August 06, 2008

Call me Deacon Blues

I get pretty angry whenever I read about some US sports team, be it professional, amateur or collegiate, that travels to Cuba to play their respective Cuban team. You read artices and stories about such trips and all those interviewed are so "excited" to travel to Cuba and compete against the Cubans or are looking forward to seeing the conditions of the country or state that the experience will be very enlightening and rewarding, etc..

Here's one such recent article from the Tuscaloosa News on the Crimson Tide baseball team traveling to Cuba for a few games:

CECIL HURT: After years of work, Tide approved for Cuba trip

The University of Alabama baseball team will be taking the road less traveled — in every way imaginable — later this year.

After years of negotiations, the Crimson Tide will travel and play in Cuba in mid-December, having received approval from both governments.

Now, all other "travel to Cuba issues" aside, I would ordinarily think that some ball team going to play in Cuba is not really such a big deal. I know "all other travel to Cuba issues aside" and "not really such a big deal" are whoppers, but bear with me here.

What gets my ire up about these things is that - this article being a prime example - you only read and hear about how great the experience will be for the American ballplayers, how awesome it will be for them to travel to Cuba, experience the country first hand, learn about the culture first hand, meet the people in person, etc...

Well, what about the Cuban ballplayers? Wouldnt the experiences and learning be just the same for them if they traveled here to play? I would think that a bunch of Cuban team members would find walking around and spending some time on a University campus in Alabama to be an incredible experience. I would think that would give them a huge lesson as to the American culture.

But no, it's all about the Americans going down to the island prison and experiencing it. Cuban athletes be damned.

And of course, farbeit for anyone to even think about how the Cuban athletes would feel, after having played host to an American team for a few days, when they go back to their usual routine of being regular old ordinary Cubans in Cuba.

Posted by Val Prieto at August 6, 2008 10:54 AM



Comments

Val, for these types of people, who are sadly all too numerous, this sort of trip is essentially the same as a trip to a glorified amusement theme park, or even like a trip to the zoo. They don't want to hear or worry about the reality of Cuba; they want the travel industry version. In other words, they're looking to have a good time and have something interesting to talk about when they get back home. Period.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 6, 2008 11:57 AM

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