More Reasons To Watch The WBC

One of the anti-Castro protesters at the WBC has posted his first-hand account of the incident here. This guy had a sign that said "BASEBALL PLAYERS YES, TYRANTS NO" that he held up to the Cuban baseball players about an hour before the game. He says the sign drew a chuckle and a thumbs-up from one of the players.

And he was in the vicinity when Cuban officials approached another guy who had the "ABAJO FIDEL" sign, but were escorted out of the stadium by Puerto Rican police and then given a stern talking-to about the virtues of free speech. Tournament organizers have agreed to ban such signs in future games. It was fun while it lasted, though.

And speaking of free speech, a reader wrote in yesterday to tell us that the commentators doing the U.S./South Africa game were unaware that the feed at MLB.tv was not going to commercial, and instead, their comments could be heard by everyone listening on-line. One guy wondered aloud if a mountain in the background was actually "Brokeback Mountain." Free speech indeed. Baseball Classic [therealcuba.com] Freedom of speech 1, Fidel Castro 0 [Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job!] An international baseball incident [The Sports Frog] Cubans absorb humiliating defeat [Miami Herald]