Wait is over for diehard District fans

MONTREAL. — As I passed through customs in Montreal, the agent asked if my visit was business or pleasure.

“Both,” I said.

She asked what I did for a living, and I said I was a sportswriter for The Washington Times.

She asked about the purpose of my visit.

“To bring your baseball team back to Washington with me,” I said.

Now, I have run that line by customs agents here four times in the past, but those turned out to be just hollow boasts.

Not this time.

After more failed expectations than the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, the Montreal Expos finally are coming to Washington. First they have to finish the season with a three-game series in New York against the Mets. So I won’t actually be bringing the team back with me today when I leave Montreal, and I hope I don’t have to undergo a body search at the airport to prove it.

The Mets. Do we hate the Mets or what?

Let’s start building those rivalries, baby. It has been 33 years since we’ve had a good hatred for a baseball team here — unless you are a diehard Washington baseball fan, in which case you can count the Baltimore Orioles, for obvious reasons.

It appears there is no reason any longer to hate the Orioles, though Expos president Tony Tavares reminded everyone yesterday a done deal is not a done deal until the deal is done.

There are two deals that are not done yet: an appeasement of Orioles owner Peter Angelos (though it is all but sealed) and a dismissal of the lawsuit filed by former Expos investors.

“I guess something could go wrong,” Tavares said. “I hesitate to say that because I don’t want to create false hope. The bottom line is I don’t anticipate any problems.”

For a change, the false hope to which he referred was for baseball fans some place other than Washington.

After the cheers have subsided here, there may be some lingering hatred. After all, this should have happened a long time ago.

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