Welcome home, José

I apologize for the lack of posting that's been going on here this year... I am following the Canadiens very intently but I've been too busy to write about it. I should be able to dedicate more time to the blog in a week or so.

I did, however, want to spend a moment talking about the occasion of José Theodore making his first return to the Bell Centre tonight. To me, José reminds me of how the Canadiens finally turned it around and made the playoffs after those dreadful Mario Tremblay-Réjean Houle days. He carried the Canadiens on his back into the playoffs, and stole a series for them. A proud Montrealer, Theodore never hid the fact that he loved playing for the often rough home crowd, whether they were on his side or not. How soon we all forget - it's been hard for many people to look past his incredibly high GAA and SV% of last year. Obviously, Canadiens fans hold their team only to the highest of standards and when Theo didn't perform, they let him know. But how often do Habs fans get to cheer for a Quebec superstar who loves the team and actually wants to play here nowadays? The answer, of course, is not very.

To anyone who is going to the game tonight and happens to be reading this, I ask you to consider what Theodore did for the team in his 10-plus years there before you jeer him. Obviously, he's a professional athlete whose job it is to not get phased by what people think of him. But at the same time, I profoundly believe that Theodore is a proud Montrealer and was a proud Canadien, and we owe it to him to show that we respect him for that - even if he does play for the team that stole Patrick Roy away from us.

Welcome home, José!