Havana, Friday February 21, 2014. Year 18 / Issue 52

Build the house starting from the foundations, not from the rooftop
(+ Comments)

The fans keep giving opinions about the regrettable events in the baseball game between Matanzas and Villa Clara last Monday, in which Ramón Lunar, the young captain of the latter, sustained a serious facial injury.

By Oscar Sánchez Serra

“I believe this program would be right to put its crosshairs on social indiscipline in sports in general and baseball in particular. It would be a good way of ‘taking a full swing’ for the sake of quality baseball.” These are the words of Abraham Vargas, who also thinks that a player should not only pay a fine but also “be suspended for several games” if his expressions of ‘joy’ include obscene gestures and language offensive to his rivals, the fans who came to the ballpark or those who stayed at home to watch the game on TV”. Vargas stresses that this must come together with big across-the-board changes in our baseball practice, that is, from scouting to training techniques, strategies, organization and participation. Besides, the umpires must use their prerogatives to forfeit a game to the visiting team when the fans launch verbal and other assaults at players and officials. Vargas sent his letter a week before the events at the Victoria de Girón Stadium.

Mario Menéndez: “Today’s problems happen because there are less games, baseball stadiums and fields, and holds that the minor leagues should have our best trainers. “We have settled for graduates from grassroots sports schools and make no use of the potential talent in the community. We don’t have switch hitters because at those levels they no longer make right-handed children bat left-handed –and vice versa– at least once per game. We’ve seen contradictory and at times incoherent decisions about this sport, so our baseball is in great need of a communication system that helps streamline its processes.”

Leonardo Alemán: “The authorities seem unable to understand that changing the structure of our National Series (NS) every time Team Cuba gets thrashed will solve nothing. Cuban baseball’s future is in the hands of the youngest players at grassroots level. That’s where all efforts must be focused on and the best players in the Caribbean find their bearings, be they Cuban or otherwise.”

Humberto Rodríguez agrees: “If we listen to the solutions offered by each journalist, we’ll never get to the crux of the matter.”

Both Humberto and Leonardo are right: we must start constructing a building from the foundations, not from the top floor down.

One last space for José Luis Roda Romero, who disagrees with Joel Mena’s views published here Friday: “Life is richer than theory, and it has proved that we must choose players on the basis of their quality rather than a provincial quota system. We must not fear change; our people always listen to what’s explained and spelled out to them. If we want our National Sport to be competitive again, let’s not be afraid of making as many changes as we need.”

AS PROMISED

We had promised a big ‘Swing’ capable of going over the fences of our baseball’s current level without changing the NS’s present structure. The point is to assemble talent with a view to having better results in the international arena, including the Caribbean Series and the World Classic, the most important competitions we attend.

This is our proposal: maintain the 16 teams of our NS. A new feature would be to change the cast by incorporating junior players –SUB-23 or SUB-25– and a number of others regardless of their age. It would kick off in March and last as long as its stages allow, which could be arranged according to geographical areas: east, center, and west. Two teams from each area would classify and reinforce their lineups with the best players from the teams that didn’t make it.

Every team in the western division would play 60 games, that is, each would meet its rivals 12 times since, unlike the central and eastern divisions, there would be six teams in the west with the inclusion of the Isle of Youth. These two divisions would rely on five teams each that would also play 60 games but come up against one another on 15 occasions. All six teams that go through to the second round would play a first and second leg –6 games– and the first two would play in a 7-4 play-off series. The place currently assigned to our NS would be taken by an elite competition to be played by our A-listers and named, as Gilberto Ponce suggested last week, Cuban Baseball League (LCB) or Cuban Baseball Winter League (LIBC).

We’re thinking of 6 teams, and each would play 75 games –five three-game sub-series, and three-time visiting teams would be visitors only twice in the following season– with the first four going through to the next round playing two semifinal 7-4 playoffs, and the best two would play for the pennant. The winner would be our representative in the Caribbean Series.

Upsides: we would have baseball the whole year long; playing the first stage of the competition by regions means lower costs; all regions are represented; two competitive steps to reach a single level –either the LCB or the LIBC– would improve our baseball’s quality; talent would be concentrated, and the bar raised, in this top echelon; we would have in the Caribbean Series a new-crowned team still at its peak, if reinforced as needed for the sake of victory; and, pursuant to our latest policies, the best of these players would be available for hire by foreign clubs.

Challenges: the players of the six-team LCB or LIBC would spend a long time away from home, which means more attention should be lavished on them; criteria must be established to form and name the LIBC’s 6 teams; our stadiums must provide for better conditions for the players and the fans; our people would be delighted to have baseball the whole year, but this calls for a soundly organized system; amend the recently announced payment policy designed for the current NS, since the better the LCB / LIBC players are, the better their salaries must be, in line with the socialist principle “From each according to his ability to each according to his work”.

THE VOICE OF THE FANS

Comments keep coming from the fans about the regrettable events of last Monday in the game between Matanzas and Villa Clara at the Victoria de Girón Stadium. These are the latest ones:

“Anybody can become angry –that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way –that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.” (Aristotle)

We’ve seen a lot of violence lately, and the response to and measures against it are out of touch with the present times. Think about it: a bat-wielding man was ready to kill, which in Criminal Law amounts to attempted murder and is by no means an object of argument. My pitcher had the right to defend himself from that man who had charged at him; had he not reacted, he would no longer be among us. [First baseman Ramon] Lunar, as the captain of the team, had to intervene and look what happened to him! That’s why I said what I said about my home team, because many people didn’t like that it won the game. I wish more strong measures were taken and more control exerted.

Diagne

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(What follows is an open letter from our Law School colleague Jorge Luis Barroso):

A necessary closing comment for “Closing comment on a foretold event”

To Journalist Oscar Sánchez Serra:

            After a careful reading of your Comments of this Tuesday, I just can't remain impassive, as a Cuban citizen from Villa Clara province, a jurist and a baseball fan, and fail to respond to your unfortunate article “Closing comment on a foretold event”, which I find totally biased and lacking in journalistic objectivity.

            I do agree with you on something, though: we’re ALL responsible for any event of this kind, either past or future, but I draw your attention to the following fact: as a journalist of this country’s most important newspaper, you should also take responsibility for your opinions, because I’m the last person who should be teaching you a lesson or two about the media’s huge influence on public opinion and the decisions taken by the various levels of government.

            For starters, baseball player Demis Valdés, the main figure implicated in the events that took place last night in Matanzas province’s Victoria de Girón stadium –even if you push him into the “closing comment on the closing comment”– is criminally liable for Assault. Do you know what that means? Do you get how serious this is? Be that as it may, your subjectivity outmatched the objective facts, and your unbelievable and chameleonic journalistic defense is virtually justifying his actions, claiming that “one could see it coming”.

            Look, journalist, based on my experience in the practice of Law, I can assure you that, beyond sports, we also “foretell” hundreds of cases of assault on people’s life and integrity owing to a lack of foresight on the part of the authorities; tolerance of certain conducts obviously detrimental to social order; inaction of state and social entities, etc., which often end in tragedy. However, never have I heard of the intended victim being held responsible when it comes to condemning a violent act. And that’s precisely what I’ve just read in your inappropriate “comment”, in which by some miracle the name Demis Valdés is mentioned, but not before demonizing players Freddy Asiel Álvarez and Ramón Moré and the umpire Osvaldo de Paula and, for one strange reason or another, canonizing someone like [Matanzas manager] Víctor Mesa, who has never set a good example of a manager’s proper behavior in a baseball field. You have to admit that the best thing Victor Mesa could have done in that moment was to call his pitcher to order and thus prevent the ‘bat attack’ that ensued. But no, you couldn’t be bothered to hint at that possibility in your article, because you know only too well that Víctor Mesa is not exactly a role model, what with so many public outrages to his credit. As a team manager, is he not by any chance in charge of preparing his players to keep their cool when dealing with the usual pressure of a game? Why don't you say so, why not use your sharp criticism to touch Cuban baseball’s “untouchable”? You know what? The measure that you extol so much –warn the umpire that he should admonish Freddy Asiel– is, pure and simple, one of many tricks that Victor Mesa uses to upset his rival in a ball game. Throw in his inability to keep his emotions on a leash, and you have the reason why his players snapped. What’s more: if you were watching the game, as I hope, you probably realized that even before Demis Valdés stormed out of the dugout bat in hand à la cavalry charge, Víctor was already reaching the home plate. I also hope that you can be candid enough to tell your readers that you know that the last hit-by-pitch player was precisely Víctor Mesa’s son, which could have unleashed –as it did in fact– the manager’s rage and, in passing, that of his players, simply out of solidarity. Subjective as this analysis may be, it beats the discretional views found throughout your “comment”.

            On the other hand, just to prove the extent of your obvious journalistic “bias”, suffice it to mention that in the previous article about batter Ramón Lunar being hit by Vladimir García’s pitch, which the whole of Cuba knows he did on purpose –do you live in Cuba? – you merely say “Villa Clara player Lunar was hit by a pitch off Vladimir García, one of Pinar del Río team’s reinforcements”, and then refer, almost innocently, to the bat in Lunar’s hand, albeit he showed no sign that he intended to use it against the said pitcher’s anatomy. But then again, you're the journalist, and as such you can subliminally say what you want. And below, right below, barely a few centimeters below, you sharpened your pencil so much that you describe without hesitation as “aggression” Freddy Asiel Alvarez HBP’d three batters in a row. So I wonder, do you really follow our baseball? Don’t you know that Freddy Asiel is a regular headhunter and his brushback pitches hit many, many batters as a result? Didn’t you see when Alaín Tamayo beaned [Artemisa team’s outfielder] Dennis Laza? How many hit-by-pitches had we seen by then that evening? Did you call it a beanball taking into account that it took Laza out for the remainder of the season? How dare you give lessons on intentionality? Did you treat Vladimir García and many others the same way? Who gave you the right to manipulate the facts as you please and say something as far-fetched as “aggressions like Freddy Asiel's always end in violence", rounded off with as uncalled-for a sweetener as “even among comrades”? Comrades, my foot! Mark my words: you are describing as the factor that sparked off, and is conducive to, a crime of Assault a hit by pitch that you and only you –oh, and Víctor Mesa– call intentional. Right, you’re both telepathists and read the mind of the Cuban pitcher with the highest record of hit by pitches.

            Journalist, try to understand that making that kind of accusation is a very serious thing. Maybe you’ve never seen in your neighborhood or on your way home from work a street brawl in which Person No. 1 injured or killed Person No. 2 because the latter said something that the former didn’t like, or owed him money, or slept with his wife, who knows. Or maybe you have seen or heard about that. My point is, you’d surely consider nonsensical that the victim be blamed for the crime just because he offended the perpetrator, owed him money or slept with his wife. Anyone with an ounce of common sense and the tiniest concern for justice and equity would say that NOTHING justifies such an aggression. Compare this, allowing for the obvious differences, to what happened last night at the Victoria de Girón Stadium and see if your journalistic approach hits the nail on the head.

            Incidentally, and following your unfortunate train of thought, you expected [Villa Clara team manager Ramón] Moré to anticipate the incident. Please, stop making fun of us, if you want to take it out on Moré find another excuse, and ask yourself the questions in the above paragraph, and if you’re honest with yourself you will admit that a manager doesn't have to replace his ace just because he threw a few hit by pitches. If feelings were running high, well, we all know who’s Cuban baseball’s top “inflamer” of atmospheres, or did you already forget Víctor Mesa’s much-talked-about tantrum over the conga drums at the Sandino Stadium during last playoffs?

            And yet, not content with blaming Freddy Asiel Álvarez, you kept going at him. Who do you think you are discrediting someone for throwing hit by pitches that only you and Víctor Mesa consider intentional? Did you do the same with Vladimir García? Did you make him look as small as Freddy Asiel? How dare you use the pages of such an important daily to say that someone, no matter who, has ethical issues just because you think so, or even blame his trainers? Weigh your words and you’ll see that no other journalist ever tore an athlete’s image to shreds like you did, and boy, are there not sportsmen and –women who have done awful things in revolutionary Cuba! Get a grip on reality once and for all, especially because this is about a Matanzas team’s baseball player that went out with a vengeance, hell-bent on knocking down whomever got in his way, before the TV cameras and the astonished eyes of so many viewers, in Cuba and overseas, who follow our baseball. But, alas, you justify his attitude, or push it into the far background at best. Read and reread your article, please, and appeal to your common sense. “Comments” like yours only twist the facts and shift attention away at the journalist’s own convenience. Understand that many people didn’t see what happened and heard about it from what you wrote.  Meditate on whether your words reflect the incident as was, on whether your approach to it is truly objective. Unfortunately, my answer is NO, NO and a thousand times NO. Your article is just a two-edged, irresponsible, anarchical journalistic act. That kind of comment is only good to confuse people, complicit with someone else’s ideas, shamefully manipulate public opinion, invalidate the decision to be made by the relevant authorities and, above all else, BREED MORE VIOLENCE.

Jorge Luis Barroso



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            My regards, comrades! I read your articles regularly and often watch [TV program] Antesala, and I’m glad to see that your assessments of our national pastime grow deeper by the day. I’m sending herein my humble opinion, for I agree with everything you’ve said about the unpleasant events of the last few months, which stem from attitudes opposed to the principles of our Revolution. In yesterday’s game on TV we could see the change undergone by the fans in Holguín province compared to their unruly behavior of a few days earlier on occasion of the events that ended up with the manager of [Havana’s team] Industriales being ejected from the game. I back journalist Sigfredo Barros’s article with his considerations –albeit it’s not quite true to life– and even if [aforesaid manager] Vargas explained what happened and demanded [daily] Granma an explanation, after his sending-off he offended the umpire and smashed a chair to pieces in the dugout. Radio Angulo sportscasters Noire Aguilera Montaña and Rondón were talking about it toward the end of the game and discussing [journalist] Julita Osendi’s comments on what happened, which censured the audience's lack of discipline but failed to say anything about Vargas’s unwarranted conduct.

            Yesterdah, reporter Ajo asked [Villa Clara team] manager Víctor Mesa on TV who the starters would be that day and the following, and he answered that he won’t be interviewed by anyone from Holguín province. As you can see, lack of discipline is not only found among the players. Anyway, I think that you, as journalists, are called to play a key role in telling the truth at any cost. It was Ajo yesterday, but it could be either of you tomorrow. Don’t forget what Víctor Mesa told a journalist last year in the press conference during the playoffs. I’ll close now, but not without urging you to not be afraid of pointing fingers. Those who make mistakes must be called to order regardless of who they are. What do you know, Víctor Mesa himself said exactly that once. Oh, I forgot a piece of advise: stop saying in your comments that this or that manager is good, friendly, etc., like [TV sportscaster] Rodolfo García, who always does that to sugar the pill right after making a faultfinding comment.

            I’m convinced that if your articles were more critical of what’s going on in Cuban baseball you would be contributing more to its professionalism.

            Thank you for reading my constructive criticism.

Alexeis



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            You might think that I got it in for you or your work, but the truth is that I often see your articles in this daily and I’d like you to send me [sportscaster] Julita Osendi's e-mail so that I can write to her about the information she gave on the national news program about the suspensions of the players involved in the events of Villa Clara-Matanzas’s third game. Find attached herein an item by Radio Habana Cuba staffwriter Narciso Fernández Ramírez that is a far cry from what you wrote. Fortunately, [Villa Clara team’s pitcher] Freddy Asiel stood his ground when [his attacker] Demis Valdez was coming up to him. I would have liked to hear you say something about that.

            Best regards,

Lucy Quintero Cervera



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Santa Clara, Feb 19 (VANGUARDIA daily) – That the measures taken by the National Baseball Commission (NBC) were a must is clear to everyone given the extent of the events and the certainty that actions as degrading as they are unsportsmanlike could not possible go unpunished. What very few expected was the severity of the ban imposed on Villa Clara team’s ace Freddy Asiel Álvarez, totally out of proportion to the lenient sanction applied to Demis Valdés, a potential murderer that went out on the field, armed with a bat and with no thought for anyone else, to attack Freddy Asiel, who could emerge unscathed only because of his almost cat-like moves to dodge the Matanzas team’s benchwarmer’s deadly swings, unlike first baseman and Caribbean Series all-star player Ramón Lunar, accidentally hit by one of such swings while fulfilling his function as team captain and trying to subdue the raging attacker. He received a severe blow on his mouth and needed internal corrective surgery.
Indeed, the National Commission’s decision about what happened at the Victoria de Girón Stadium should be categorical and exemplary. There was no justification for Freddy Asiel’s two unsportsmanlike hit by pitches after allowing a home run by one of Matanzas team’s players. Truth be told, that’s not at all like this gentlemanly and obliging athlete. Well, he made a mistake and must pay for it.

However, gentlemen, a ban for the rest of the season seems excessive to both the pitcher from Sierra Morena and team Villa Clara –Cuba’s reigning champion– now deprived of its star pitcher. Far more drastic if compared (and a comparison is necessary here) to Demis Valdés’s one-year suspension, nearly laughable when we look at the extent and connotation of what he did, to say nothing of the fact that he only plays once in a blue moon and his presence in Matanzas team’s lineup is not decisive by a long shot.

A quite thorny issue comes out here, largely subjective but reflective of what most people in Villa Clara feel. Could it be that they have it in for their team and fans and chose to label them as troublemakers? If not, why be so stern and “educational” now with the orange team’s ace and so indulgent before toward Vladimir García’s obvious beanballs against the unlucky Ramón Lunar? Is Freddy Asiel being scapegoated, as our colleage Miguel Ernesto Gómez Manjuán asked in his well-known blog www.columnadeportiva.com? Will the righty from Sierra Morena take the rap for the NBC’s shambles? Could this be Villa Clara team’s debit for winning the Cuban championship after 18 years of fruitless effort? Does Demis Valdés’s near-murder attempt deserve just a one-year suspension and a happy return for good behavior once the deadline closes?

Much as I doubt your answers will match up, I do think most will agree that the penalties were unbalanced and, hopefully, that someone somewhat resents team Villa Clara, whose manager is one of Cuba’s coolest and chivalrous men and whose members have been long committed to their uniform, morally upright, and of proven integrity.

Justice usually appears blind, or at least blindfolded, with a balanced scale in one hand that symbolizes impartiality, although in this case, as I see it, her blindfold slid a little and she winked cunningly, but not precisely at Freddy Asiel.



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            Various letters about the events that took place at Matanzas province’s stadium were published this week. In my opinion, what lies behind all this is a long string of problems suffered by our quintessential pastime. We have been in the three [World Baseball] Classics and now went to the Caribbean Series, and yet we don’t seem to have learned the lesson. That our baseball must improve is beyond doubt. I’m nobody’s expert, but our national competition system has to be modified and our best players concentrated in a first-class tournament with fewer teams, like back in the day of our Selective Series, whereas those not drafted would hold a parallel competition and, based on their performance, be tapped for the aforesaid top league. I think this can’t wait any longer.

            As to the penalties given to the players in that game, I agree with the whole people that a punishment was imperative, but they waited for so long to do something about similar events in the past that they went too far with the pitcher from Villa Clara. I hope that our baseball officials and players alike give it some thought and understand that this kind of thing must be nipped in the bud. That’s part of baseball’s quality, and many people who work, study or defend our country go to the ballparks or sit in front of the TV set or by their radios in hope of enjoying a great spectacle, and none deserve to see events like these.

Best regards,

Oscar Gómez Silverio



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Esteemed comrades, I have closely followed our people’s opinions on the events that took place in that baseball game and excellently deconstructed by [journalist] Sánchez Serra’s comment. I share the general view on the bans imposed, the National Commission’s incompetence and, in short, the need to make changes to our national sport, but the main reason for my letter is the stunning words all Cubans heard from sportscaster Ajo yesterday, February 19, while a game was being broadcast, when he very clearly said –and he did it twice– that [Matanzas team manager] Víctor Mesa had refused to tell him today’s possible starters because he doesn’t talk with, or to, reporters. But even more outrageous were [TV sportscaster] Rodolfo García’s words, when he said “He’s not like that; he’s never told us anything like that”. Please, enough of so much coverup for and tolerance of the disrespect shown by this athlete –who, to cap it all off, has been appointed Team Cuba manager for the next 5 years– to our media, for these incidents highlights the unjust but widespread expression that Cuba has journalists, but not journalism. The baseball revolution should reach those distinguished sportscasters who are not equal to the challenge that we need them to deal with from their trenches.

I’ll be awaiting your enlightening opinions.

Best regards,

Dr. Orlando Gutierrez Boza



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            It was not my intention to write about what happened at Victoria de Girón Stadium, not only because that would be like taking advantage of somebody’s misfortune but also because it’s embarrassing to admit that things like that have been going on for a long time. I just think that this one was the famous last straw… but it was to be expected, and those who can do something about it keep turning a blind eye. It only remains for us to write; it’s the best we can do. Like in [Cuban music duet] Buena Fé’s song, “(...) somebody’s still not doing what must be done; somebody’s still not loving what must be loved...”

            Today’s letters to the editor in Granma are many but mostly similar: there had to be suspensions, but… Freddy Asiel took the lion’s share while Demis Valdés –always a contentious player– and the others got away with much less.

            Gentlemen, [Cuban tae kwon do champion] Valodia Matos was banned for life from any international competition, even if it is the World Cup of Legless Tae Kwon Doists in Haiti, for hitting a referee, and yet we have to bear seeing these problems (and I’m not only referring to the Freddy vs. Delmis case) and those involved get away with it unscathed, be they in baseball, sports in general or our society. Quite an example, the one we’re giving the future generations.

            Granted, trying to hit by pitch a batter is wrong, but it’s always been done (I’m not justifying anything; it’s a weapon used by pitchers when they can’t overpower a batter). Even [former star pitcher Braudilio] Vinent, when it was his turn to appear in [Cuban TV program] Confesiones de Grandes (Confessions of Topnotch Athletes), avowed to have beaned either the player who had hit a round-tripper off him in his previous at-bat or the next to step into the batter’s box. And how many batters did [former star pitcher Pedro Luis] Lazo hit on purpose? Again, I’m not justifying anything. But even if you study Freddy’s throws, who’s to say they were not simple brush-backs? Aha, the umpire saw ill will and let him take an early shower! Except that, if he infers that much AND ousts the pitcher, he risks being dismissed in turn for the rest of the season because, well, it’s Freddy Asiel we’re talking about here...

            “What do I do?” the umpire wonders. Nothing, he has no authority –and I say more about this below– if he does that his job is on the line. See [umpire] Lobaina vs. [pitcher] Vladimir García vs. [batter] Lunar –you would think I’m talking about WWE– or [Psychology professor and TV lecturer] Calviño’s conference about changing our mindset and his story about birth certificates.

            What’s certain is Demis Valdés’s intention of killing Freddy Asiel. Oh, but it was on a baseball field, which means he has no criminal responsibility. It seems a baseball field provides immunity from prosecution.

            Another remark: Matanzas is ahead 3-0 and it’s [manager Victor Mesa’s son and 9th in the batting order] Víctor Víctor’s at-bat. [Leadoff hitter] Moreira is due up next, so (and this sounds CSI-ish, but hey, it’s possible) there’s no way the manager would have send a pinch hitter. Why was Demis using a bat to warm up for? That’s it, a hit by pitch, Víctor Víctor running to the dugout and Demis to the diamond like a mambi[1]… Go figure.

            Incidentally, I was at the stadium the day before when [Matanzas reinforcement pitcher] Carlos Juan Viera beaned [Villa Clara player] Yeniet Pérez and knocked him out of the game for good after this player had singled off him three times, including a Moon shot over the roof –why people welcome them as if they were twice as valuable beats me, as a four bagger that lands right behind the fence is just as valuable– but no one made a fuss, no sir, “a hit by pitch is part of the game”. What’s it to be, then!!!???...

            A lot more could be said about this, but it would be a litany of criticism and more criticism. Hey, when will something be written to praise our baseball for something well done? I think we need a full, top-to-bottom cleanup therein. I believe we must stop issuing blank checks for the NBC, and l also believe that our people are not wrong to have been demanding a change up there for such a long time. The vast majority of us have.

            My best regards to you and your family. The fight lives on!!!

            I’d like to exchange views with you more often and, of course, discuss these topics. If I’m wrong, so be it, and the same goes for you!

            “We no longer need to fear (…) confrontations. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born.” (Chaplin)



Yoahnis L. Carrazana



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            Comrades, I’ve been closely following everything related to the lack of discipline in our baseball and the countless comments made about it by both our media and a part of the population.

            These comments cover a variety of issues, ranging from Cuba's recent reappearance in the Caribbean Series to the most dissimilar suggestions with regard to Cuban baseball and its inclusion into other sports clubs and levels, Much has been said too about how far behind others we are in technological and tactical progress and development , etc. A few years ago I sent my opinions to several journalists and even voiced them in [Radio Station] C.O.C.O.’s sports forum. And I said more, stressing that I disagreed with baseball commissioner Higinio Velez’s words, when he said, as we all remember, that “NO CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO CUBAN BASEBALL”. Simply put, everybody as calling for a change in the way our championship is organized and our players are tapped for Team Cuba, but the guy stuck to his guns. He also said: “TEAM CUBA IS A TEAM OF MEN, NOT OF NAMES”. Naturally, the pitcher goes so often to the well that it comes home broken at last, and only then did this gentleman gave in and modified the said structure and qualifying system, as our people requested after seeing how we kept losing every competition we attended and lagging behind other countries, not to mention our pitching staff’s control problems and our umpires’ unpredictable strize zone (what they call from behind the plate defies all logic). Let’s cut to the chase: our baseball’s top leaders must take full responsibility for the current state of affairs, and it's high time that we replaced them and appoint others who have fresh thoughts and can change the way we plan and do things so as to give our baseball a much-needed shot in the arm and Team Cuba goes back to being the powerhouse it always was. I believe we have many capable, clever and revolutionary comrades who were great athletes in the past and have played or managed overseas and whose brains, sense of responsibility and experience qualify them to call the tunes in Cuban baseball, and there are very good and dedicated technicians who can take over from the old ones whose outdated methods and managing styles have got our game bogged down. For instance, [former baseball stars] Medina, Urquiola, Omar Linares, Javier, Pacheco, Anglada and the like, all of whom have successfully played in, been requested by and got familiar with foreign leagues and how they play, are now wasting their time at the head of unimportant things. They can all take us to where we really belong.

            However, as long as we are led by the present baseball officials our game won’t change a bit. I’ll keep saying this until I see a change in their way of thinking. Our baseball won’t make any progress otherwise. Not much is needed other than a spirit of renewal and some resources available.

            Thank you very much.

            Yours truly,

Jorge Osle



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            We think Villa Clara team’s baseball players were used as guinea pigs. This is not the first violation of discipline we’ve seen in our stadiums. Nothing is said about the time in the Isle of Yought that [Matanzas manager] Víctor Mesa threw a fistful of dirt at an umpire’s face, or the way [pitcher] Vladimir García has beaned [player Ramón] Lunar more than once, and that’s lack of discipline too. Playing sports is our people’s right and a pastime, and a sportsfield must not become a boxing ring, a horror film or a reason for nationwide discord.

 

Employees of the Municipal Hygiene and Epidemiology Unit,

Encrucijada Municipality, province of Villa Clara

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            Oscar Sánchez Serra, my name is Eusebio Mariano Hernández García. Your article is very good. In my opinion, you have long been one of the few reporters who know what to say with true devotion to revolutionary sports. I’m sending you my views about baseball’s current problems. I have also drafted a proposal for the Cuban Baseball League’s structure and operation.

            The key is in the good exercise of authority. We have many problems in baseball because they have been piling up in full view of everybody, and every one of them has to do with the NBC, which has lost its moral authority before ballplayers, umpires, team managers and our people as a whole, the reason that we constantly call its decisions into question in any forum, from Cubadebate to Cubasí. As I see it, this is due to the Commission’s bureaucratic centralism that prevents our baseball from making any progress. All our main defeats in the last ten years have taken place under its watch and yet they have not even acknowledged their responsibility in public, and what’s worse, they have turned a deaf ear to all suggestions and ideas put forward by experts, journalists and top-level officials to solve the problems facing both baseball and Cuban sports in general.

            Consequently, changes have been made by automatically copying what other baseball leagues do without designing a structure that provides for a greater competitive level; our umpire’s performance is being watched without an Umpires Committee in charge of enforcing the policies on order and discipline laid down by the National Sports, Physical Education and Recreation Institute (INDER); little or no immediacy when expected to take a stance on certain situations found in our outside our sportsfields; the members of the Commission attending a baseball game have acted as consultants rather than experts in the matter; and so on.

            That owing to INDER’s paternalism and smugness when dealing with our baseball’s conundrum “keeping a baseball game under control” has become a big problem today in a country rich in, and with a great culture of, sportsmanship is, at best, an absurdity. What’s unfortunate about the events involving Matanzas team is not only the incident as such but also that the NBC’s subsequent decisions made it even weaker.

            The analysis made on TV by [sports journalist] Julia Osendi –quite exalted, which is hardly typical of our prime-time National News Program’s professional reporting– called to put the blame on the fans, whose actions, in my opinion, were nothing compared to all the things that we see in every game which the baseball authorities usually mishandle. Cuban fans are not zealots, not with a 53-year-old culture of baseball that spares no age or gender that makes it possible for them to distinguish right from wrong and a good job from what managers, ballplayers, umpires and even sportscasters do. That culture allows them to praise, criticize and root for an athlete or a team when they so deserve, which demands our baseball officials to be better prepared and more committed to the fans.

            As to the NBC supervisors that attend every ball game, there is a question mark against the purpose of their presence and what their role really is. I believe that getting away with just a warning is fine if they are there for other reasons and not to advice the umpires, managers and technicians about anything that might jeopardize the proper development of a game.

            We must always look at the past, not only to make comparisos but also to make plans for and improve what we do. Keep in mind that things have changed and we have other motives now.

            Warm regards,



Eusebio Mariano Hernández García



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            Oscar, I think your analysis is very interesting and profound and I have read all the opinions published in your paper. Mine is very simple: social indiscipline has taken over our country’s streets, schools and neighborhoods and its roots are getting deeper and deeper, which paves the way for so many free-for-alls in grandstands and sportsfields alike. It hurts so much to see so much trouble in our baseball! I think it’s because of the poor job made by many people who are too permissive and lenient toward renowned athletes, etc., etc. In my view, the whole NBC must be dismissed, and harsher measures must be taken. Those who cause these brawls and endanger other athletes’ lives must be brought to justice. The Law cannot be blind here. I don’t understand how [Villa Clara team manager] Moré can say the measures were excessive when he must have been penalized himself for his failure to avoid these events, as his experience is enough to make him see any coming problem. Boxing is an example to be followed: when a punishment is in order the boxing authorities make no excuses and they sanction anybody regardless of their name or their career, even if he’s an Olympic champion. Discipline must prevail in our sports at any cost, and only then will we be proud of it again.



Rolando A.



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Construir el edificio desde los cimientos, no desde la azotea (+ Comentarios)

La afición continúa pronunciándose sobre el lamentable incidente en el partido entre Matanzas y Villa Clara, celebrado el pasado lunes, en el que hubo que lamentar la peligrosa herida en el rostro del joven capitán del equipo villaclareño, Ramón Lunar

A cargo de Oscar Sánchez Serra
 

La afición continúa pronunciándose sobre el lamentable incidente en el partido entre Matanzas y Villa Clara, celebrado el pasado lunes, en el que hubo que lamentar la peligrosa herida en el rostro del joven capitán del equipo villaclareño, Ramón Lunar
 

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2014/02/21/deportes/artic01.html