Todd: Poorly timed volley - Jarry Park stadium plan is pure taxpayer folly

Read ’em and weep, folks.

Rafael Jodar vs. Arthur Fils. Luciano Darderi vs. Brandon Nakashima. Daniel Merida Aguilar vs. Learner Tien. Jakub Mensik vs. Ben Shelton.

That is your quarterfinal lineup on the men’s side of what was once the Canadian Open tennis tournament, before banks and “sports” networks took it over.

Rafa vs. Roger, it ain’t.

It was Montreal’s hard luck, but due to withdrawals, injuries and upsets, this city drew the men’s side of the competition during a year when the tournament packed all the star power of those Elvis impersonator nights they used to hold at Station 10. We’re just guessing, but once you get past fifth-seed Ben Shelton, casual tennis fans have probably never heard of anyone else in the quarterfinal of what is now a painfully drawn-out competition.

Tennis Canada announced on June 23 its plans to blow $400 million in taxpayers’ dollars on a new stadium for the benefit of tennis millionaires like Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, who don’t show up to play here anyway. It was bad timing, but that wasn’t all.

You had to love the poster that protester Matias Vazquez-Levi attached to his bicycle, as mentioned in the Gazette Sunday: “Fais ton stade dans un parking.”

The taxpayer gouge in a city and province that is already paying well over $1 billion to gussy up the hopeless hole that is the Big Owe is bad enough — but the real blunder is the decision to swallow even more of our scarce green space. Tennis Canada is trying to play it down, but as a protester told the CBC, “this is a neighbourhood of apartments. Most don’t even have balconies. This park is our garden; it’s our oxygen. They’re taking our oxygen!”

All this for Tennis Canada, which is renowned for supporting talented youngsters who bolt to tax havens like Monaco as soon as they’re making real money, so they don’t have to pay taxes in dear old Canada.

The Tennis Canada proposal has already drawn more than the usual level of opposition. For once, perhaps ordinary working people can win one over the big bank sponsors, the sports networks and the millionaire athletes who hate paying taxes.

People who can afford tickets to see the tennis (even during a competition as dreary as this one) are going to scream if they don’t get their tennis fix. But this time, the decision has to go to the people for whom Jarry Park is lifeblood 52 weeks a year.

This is the time for the people of Montreal to get together, put a collective foot down — and just say no.

Break time: Let the record show it was the fourth day of August. Lazy, steamy, backyard barbecue time. Watermelon and margaritas. Cottages and swimming pools.

What better time for our dear friends at TSN to pull out their first Auston Matthews massage piece for a hockey season that is still a distant mirage on the calendar? Hey, never too soon for the NHL’s sleaziest pitchman, right?

Frankly, it makes us want to go somewhere and hide — and that’s what your Monday morning/Tuesday afternoon quarterback is going to do. I will be away until sometime in early September — and by away, I mean far away, to a place where they don’t know Auston Matthews from Dave Matthews. Somewhere that can’t be reached by wifi. No phone. No laptop. No desktop. No TSN, no Sportsnet, no email, no Messenger, no Bluesky.

It promises to be a long, intense hockey season for the bleu-blanc-rouge, a season when (for the first time during this remarkable rebuild) the Canadiens face what may be inflated expectations. There will be more wearying second-line centre discussions, more pointless trade speculation, more arguments as to whether the Habs should sign Arber Xhekaj and if Martin St. Louis should be fired on the third day of training camp.

Hey, it’s Montreal. Never change. If you did, you would be Toronto, which has a golden opportunity this season to run its Cupless streak to 60 forgettable seasons, 1967 to 2027.

Covering the Canadiens is special, something that should never be taken for granted. This is neither a shopworn, overrated Original Six bunch (hello, New York Rangers) nor a Gary Bettman McFranchise, and it should never be treated as such. For me, preparation for any Habs season (but especially this Habs season) involves burnishing a sometimes weary brain that has accumulated many decades on the CV, more than I care to remember.

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Nevertheless, when the leaves begin to fall, I shall return to write about our beloved Habs. God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Perhaps by then we’ll have the answer to a question that perplexes me: When is someone going to admit that the problem at the heart of the whole Kawhi Leonard mess is… Kawhi Leonard?

Heroes: Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Davis Alexander, Tyson Philpot, Travis Theis, Tyler Snead, Tyrice Beverette, Jason Maas &&&& last but not least, Danny Maciocia.

Zeros: Tennis Canada, Gianni Infantino, Kawhi Leonard, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Auston Matthews, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu &&&& last but not least, David Samson and Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

jacktodd46@yahoo.com

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