Random thoughts while sitting in traffic at the York tolls:

• We’ve spent the week vacationing in Canada, some 90 miles north of Montreal. On Wednesday, the waiter noticed our son’s Bruins cap. “Why do Boston fans drink their coffee out of the saucer?” asked the waiter. “Because Montreal has all the Cups.”

We gave him one of those shiny two-dollar Canadian coins as a tip.

• Have you noticed how often Orlando Cabrera swings at the first pitch he sees? Is that a job requirement for Red Sox shortstops?

• Now that Nomar is gone, is there any debate that Tom Brady holds the title of Most Popular Athlete in Boston?

Let the debate begin: is Brady ready to rub elbows with Russell, Bird, and Orr in the private room reserved for Boston’s Truly Elite Superstars? Remember, he’s already got two Super Bowl rings – and Super Bowl MVP trophies – at home.

• And, while we’re speaking of the Best of the Best, how good is it to be Ian Crocker right now? The first Olympic swimmer ever out of Maine is on the top of his game – and only 21 years old!

• Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has come a long way since his tie-game All-Star debacle of 2002. On Thursday, he got a contract extension through 2009 and announced that he wouldn’t be retiring after all.

Selig told the Philadelphia Inquirer “we’ll be done with the Expos very shortly. We’re going to get rid of Montreal.” This, despite the fact that attendance at Olympic Stadium is up more than 21 percent this season – to 9,218 fans per game. Even with the exchange rate, that’s pretty bad.

“The Expos still play in Montreal?” asked our waiter. He got a better tip that night.

• They take their hockey talk seriously up here, and the talk of the NHL’s labor negotiations is not good. Virtually no one expects there to be a regularly scheduled start to the 2004-2005 season. The two sides are more polarized now than they were at the end of last season. The owners are adamant about a salary cap, and the players are just as adamant about refusing to give in on that subject.

No hockey this fall could mean no hockey for a very long time. The two sides will go to the mat over this, and a sport that was on very thin ice is going to disappear from the public consciousness in most cities.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to catching my next Lewiston Maineiacs game. We’ll be bringing the kids up for more games this winter.

• Think the Red Sox realize how tight this AL Wild Card race is going to be down the stretch? Keith Foulke pitched in all three wins against the woeful Blue Jays this week, including a two-inning save on Monday and a ninth-inning appearance with the Sox leading 6-2 on Wednesday.

Foulke was one of the two big additions to the team this off-season, and they will go to him more and more with the post-season on the line in the final six weeks.

Remember, the Rangers and Angels are still battling for the AL West title. They’ve got two routes to the playoffs, and play all of September against divisional opponents.

The Red Sox? It’s the Wild Card or nothing. The Yankees Express pulled out of the station long ago.

Nothing new there. Once again, it all comes down to making the playoffs. The Division title doesn’t mean much. The playoffs will go through the Bronx one way or another. It’s up to Terry Francona to put a positive finishing touch on this wild season over the final 40 games. After Labor Day, the Sox play consecutive series against Anaheim, Texas, and Oakland. It’s a nine-day stretch that could well dictate the playoff fortunes of four different teams.