Fidel and badminton

The Cuban baseball team beat the U.S. 3-1 to win gold at the Pan American Games.

In honor of the game, Fidel became a sports writer and published an article in Granma. In the middle, he actually does a sort of “live blogging,” writing and commenting as he watches a volleyball game.

Some of it is really stream of consciousness. He takes a dig at major leaguers who won’t play for their country, gets into an odd analogy about “Aryan” thoroughbreds, and then makes fun of badminton.

In many countries, athletes do not even compete for their own nation. Some of them earn up to 102 million dollars a year, more than the owner of a large sugar mill. Cuba only has her own athletes, and they are not professionals. It is an unfair contest.

Sometimes I have fun as I watch the strong well-nourished thorough-bred horses --let's call them Aryan-- just like their riders. But despite all that, it is a peaceful competition and an amusing colonial heritage. Tell me what’s your competition, and I will tell you who your colonizers were.

Nowadays as we have some relative sovereignty, everyone, as the case may be, tries to introduce new sports into the regional and world competitions. One example: badminton.

Had he just taken his pain medication?