I came to the Montreal Gazette in 1998 to write about baseball. It was my first love going back to the days when, as a little kid, my mother and I would head to Park Ex, park the car, stop by a fruit store to load up on supplies, and cross that skyscraping overpass over the railroad tracks and into Jarry Park.

The Expos are but a cherished memory now. But it only seems appropriate, somehow, that my second sports love is being played on those very same hallowed grounds, where the old metal bleachers and powder-blue uniforms have given way to the state-of-the-art Uniprix Stadium and the thwack of another round ball flying around at 100 mph.

With every loss, comes an opportunity. And now, without baseball to send me all over North America, there's time (and space, with his newfangled gadget called the internet) to pay closer attention to another great sport, tennis, one I can actually play a little bit too.