Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [size=3][u][quote][img]http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/mlb/2006/0309/photo/a_fidel_195.jpg[/img] Cuba team members protest anti-Castro sign ESPN.com news services[/u][/size] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Even on the baseball diamond, Cuba can't escape the politics of its No. 1 fan, Fidel Castro. Members of the Cuban team at the World Baseball Classic complained about an anti-Castro sign displayed by a fan behind home plate during Cuba's 11-2 win over the Netherlands on Thursday night. The sign, in Spanish, read "down with Fidel." Cuba unsuccessfully tried to get the fan's sign removed, and in protest, the Cuban team did not participate in the post-game news conference. Cuba and Puerto Rico are scheduled to play Friday, and WBC organizers expect the Cuban team will play. Both teams have already qualified for the second round of the tournament. Pat Courtney, vice president of public relations for Major League Baseball, told ESPN "[The Cubans] feel they have done everything they can to play in the tournament, and they'd like this request [to remove the signs] honored, and it's upsetting to them ... but they have no recourse." The first political eruption surrounding Cuba's participation in the WBC came before a single pitch was thrown. The U.S. Treasury Department denied Major League Baseball's first application for a special permit allowing Cuba to play in mid-December. The permit was necessary because of laws governing financial transactions with Castro's communist government. But the baseball commissioner's office and the players' association reapplied Dec. 22 after Cuba said it would donate any profits it receives to victims of Hurricane Katrina -- a guarantee that the communist country would receive no financial profit from the event. Puerto Rico officials had threatened not to host the opening rounds of the tournament if Cuba was not allowed to play.[/quote] [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2361986"]http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic...tory?id=2361986[/url] .............. [center][img]http://venus.lunarpages.com/~double2/Files/castro_baseball.jpg[/img] [size=4][i]"Pitch that weak shit up here .... you fucking Capitalistas"[/i][/size] [/center] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [center][color="#FF0000"][size=6]I think it would be awesome .... to see Cuba win it all !!! [/size] [/color] [img]http://www.modernerabaseball.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/cubaseriesleadphoto.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.siporcuba.it/La%20Plaza%20y%20el%20Che.JPG[/img][/center] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [center][size=4][img]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/gallery/images/16.jpg[/img] [i]"go back and tell that puta chimp of yours to suck on muy cahones'[/i][/size][/center] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [color="#3333FF"][b]another article on the incident .... [/b] [/color] [size=3][u][quote]Cuban paper, sports group decry anti-Castro banner Associated Press[/u][/size] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: "Down with Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball. The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live Thursday night to millions of TV viewers, including those in Cuba. The top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man. Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official -- Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports -- to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech. "We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily. The brouhaha gathered steam Friday when Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma, called the sign-waving "a cowardly incident." Cuba's Revolutionary Sports Movement exhorted Cubans to demonstrate in Havana late Friday, saying U.S. and Puerto Rican authorities were involved in "the cynical counterrevolutionary provocations." An anti-Castro Web site, therealcuba.com, identified the protester only as Enrique, and carried his own account of the incident. Enrique said that during the warmup before the game, he flashed another sign denouncing Castro -- this one saying "Baseball players yes, Tyrants no" -- to the Cuban leader's son, Tony Castro, who is the Cuban team doctor. "He looked down and kept walking and I shouted, 'Eso es para tu papa ['That is for your dad'].' ... I know he heard that," Enrique said, according to the account in the Web site. Mercado said the spectator, and a second one who also waved signs, had tickets for the section behind home plate, but had moved out of their seats so their signs would appear on TV. Cuban state TV was showing the ESPN signal, and the signs were briefly visible on television in Cuba. Police later told the pair to return to their seats, Mercado said, adding that Iglesias was never under arrest. "The Cubans were upset with the incident that happened last night, and they want to make sure it doesn't happen again," said John Blundell, spokesman for Major League Baseball, which helped establish the tournament. "We are doing everything that we can to ensure the safety of fans and the delegations." Cuba downed the Netherlands 11-2. Cuba has also beat Panama in the first round of competition and was playing Puerto Rico Friday night.[/quote] [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2362759"]http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic...tory?id=2362759[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [size=3][u][quote]Cuban players ready to prove themselves in WBC Associated Press March 6, 2006[/u][/size] HAVANA -- Cuba has waited decades to test its amateur talent against major-league stars. Now, the defending Olympic champions have their chance. The World Baseball Classic is more than just a challenge for Cuba. It's a pivotal moment. "Everyone's waiting to see what Cuba's going to do, to see if it really knows how to play," said pitcher Adiel Palma, the star of Cuba's win over Australia in the 2004 Olympic final in Athens. Palma was among 30 players leaving the communist island early Monday for Puerto Rico, where Cuba plays its first WBC game Wednesday against Panama. But some wonder if all those players will return with the team or whether a few might try to defect and land a lucrative contract in the United States the way big-leaguers Jose Contreras, Livan Hernandez and Orlando Hernandez did several years ago. Cuba is grouped with Panama, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico in the first round of the Classic, which began last week in Japan. Cuba has defeated Panama seven times, the Netherlands four times and Puerto Rico three times in international and regional competitions. The difference now, however, is that Cuba will face major-league stars on a world stage in games that count for the first time since 1961, when professional baseball ended on the island. The Puerto Rican roster features All-Stars such as Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Ivan Rodriguez, Bernie Williams and Javier Vazquez. Cuban center fielder Carlos Tabares said that didn't faze him. "The difference is only in the numbers of the salaries," he said. "They are professionals, and we also have professionalism." President Fidel Castro saw the team off, meeting with them for two hours Sunday and calling the tournament the team's most difficult yet. "We trust in your high quality, your honor, your strength," he said in comments published Monday on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma. Castro had a front-row seat in Havana when the Cuban national team lost a close exhibition game to the Baltimore Orioles in 1999. Cuba came back to beat the Orioles at Camden Yards that spring. Coach Higinio Velez has said pitching will be the key for his team in this tournament. He sent young and veteran pitchers, led by Pedro Luis Lazo, for many years teammates with Contreras, who now pitches for the Chicago White Sox. Among the 14 pitchers, five are left-handed. Another one to watch is Yadier Pedroso, just 19. The 32-year-old Lazo, who has a 92-93 mph fastball, was selected the best pitcher at last year's world championships in the Netherlands. "The Lazo you'll see in the Classic will be a bit more aggressive and also smarter," he said. Offense is Cuba's strength, with power hitters such as 21-year-old slugging third baseman Yulieski Gourriel; third baseman Michel Enriquez, who hit .448 in the island's national series; and outfielder Omani Urrutia, who batted .447. "We hope to be able to fulfill the Cuban people's expectations, as our teams have always done," Jose Ramon Fernandez, president of Cuba's Olympic Committee and a vice president in Castro's cabinet, said Friday. For Enriquez, 27, the priority is "getting past the first round and giving the people of Puerto Rico a great show." The team's infield is ready to go, he said. "We can play together with our eyes closed," Enriquez said. "We are going to confront pitchers who have more resources and power, but we are going to fight. We are in competitive form."[/quote] [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2357062"]http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic...tory?id=2357062[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [center][size=4]Always root for Revolutionaries when it comes to the diamond ..... [img]http://www.che-lives.com/home/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/pics/normal_baseball.jpg[/img][img]http://www.athensecolatino.com/v2n8/img/FidelCastro.jpg[/img][/size] [i]-------------------- Che ----------------------------------------------------- Fidel ------------------[/i][/center] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 [center][b][size=4]Too bad I don't live in Puerto Rico .... so that I could show up with my own banners ..... [img]http://sf.indymedia.org/uploads/mar3.jpg[/img] [img]http://sf.indymedia.org/uploads/themakeout.jpg[/img] [/size] [/b] [/center] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest #22 Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 The World Baseball Classic isn't meant to be political. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 [quote name='#22' post='229504' date='Mar 11 2006, 01:46 PM']The World Baseball Classic isn't meant to be political.[/quote] [b]Life is Politics .... it is impossible to completely remove it from anything [/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CTBengalsFan Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 what a bunch of touchy bitches Fuck Cuba, go back to rolling Cigars and making a dollar a day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackJesus Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 [quote name='CTBengalsFan' post='229842' date='Mar 11 2006, 08:56 PM']what a bunch of touchy bitches Fuck Cuba, go back to rolling Cigars and making a dollar a day [/quote] [b]Are you saying that if during the Olympics in Italy there had been a guy in view of the camera while the US women were curling with a posterboard that said "Overthrow Bush" that you think it would be a-ok? [/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nati Ice Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 [quote name='BlackJesus' post='229861' date='Mar 11 2006, 09:20 PM'][quote name='CTBengalsFan' post='229842' date='Mar 11 2006, 08:56 PM'] what a bunch of touchy bitches Fuck Cuba, go back to rolling Cigars and making a dollar a day [/quote] [b]Are you saying that if during the Olympics in Italy there had been a guy in view of the camera while the US women were curling with a posterboard that said "Overthrow Bush" that you think it would be a-ok? [/b] [/quote] is bush a dictator? oh wait, dont answer that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CTBengalsFan Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 [quote name='BlackJesus' post='229861' date='Mar 11 2006, 09:20 PM'][quote name='CTBengalsFan' post='229842' date='Mar 11 2006, 08:56 PM'] what a bunch of touchy bitches Fuck Cuba, go back to rolling Cigars and making a dollar a day [/quote] [b]Are you saying that if during the Olympics in Italy there had been a guy in view of the camera while the US women were curling with a posterboard that said "Overthrow Bush" that you think it would be a-ok? [/b] [/quote] Yup. Hell there probably were those signs there... I'd expect that from any country the US went to to play sports, but then again I have ability to let stupid signs roll off my back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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