ES / EN
- July 15, 2025 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Opinion Columns

Baseball: Broken Gods

by
  • Carlos M. Álvarez
    Carlos M. Álvarez
January 15, 2013
in Columns, This mouth is mine
0

The decline of Santiago de Cuba is the greatest wrong in Cuban baseball. Not the changing structures, not the low roof -very low-of the National series, not the inaccurate numbers, not the lousy arbitration, but the aimlessly drifting of a indomitable and historical team.

The same has happened in any league when it enters an acute crisis. It happened when the NBA lockout in 1998, when the Bulls, then three-time champions, garnered only thirteen victories of fifty. Same in the Argentinean football, a couple of years ago, with shocking declines to second division of legendary clubs such as Gimnasia, Rosario Central and horror!, the mythical  River Plate from Buenos Aires.

The water in the vessel is such that even higher masts feel threaten. Pinar del Rio is an inconsistent team. Villa Clara, a surprisingly apathetic squad. Industriales, even with luxury roster in the current scenario, has a so broken bullpen that nobody bets on them with complete safety. And, to add insult on injury, Santiago, worn out, drowned, with pain in the spleen, is installed in the last place of the table.

Nothing harms an event more that destroying its paradigms. The fact that Industriales or Santiago de Cuba die for a season may be due to competition, but dying two, or three seasons, means that traditions are perishing and the crisis has begun to trample the symbols.

Never, if things were as they should be, Santiago had lost the last game of last season at the hands of Mayabeque, and had never been out of the playoffs. At first glance it seems that there is no connection between the facts, but it is always possible to recognize, from allegorical details, when specific situations worsen or fictitiously survive.

That French revolution was to befall, for example, was demonstrated in advance by Voltaire and Rousseau. That counterculture will come to the U.S. was attested, first of all, in the prosperous fifties, the insane and amazing beats generation. That the Cuban baseball will live better times, or, inevitably, perish, is corroborated in a series where Santiago de Cuba, from before the beginning, carries death in its side.

Related Posts

Photo: Canva.

Staying silent in Cuba: a choice?

July 13, 2025
Photo: Kaloian.

We have general objectives. What about specific goals?

July 11, 2025
Photo: Author’s archive.

A visit to what we were

July 2, 2025
Photo: Kaloian.

Development is not around the corner

July 1, 2025

It saddens me to see them in the doldrums, hear how they lose one game after another, against opponents who do not deserve to fest like that on a mighty wounded animal. Santiago was my childhood team; I mean Santiago was my team. Vera is my conception of art and Pacheco my well of confidence. But even if it were not that way, a minimal amount of love for Cuban baseball would be enough to want them to return on track.

That postseason, where they first were left out, and Industrial missed it too, would have been sufficient evidence. But Pinar del Rio saved it, by winning the championship, and showed that the historical teams are part of a clan.

I have, sometimes, fractal thinking about the sport, and I think if Santiago finally sinks, is because the series has been floating on its back for a while, and nobody rescues its body of water.
 
 

 

  • Carlos M. Álvarez
    Carlos M. Álvarez
Previous Post

Casanova, a baseball lineage

Next Post

A Swiss musician on the streets of Havana

Carlos M. Álvarez

Carlos M. Álvarez

Ex estudiante de periodismo y ex ladrón de libros. No hay nada en particular que pueda aclarar de mí porque yo tengo un oficio una edad una familia y un amor parecido o semejante o análogo al de casi todos los que no viven ni en África ni en Suiza y porque como preguntara un célebre poeta hace ya muchos años en un célebre poema de un célebre libro lanzado de súbito para la posteridad: “¿Quién no se llama Carlos o cualquier otra cosa?”

Next Post

A Swiss musician on the streets of Havana

Talc for Havana

Cell Phone Rates Reduced 20 Percent in Cuba, Other Measures

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Read

  • OFAC.S. Department of the Treasury. Photo: Marita Pérez Díaz.

    OFAC fines U.S. company over $600,000 for shipping to Cuba

    37 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 9
  • Staying silent in Cuba: a choice?

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • MSMEs barely growing and their slowdown hinders competition and economic dynamism

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Los Palacios, land of Cuban rice harvested by Vietnamese

    19 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • Trump reinstates hard-line Cuba embargo as Havana condemns US measure as “criminal”

    37 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 9

Most Commented

  • Photo: Kaloian.

    Private sector and tourism in Cuba. Why not?

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}