One of the more annoying tropes in contemporary sportswriting and--more often--broadcasting is the habit of portraying Cuban athletes as patriotic, altruistic amateurs in positive contrast to (this part is more or less compulsory) "greedy, spoiled, millionaire" American athletes. Every four years--usually right before the Olympics--we are treated to one TV reporter after another standing in front of Castro's sanitized Havana ballyard, every one of them reading from the same script: "No million-dollar contracts. No hold-outs. No strikes. These ballplayers do it for the love of the game, and for love of country."
What crap.
There has been a lot not to like about American sports lately, or pro sports in general: from Michael Vick's hobbies to Barry Bonds's joyless, soulless pursuit of 756. But don't anyone get Cuba wrong. These players may love the game--how could they not? They may love their country. But they don't play for "love of country." They play because Cuba is a penal colony run by a sadistic madman. They play because living conditions are marginally better for productive athletes than the normal run of Cubans--you know, the beneficiaries of Fidel Castro's marvelous health care system, the system in which aspirin and Pepto-Bismol are sold on the black market. These ballplayers don't strike because if they attempted to form a union they would be thrown into dungeons and probably tortured while the world looked the other way.
The only proof one needs is this: how many Cubans leave when they get the chance?
Answer: a lot. And good for them.
The latest from the Pan Am Games.
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6 comments:
". . .a penal colony run by a sadistic madman."
Sounds like a pretty good description of America under your beloved republican "president."
And at least Cuba has a "health care system."
Oh. That explains the number of Floridians braving shark-infested waters, sailing south to the paradise that is Havana.
And there's wonderful health care available on the island of Cuba, even for prisoners. It's called Gitmo.
Heh.
-GSB
Ahh, just one more question, Joey.
How do you know what's in the heart or mind of any athlete anywhere? Who are you, really?
Well, defecting from the country of their birth is pretty revealing.
So, your 'defecting' from the place of your birth (wherever) to Texas reveals what? That you were politically unhappy? Oppressed?? Sorry, you just don't make much sense.
Can you make any intelligent argument or statement other than repeating the talking points you heard on Tucker Carlson's show??
And by the way, Gitmo is run by your country, not Cuba, son.
This is the _only reason_ why I keep coming back here -- to watch you flaunt your ignorance. I guess it's that built-in desire that we as humans have -- to drive by the accident scene and view the remains.
You never have anything intelligent or constructive to say, let alone original for that matter, other than regurgitating the local sportscast and the political talking points you heard on the Boob Tube.
I don't know what's worse: having to watch my so-called democracy and my planet's environment go to shit virtually overnight,
while an assorted array of corporate-controlled morons tell the world everything is fine, or wading through the egotistically bad writing of some self-absorbed George Will psychophant.
--Sam
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