Hopefully, Tampa Bay Rays visit to Cuba will prove beneficial to Cuban people
Did you hear about that baseball game Tuesday in Havana? The Tampa Bay Rays vs. the Cuban national team.
It means everything, and it means nothing.
The score?
Can't remember. Anyway, it will take 10, 20 maybe 30 years to determine who won. Hopefully more like 10.
Some people liked the idea of having the game, and others didn't.
But let's put it into perspective.
Those who promoted the trip, including Major League Baseball and President Barack Obama, didn't hide or diminish Cuba's repressive government.
They want to try something new that might initiate change after a 50-year stalemate. Rachel Robinson, the 92-year-old wife of Jackie Robinson was there, and said you need to talk.
Those who suffered directly from the government along with their family and friends, feel differently, and who can blame them? Their pain is real.
Sports has been a vehicle for change, although not always for the good as the Munich massacre during the 1972 Olympics demonstrates.
Keep in mind, we are humans first and then Americans or Cubans or Russians or wherever we were born.
The Rays players came to spread love, and those Cuban kids seemed to be soaking it up. Many were 6 or 7 years old, but someday they will be 26 and 36, and you never know.
Even if it's only to make these kids and adults feel good for a couple of days, it's worthwhile. Sports events often live in infamy, and unless you look hard enough, you don't immediately see their profound effect.
There was Jesse Owens winning four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin that forced Adolf Hitler to leave the stadium; team USA's "Miracle on Ice" in the 1980 Games; Jackie Robinson's 1947 Major League Baseball debut; basketball coach Jim Valvano's 1993 ESPY speech that still echoes through the ears.
And thank you Dick Vitale for helping to keeping that one alive so those cancer-stricken kids can fight the fight.
The final score is often inconsequential.
The United States still hasn't accepted the silver medal from that 1972 Olympic basketball game against the Russians that ended the Americans 63-game win streak. It was a game swamped with accusations of cheating in that final second that turned into six seconds and two chances for the Soviet Union to win.
They won, but 19 years later, the Soviet Union crumbled, and the USA is still around.
The East Germans were noted for racking up all those swimming medals in the Olympics with women who were accused of doping and men we thought were juiced up beyond human recognition.
But the Berlin Wall fell, and the world is better for it.
There are some good things to take from this trip.
At least we had Rays pitcher Chris Archer representing the USA instead of Dennis Rodman, the former NBA player and self-proclaimed ambassador to North Korea.
We heard Tonya Harding will not be in charge of setting up the first visit of American skaters to Cuba, and Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) was not in charge of crowd control Tuesday.
In 1971, members of the USA pingpong team became the first Americans to visit Beijing in 22 years when they took on the Chinese national team. A year later, President Nixon visited China.
Archer became a rock star during the visit and appears to have a career in politics.
Creating a new system that would allow Cuban players to play for major league teams without abandoning their country or taking risks in defecting is a goal for MLB.
It's a step, but it could be important in many other areas.
Alan Dell, Herald sports columnist/writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.
This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 11:52 PM with the headline "Hopefully, Tampa Bay Rays visit to Cuba will prove beneficial to Cuban people ."