a foul mood after losing last year's Grey Cup to the Eskimos and the man who took his job, Tom Higgins. Although both Toronto and Ottawa are rapidly improving, Montreal is still the Beast of the East and should once again win the division by a comfortable margin. Division championships are a good thing, Grey Cup championships are better. As good as the Alouettes have been since their rebirth, they only have one Grey Cup to show for it. Jim Popp has built this team to win and win now. They will.

Prediction: Grey Cup Champion - Montreal over Saskatchewan

Retire Rock

It's no secret that Expos fans have not had a hell of a lot to cheer about this year. Vladimir Guerrero is gone. Bud Selig is determined to make this year the Expos' last in Montreal. The club is on pace to lose 100-plus games and no one, including the players, seems to care.

But none of this will matter on Saturday night, when Tim Raines' number 30 is retired by the Expos organization. One of Montreal's all-time fan favourites, now in his first season managing the Expos' Class-A Brevard County Manatees, Raines will have one last chance to walk onto the field that saw him win four straight stolen base titles (1981–84) and a batting title in 1986. And no Expos fan will ever forget his 1987 Grand Slam at Shea Stadium in his first game back after a nasty holdout in which league owners colluded to keep free agent spending down.

As good as the Gary Carter-André Dawson-Steve Rogers-led Expos teams of the late '70s were, they were unable to break through until Raines' arrival in 1981, in what would turn out to be the club's only post-season appearance in franchise history. Raines would go on to play with five other clubs and win two World Series championship rings with the New York Yankees (1996–98) over a 23-year career, but has been, and wants to be, remembered as a Montreal Expo. Refreshing, considering the way Gary Carter went into the Hall of Fame kicking and screaming for his desire to be known as a New York Met or, more understandably, André Dawson, who if elected wants to go in as a Chicago Cub.

Raines' lifetime .294 batting average will probably keep him from getting into the Hall, despite the fact that he is just one of five men who have stolen more than 900 bases. When it's all said and done, it's not about plaques and induction speeches. It's about how you carried yourself, during and after your playing days. It's about what the fans and your peers thought of you. Gary Carter? The Mets can have him. We got The Rock.

Goooooaaaaalllllll!!!!!

To most North American sports fans, watching a game of soccer is about exciting as watching scrambled porn. There's not enough scoring. The games take too long. There's too much diving. The players are overpaid, spoiled prima donnas. Funny, sounds more like the National Hockey League than it does the world's most popular sport.

Sports Rage Selections

Thursday, June 17 Ottawa +6 at Winnipeg = Ottawa England vs. Switzerland = England

Friday, June 18 Hamilton +10 at B.C. = B.C.

Saturday, June 19 Edmonton +3 at Montreal = Montreal Germany vs. Latvia = Germany

Shameless Plug

Road Rage 7, June 19, Olympic Stadium, pre- and post-game.

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