Spring Break
SPORTS: NBA heads south looking for a stimulus package
Dan King
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: Personal Stories
SANTIAGO de CUBA -- One of the Cold War anecdotes was that President Kennedy only signed the Cuban embargo after having press secretary Pierre Salinger procure over a thousand H. Upmann Petit Corona Cuban cigars from Washington D.C. smoke shops. The rumor is once Kennedy needed to restock his favorite brand of cigars the embargo would end.
Kennedy didn't survive his stock of Upmanns and we will never know if the embargo would have ended before 1969. But another case of Presidential desire for a Cuban product could result in the end of the almost half-century Cuban embargo.
The product: Abril Tontos
Tontos is one of the best-kept secrets in the Western Hemisphere.
The shining star of Cuban basketball, he is virtually unknown in the United States.
I've had a life-long dream to travel to Cuba. Through finagling with a California Congressperson, and more than a few campaign contributions, I received the required journalist visa to travel to Cuba.
While in Santiago, I had a reunion with a Granma sports journalist who I had met many years ago while covering golf in Georgia. He was there to enjoy and cover a capitalist golf tournament. We had a great time on a rainy night in Georgia sharing Cold War stories and drinking decadent Scotch whisky.
We shared Cuba Libras and Bolivar Legendarios on this trip, and after half dozen or so cocktails my fellow journalist took me to a local gym to watch Tontos play basketball.
My friend claimed Tontos stands 7 feet 4 inches, but I'm guessing he is closer to 7 feet. What is truly freakish about him is an amazing wingspan. He looks like he was put on the rack as a niño. Pictures of him look like they have been stretched in Photoshop. While he has much longer than normal legs, he still looks like he might just be able to touch his toes with minimal bending at the waist.
Standing flat-footed below the rim, Tontos can reach up a couple feet beyond the 10-foot rim, giving him extraordinary shot-blocking ability.
Kennedy didn't survive his stock of Upmanns and we will never know if the embargo would have ended before 1969. But another case of Presidential desire for a Cuban product could result in the end of the almost half-century Cuban embargo.
The product: Abril Tontos
Tontos is one of the best-kept secrets in the Western Hemisphere.
The shining star of Cuban basketball, he is virtually unknown in the United States.
I've had a life-long dream to travel to Cuba. Through finagling with a California Congressperson, and more than a few campaign contributions, I received the required journalist visa to travel to Cuba.
While in Santiago, I had a reunion with a Granma sports journalist who I had met many years ago while covering golf in Georgia. He was there to enjoy and cover a capitalist golf tournament. We had a great time on a rainy night in Georgia sharing Cold War stories and drinking decadent Scotch whisky.
We shared Cuba Libras and Bolivar Legendarios on this trip, and after half dozen or so cocktails my fellow journalist took me to a local gym to watch Tontos play basketball.
My friend claimed Tontos stands 7 feet 4 inches, but I'm guessing he is closer to 7 feet. What is truly freakish about him is an amazing wingspan. He looks like he was put on the rack as a niño. Pictures of him look like they have been stretched in Photoshop. While he has much longer than normal legs, he still looks like he might just be able to touch his toes with minimal bending at the waist.
Standing flat-footed below the rim, Tontos can reach up a couple feet beyond the 10-foot rim, giving him extraordinary shot-blocking ability.
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