vinism

If the Bush administration wants to figure why the rest of the world dislikes the U.S., they needn't go farther than the boneheaded decision to keep Cuba from playing in the first World Baseball Classic. What public good, other than keeping more Cuban baseball players from defecting (wait, we want that don't we?), does this serve? The people of Cuba aren't going to band together and topple Castro to see their beloved baseball heroes play in the tournament. They're going rally around Castro and wonder why the big, bad USA won't give their baseball team a chance to see their heroes play. Talk about great press. And from a purely sports standpoint, they're right. One of the great mysteries in international baseball has always been how a team of Cuban professional players would fare against the best players from rest of the world. Well, here's our chance to find out and try a little ping-pong diplomacy at the same time. Let's hope someone in the Bush administration (come on Condi, we know you're a sports fan) is paying attention and reverses this decision.