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Wow, not only does she bike 65 miles in a single bound, but check out Carole's results from the Laurel Turkey Trot:
Wow - she beat all the 50 year-olds, and even creamed those 40-somethings, too!
« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »
Wow, not only does she bike 65 miles in a single bound, but check out Carole's results from the Laurel Turkey Trot:
Wow - she beat all the 50 year-olds, and even creamed those 40-somethings, too!
29 November 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
27 November 2007 in Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Oddly enough, Thanksgiving is supposed to be all about giving thanks. When your kids are little you have to suffer through the annual play at their school where they reenact the first Thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth Rock (or maybe Berkley Plantation in Virginia?) with the Indians (now known as Native Americans) bringing food to the Pilgrims (now known as ruthless genocide practicing Imperialists). Then a few days later you stuff yourself with tryptothan, watch football, sit in traffic in the mall parking lot, and rake leaves. The giving thanks part doesn't really play a major role and it probably should.
One low effort way to give some thanks is to check out the word game at freerice.com. This is another one of those sites (like the one for breast cancer) that turn Internet advertising into useful donations. Every correct answer donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. It quickly gets tough - I usually crap out by level 42. No cheating, now.
I'm thankful that everyone I know and care about is healthy and fortunate enough to be in control of their own destiny and make their own decisions - for better or worse. I'm thankful that most of them realize how lucky we are, and they feel that gratitude rocks but they haven't been silly enough to go out and buy any gratitude rocks.
I'm thankful I got the chance to run in the Casey's Crab Turkey Trot in Laurel to benefit the Laurel Advocacy and Referral Service with my wife. Carole is a very good runner and I'm really not - but it was fun to run in the same race with her, albeit many minutes behind her. I think I've actually run once in about 5 years, so I'm sure I'm going to feel it tomorrow and the next day. But bicycling and kayaking are sort of winding down for the winter, maybe some running can fill the gap. Gee, maybe next year I can do one of those run/bike/kayak triathlon deals. The Googlefied map of the run is below, run statistics here.
22 November 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
About 41 miles of the Appalachian Trail's 2,175 miles are in Maryland. There used to be a day long through hike where you did the entire 41 miles in one day, but that seems to have disappeared. On Saturday, they held the annual JFK 50 miler, where people run much of the Maryland AT and the winner finished in less than 6 hours. You could hike it all in two intense days or three normal days, or you can take the leisurely approach and attack it slowly - guess which approach Carl and I tend to take? In the past we had done a lot of 7-10 mile segments by taking two cars and leaving one at each end, but to help defeat the terrorists (and not have to buy so much $3/gallon gasoline) we've been doing out and back hikes this year, where a 7 mile hike really means 3.5 miles on the AT and then doubling back. So, it will take 10-12 hikes to do the entire MD section, but what's the hurry? While some people extol the virtues of seeing the same stretch of trail from two different directions, personally, I prefer one-way hikes where you don't double back. But when you are driving 60-80 miles to get to a hike, taking two cars is hard to justify what with the coming ice age and all.
Since last weekend we hiked the section from i-70 south to George Washington Monument State Park, we decided to do the next segment south from there. We started at the scenic Old South Mountain Inn - which, as you see on the left, was slightly less scenic than usual given the dozens of green Port-a-Potties in the parking lot. We figured this had something to do with the JFK 50 miler - sure enough, that is where the runners get on the AT from beautiful downtown Boonsboro. Just south of the start is the Dahlgren Backpack Campground, a popular place for Boy and Girl Scouts to do camping trips. Which meant we ran into tons of bored/tired/dirty little kids were hiking in the opposite direction up the trail as a few harried adults urged them along.
The previous week the leaves had actually popped out in brilliant yellows and reds but gale force winds had knocked most of them onto the ground - the colors left on the trees were definitely muted. About a mile south of the start you reach Fox's Gap and a wide variety of Civil War monuments and signs attempting to explain why everyone ran into each other at this particular spot and started shooting. From there the trail heads downhill a bit, crosses some power lines and goes downhill some more to an AT cabin that is under renovation.
From there it is a nice uphill stretch to the to top of the ridge where there used to be a fire tower but now only a communications tower remains. We stopped at the traditional viewpoint to the southeast, where the faded colors and the gray skies made for a less than spectacular view. This is about the 4 mile point from the Old South Mountain Inn. On a two car hike we would continue to Gathland State Park another 4 miles south, but on an out-n-back this is the turn around point - so we did.
While the temperature was only in the 40s and the skies were gray, I had gotten quite toasty on the climb up and had tied my red hoodie around my waist - and didn't even notice when it fell off. We found it on the way back - it looked like a scene out of the Blair Witch Project. From there it was a pretty straightforward hike back, with the sun occasionally making some headway against the gray clouds. We saw almost no wildlife and I'm still trying to figure out why squirrels and deer are always leaping at my car but so rarely visible in the woods.
Just for grins, I wore my Garmin heart rate monitor chest strap along with the Dick Tracy GPS wrist watch thingy. To the left is a chart of my heart rate vs. the elevation of the hike. You can there is about a 700 foot elevation gain from the start to the highest point, with about a 1.5 mile continuous climb. On the steep parts of the climb, looks like my heart rate was up in the 120s, but probably averaged in the 80s overall. This is not a tough hike in cool weather, but that climb up is a lot tougher in the middle of August.
The Google-ified map of the hike, courtesy of Innersource:
19 November 2007 in Hiking | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
For the first 15 years or so of having a house with a garage, I never had room in the garage for cars at all - and that was a two car garage. Bicycles, lawn mowers/tractors, radial arm saws and just plain old junk invariably took up all the room. So, when we moved into our new house I was determined to actually have room for cars in the garage. I put up lots of wall storage for ladders, put the five bicycles up on another wall and luckily it is a three car garage so one side can be dedicated to all the lawn weapons of mass destruction.
That worked fine until kayaking came along - kayaks are huuuge. I've been keeping them outside but with the new, expensive toy coming soon, I knew I wanted to store them inside and it looked like above the garage doors was the only solution. I played around with designs just using off-the-shelf ropes and pulleys, but the thought of kayaks falling out of the ceiling onto the cars or our heads wasn't very appealing. Then I saw the Harken Hoister systems and for $79 realized it was the way to go - not much more than buying the parts and it includes a racheting block and tackle rig that makes it a lot safer.
As usual, it took me about four times as long as I thought it would take to do the installation - mostly due to lining up a 2 x 6 over drywall-covered ceiling joists, but it works great. I can even drive the truck into the garage with the boat on the cradles and hoist it from there. Now, if the hoist could only include a built-in kayak wash and dry system...
17 November 2007 in Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
15 November 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
No doubt about it - daylight savings time is really over. I tried to sneak in an after work paddle and ended up paddling across Triadelphia Reservoir in almost pitch darkness. The picture to the left is actually just after I started and that was about as light as it got. It was actually a very cool time to paddle - the water was smooth as a baby's behind and there were scads of geese on the water. On the way back, it really was dark and the geese were freaking out - I was surrounded by honking and would get within yards of them before they would start flapping their wings, throw up phosphorescent spray and take off. On the way back I had to navigate by the lights on the dam and I was afraid the Water Police might lock the gate at the ramp and trap my truck inside. However, I guess they do it at official sunset or so, not darkness.
I used my new Epic Wing paddle and I took 3 minutes off my usual 6.3 mile round trip time - I guess that is about a 5% improvement, pretty good. The Epic paddle unexpectedly came with white blades, which almost seemed to glow in the dark as I paddled back. I wonder what that looked like from the shore - I bet there are reports of ghosts or UFOs flying over the reservoir.
It looks like the folks at Google Earth have updated their imagery - you can see in the map below how low the water is at Triadelphia - that big white blob to the northwest of the start/finish was just a shallow spot in the spring, then it was two islands and now it is one gigantic island. All that white space along the shore wasn't there in the spring, either. You can see how the water in the coves (especially on the north side) doesn't reach the woods at all - none of the other access areas are open because of the low levels. The water level was actually up maybe 6 inches or so since my last paddle, which actually made it a bit trickier as I knew there were some obstacles (like rocks and submerged tree trunks) that were visible last week that weren't visible now. However, I managed to navigate by memory and not get dumped into the rapidly cooling water.
14 November 2007 in Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
It seems like we've trivialized Veteran's Day - it doesn't even get a Monday holiday anymore. Well, maybe it does - but who knows? On my calendars it shows up on Sunday. I guess these days the definitive source is, as usual, Google. Yup, Google has dressed up its logos with helmets, so today must be Veteran's Day. So, thanks to all you veterans out there and now back to our regularly scheduled programme.
In honor of Veteran's Day, not to mention the beautiful weather, Carl and I decided to do a veteran of a hike, Sugarloaf Mountain. We did the usual Northern Peaks trail, which is a nice 5 mile loop with lots of ups and down, and a number of the climbs bring you to nice view points. The leaf color is pretty wimpy this year but a few decent reds and lots of yellows out there. It was international day on the trail as we passed other hikers speaking several languages. Only a few people with those ski pole walking sticks - I don't quite understand what those are for. I got back early enough to put the kayak on Rocky Gorge for a 9 mile paddle before the sun set, getting to see several bald eagles and a few surveillance turtles taking late season swims. So a nice mini biathlon - nothing exciting but lots of fresh air.
Some photos from Sugarloaf:
11 November 2007 in Hiking, Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
When the World Wide Web was first getting started, it was often trumpeted as the equivalent of having an unlimited number of radio and TV broadcast channels - everyone could be a broadcaster. Of course, it turned out that very few were very good at broadcasting, and the majority of podcasts and videos are of the "swinging a dead cat in my back yard" variety - chock-full of annoying advertising, to boot. Blogs started with the same promise - "everyone can be a publisher" - but so many of them are just chains of people commenting on each other's blogs. Even worse, they are either stuffed with advertising or are written by those who are trying to sell us something, so the writing is actually disguised advertising.
So, when I came across the blog of an 11 year old girl (Boo) whose mother has breast cancer, and who was kayaking with her father as a way to raise awareness for breast cancer, I was really touched. There is hope after all in the Web, it just takes more work to find the gems under so much manure. Even better, it turns out even some ads can be gems.
If you go to this page on Boo's blog, you can click on a link that bring up a page of ads. Just by going to that page you cause the sponsors of the ads to give money to support the Breast Cancer Site and Greater Good Network. How cool is that?
08 November 2007 in Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Halloween came and went - and still we had Daylight Saving Time. It is pretty hard for me to believe extending DST a few weeks in the beginning and a week at the end really saved anyone any energy, but it definitely made me more energetic to get some exercise in before it all ended. So, this was the last opportunity to squeeze in a tri-sport weekend of biking, hiking and kayaking - pretty much in that order.
Carole was driving to Beltsville to run with her friend Bernadette, so I decided I'd bike down that way and use Carole as a sag wagon to take me back. Hurricane Noel was moving up the east coast, but was staying well offshore. Since it was rotating counter-clockwise, it meant I had NNW winds essentially at my back for much of the ride. I thought I could find an alternate route to get me across Route 1 and the railroad in Beltsville, but no such luck - I wandered aimlessly for a while until cutting through an industrial park and going over the Muirkirk Road bridge. I passed the site of the old Rhodes Tavern and made my way to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center where there are all kinds of low traffic and closed roads to bike on. I went all the way out on Beaver Dam Road and circled back, slogged up Research Road to the gate into Greenbelt and after 34 miles met Carole just as she finished her run.
The next day Carl and I did one of the easier Appalachian trail hikes, a a 6 mile out and back from the Route 70 AT pedestrian bridge to Washington Monument State Park. There is a little bit of up and down on this hike, but it is pretty mild. A good deal of color in the woods but this is not a prime year for brilliant foliage. When we reached the monument (which looks like a giant beehive) the hawk counters were at the top, having excitable discussions about raptors and pheasants and booby hatches. We climbed to the top, looked around and headed back - other than photo stops we pretty much did a non-stop hike.
After getting back from hiking, I completed the weekend triathlon by putting the kayak in at the Supplee area of Rocky Gorge. The water is way down and the launch ramp is closed, but you can carry your boat down about 100 feet and put in. The wind was still up and was in my face for most of the outward 4.5 miles, but of course was at my back for the return. I saw the obligatory herons, a few deer and a few eagles, but no bald eagles and very few boaters. I used the 9.2 mile paddle to get more comfortable using the new wing paddle and just enjoyed being on the water. I have to admit though - a day of being on salt water always gives a better feeling than the same time on fresh water. Time to get back to the Bay.
A Googlefied map of the paddle and some other pictures of the AT hike:
05 November 2007 in Hiking, Kayaking | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)


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Crochet has never been my friend. I love it, and I'm impressed as hell by people who can do it well, but I am definitely not one of them. The fabulous headwear above was crocheted by Cal Patch, who is one of the most charming women I've ever met. She designs clothes, she crochets, she spins, she teaches, she has a great dog, and she has a warm and open way about her. I would love to take a class from her. If anyone can teach me to crochet, I think she can! A link to her site is here.
The entire area of Washington County, NY is spectacularly beautiful. This is a shot of the main street in Salem, just east of Greenwich. The scent of the apples in the orchard as I drove along, and the fog off the fields...it's a little bit of northeastern heaven. There's so much more, and I'll share it in chunks over the next few days.

subset: commoncrawl


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| Story | 7/11/2018
17u BCS: Day 3 Scout Notes
Taylor Weber
Perfect Game Tournament Staff
Photo: Mack Anglin (Perfect Game)
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17u BCS National Championship:
Event Page
Daily Leaders
Day 1 Notes
Day 2 Notes
The teams in the 17u BCS Tournament have been re-seeded and the second round of pool play is under way. Broward Baseball Academy 17u Gold took on 5 Star American Mizell 17u, and while it was close throughout most of the game, Broward ran away with the 11-3 win after scoring seven in the bottom of the fifth inning.
On the mound for Broward was
Jaden James
(2019 Plantation, Fla). James is a 5-foot-11, 185-pound righthander with an average frame on the mound. His mechanics in the delivery are sound though they can tighten up a bit. He has a quick arm action generating some whip from an over-the-top arm slot. He commands the fastball well and throws a good amount of strikes with the fastball that tops out at 80 mph. His stuff isn't that of some others in the class that really burn it in there, however, he's consistent on the mound and keeps the ball around the edges. He also throws both a curveball and a changeup with feel for both. The curveball has an 11-to-5 shape and the changeup shows sinking run around the zone. He was able to get swings and misses with both as well as weak contact.
Jared Campbell
(2019 Sunrise, Fla.) led off for Broward and patrolled center field as well. Campbell is a 5-foot-11, 165-pounder with a lot of athletic ability and some strength throughout. He's a solid outfielder and has the speed to stay in the middle. He can track the ball well and he takes command among his teammate. Campbell can also swing the bat and collected a couple of hits with three RBI for Broward. He uses his strong build well in his swing and his hands are strong at the point of contact. This allows him to maintain an all fields approach by being able to drive the ball wherever it's pitch. Campbell drove a fastball into right center field for a double that scored two, and earlier singled into left field.
Batting one spot behind Campbell was
Alex Romance
(2019 Davie, Fla.). Romance is a 6-foot, 170-pound infielder who really swings a hot bat. Romance is an aggressive hitter who looks to drive fastballs early in the count. He shows good feel for the barrel and can drive the ball especially to the middle of the field as well as to the pull side. He's got some hand quickness and added to his strong and semi-rotational lower half this allows him to get a good amount of bat speed through the zone. Romance collected a couple of hard barreled up balls in the game going 2-for-3 with a couple of singles.
In the three hole for Broward was
Jared Campbell
's brother,
Jordan Campbell
(2019 Sunrise, Fla.). Jared has a very similar strong and athletic build as that of his brother. Jordan, however, he has just a bit more size to him and he needs it as he is a primary catcher. Campbell moves very well behind the plate and has above average blocking skills. He receives with soft hands and comes out aggressively when throwing. He also swings a good stick as he went 2-for-3 with a couple of singles. Jordan gets a bit of leverage at contact with a naturally lifted path and a hard swing. He's able to get quite a bit of pop when squaring the ball up.
Batting a little farther down in the order and playing shortstop for Broward is 6-foot-1, 160-pound
Robert Pokorney
(2019 Margate, Fla.). Pokorney shows some real tools both with the bat as well as on the offensive side of the ball. His glove work is really strong and he fields with soft hands out front. He can make plays deep in the whole and has very good arm strength across the diamond. Pokorney drove in a run early in the game on deep sacrifice fly to center field that almost beat the defender who made the catch. He gets some real drive off the bat and looks to elevate the ball and can do so with ease. He would collect another RBI in the fifth on a line drive single into left field.
The starter for 5 Star had some tough luck on the mound as he gave up eight runs, however, only two of them would be earned.
Ashton Goodin
(2019 Ellaville, Ga.) is a 6-foot-6, 190-pound righthander who tossed four innings for Mizell and allowed five hits. Some shakey defense caused him to throw in a lot of pressure situations and he handled himself well. He starts his delivery with a simple side step into a very high leg kick and a lean back towards first. There's a lot of movement in his delivery and at times his arm will lag behind but when he cleaned it up he had a lot of command for his pitches. He got the fastball up to 84 mph while sitting at 80 to 81 mph. He mixed in a nice sinking changeup, as well as an 11-to-5 curveball, able to land both for strikes. Though his numbers don't look great he still showed some promise on the mound.
The leadoff guy for 5 Star was
Zach Fletcher
(2019 Thomasville, Ga.). Fletcher is a 5-foot-8 shortstop weighing 155-pounds. He's an athletic fielder with a strong arm across the diamond. He reads the ball well off the bat with a quick first step and always seems to be getting the ball on the best bounces. He utilizes a middle of the field approach at the plate with strong drive off the barrel. Fletcher went 1-for-3 in the game with an RBI single up the middle as well as a deep fly ball that he barreled up at the left fielder.
Behind Fletcher is center fielder
Dylan Anderson
(2019 LaGrange, Ga.). Anderson has a linear shift into contact with strong hands throughout the swing. This allows him to get some good jump off the barrel when working to the pull side. That being said, Anderson has a good ability to just put the ball in play. There doesn't seem to be a lot of swing-and-miss in his game and he can also hit the ball the other way with a bit of a sacrifice in drive off the barrel. Anderson had two hits in the game including a hard drive down the left field line for a double.
Team Elite 17u Prime continued their undefeated tournament with a 5-0 victory over Georgia Scorpions 17u. On the mound for the Scorpions was 6-foot-3, 175-pound lefty
Justin Doychak
(2019 Marietta, Ga.). Doychak suffered the loss in the game but he was able to hold a very good offense to just two earned runs in three innings of work. He's a long and lean lefthander who utilizes a simple side-step start to the delivery. He has a compact action in back and uses his length well in a high three-quarters arm slot. His height and long limbs combined with his slot allow him to get some good angle on his fastball down in the zone. It also shows some late run while topping out at 80 mph. He pounds the zone with command of the pitch though he can lose it at times with a couple of walks in an inning. He keeps hitters honest with a short cutting changeup.
Continuing to impress for Team Elite is rightfielder
Dylan Rogers
(2019 Spartanburg, S.C.). Rogers is a very athletic 6-foot-2, 195-pounds. He moves well in the outfield and shows a lot of range in the grass. He's shown off some exceptional arm strength that should play well at the position. He made an outstanding diving play down the line that if fair saved extra bases. Rogers also shows plus bat speed at the plate. His quick hands allow him to get around the baseball and the good contact he produces gets loud jump off the barrel.
On the mound for Team Elite was the No. 14-ranked player in the 2019 class in
Mack Anglin
(2019 Marengo, Ohio). Anglin is a very physical 6-foot-5, 185-pound righthanded pitcher who has an excellent presence on the mound. He starts his delivery with short side step and lands in line with good balance throughout. He drives off the back-side well and really gets down the mound. Paired with very good arm speed, he's able to get some hard running action on his fastball that topped out at 92 mph, sitting 89-91 consistently. His secondary pitch was a very nasty slider with a lot of sharp depth. Him mixing well and having very good command helped him on his way to zero hits with eight strikeouts. He would throw five innings and got 13 consecutive outs after a walk in the first inning.
East Cobb Astros 17u continued their dominance in the tournament as they remain undefeated with a victory over Brower Baseball. On the bump for the Astros was 5-foot-10, 185-pound lefthanded pitcher
Alex Munroe
(2019 Davenport, Fla.). Munroe has a bulky build on the mound and throws from a low three-quarters delivery with good arm speed in delivery. His fastball shows some short running action and he keeps it down around the knees of the batter topping out at 88 mph. His curveball has a tight spin and some bite to it with a sweeping 2-to-8 shape and he also commands a changeup with good cutting actions. He can hide the ball well and keep the hitters guessing in the box. Munroe tossed five innings and allowed a single run.
In relief for Munroe and throwing two innings while allowing one hit and a walk was righthanded pitcher
Wyatt Scotti
(2020 Marstons Mills, Mass.). Scotti has a wiry frame with some athleticism in delivery. He shows some good plane on the fastball when down in the zone from a three-quarters slot topping out at 87 mph. He pairs together a nice sweeping curveball and a changeup with sharp sink. He was able to get some good swing and miss with all his pitches.
Providing most of the offense for the Astros was 6-foot-2, 180-pound middle infielder
Jack O'Dowd
(2020 Boca Grande, Fla.). O'Dowd has some strong quickness in his hands and he is able to utilize that well throughout his swing. He has a slightly elevated swing path and generates leverage out in front of the plate, able to drive the ball well when barreled up. O'Dowd went 2-for-3 in the game with a double and an RBI single into left field. He's got a lot of line drive in his game with a good gap-to-gap approach.
It was a long day for 5 Star American Shouse 17u as they went throughout multiple weather delays before tying with the Dallas Tigers – Brugos, 3-3. 5 Star starter
Daniel Flacco
(2019 Ormond Beach, Fla.) battled through well as he was able to throw 5 1/3 innings of three-hit baseball throughout the delays. Flacco is a 6-foot, 185-pound righthander with an overhead delivery and high leg kick. He shows good balance throughout and repeats his mechanics very well. He throws from a compact three-quarters slot and generates some short and late run on the fastball topping out at 85 mph. His breaking ball has good 12-to-6 shape and he can throw it for quality strikes at the knees.
John Rego
provided most of the offense for 5 Star with a 2-for-3 day and driving in two runs. He has a smooth and fluid swing with a quiet and repeatable approach. He makes consistent solid contact and can hit the ball where it's pitched. Rego keeps the hands tucked throughout swing and has a middle-of-the-field to opposite-field approach. He was able to drive a ball into the opposite field for a two-run single.
– Taylor Weber
The second round of pool play games got underway today in Fort Myers and the action was outstanding from first pitch to last. Some favorites held their own, and a few teams continued to make their mark, as all of these highly competitive teams go head-to-head in fighting for a place in the playoffs.
SWFL Nation, the local Fort Myers traditional power, has had a strong early run in pool play.
Yariel Diaz
(2019, Lehigh Acres, Fla.) who plays his high school ball at neighboring Cypress Lake HS, is a barrel- chested slugger who mans the corner infield positions. The Florida Southwestern State College commit is a steady and dependable fielder with quick feet and a strong, accurate arm. At the dish, the big right-handed hitter shows pull-side pop and solid bat-to-ball ability.
Garrett Wilt
(2019, Lakeland, Fla.) is a baseball player. The rising senior at Lakeland Senior HS is listed a true utility player and displays the athleticism and the tools to play just about any position on the field. He has plus-plus speed that he aggressively uses in the field and on the bases. He has a compact swing that is short and quick and makes solid line-drive contact consistently.
SWFL Nation's gifted catcher is 6-foot-1, 195-pound,
Kalvin Alexander
(2019, Lakeland, Fla.). The senior-to-be at McKeel Academy is a confident and accomplished receiver. He has the frame and physical presence to make an impact at the next level. He has a veteran's knowledge in setting up hitters and in calling a game. His physical tools are readily visible. He sets up low and comfortably behind the plate and transitions well to throw the ball. His pop times were consistently in the 1.85 to 1.95 range and his 1.87 pop on an attempted steal early in the game, limited the aggressiveness of SWFL's opponent.
Hollywood, Florida-based Florida Pokers Carolina is a fundamentally skilled club that plays with poise and passion. Leading the way for the Pokers is their gifted shortstop,
Timmy Kudlinski
(2019, Stuart, Fla.). The 5-foot-11, 165-pound dynamo is a bundle of energy and a very capable top-of-the-order offensive threat for his club. The gritty Kudlinski, obviously thrives in pressure situations as his bases loaded, two-out knock broke open a very tight and well-played game against the Batter's Box Black in early morning play. His inside out swing path and patient approach lets Kudlinski sees pitches deep in the zone and drive the ball up the middle and to the opposite field. On defense, the rising senior at South Fork HS, is an instinctive and quick footed sure fielder who has a plus arm and the ability to throw from any platform.
The Poker's ran a crafty, strike-throwing machine out to the bump in their first game at Five Plex in morning play.
John Laudani
(2019, Winter Springs, Fla.) toed the rubber for the Pokers and gave his club six solid innings of work. A true baseball fan would have truly enjoyed watching this young hurler work. The rising senior at Oviedo HS was poised throughout and worked with a veteran's rhythm and pace.
Although he will never be given a fire-baller tag, his ability to pitch off of his plus change-up with a moving fastball and an effective 12-to-6 breaking curveball makes Laudani a tough guy to square up. His fastball, which is probably his third pitch, was never clocked above the mid-70s. He rarely threw his two-seamer close to the middle of the plate. His curveball was a looping pitch that disappeared at the plate. His change-up, however, is his best and most advanced pitch. It is clearly his go to. The change comes out of the same window as his fastball and just dies at the plate.
Rafael A. Diaz
(2019, Isabella, Puerto Rico) is a product of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy. The Talladega College commit is a talented centerfielder who has plus speed and great range in the outfield. He also has a playable arm that is very accurate. He is problematic for defenses when he comes to the plate. He has a veteran's keen awareness of how opponents are defensing him. He can (and did) bunt for a hit. He can slap line-drives by either corner infielder should they draw in and take away the bunt and he can drive the ball to either gap. On the bases, he is a heady, disruptive force who knows how to use his plus speed to energize his club.
Joey Jordan
(2019, Chipley, Fla.) is a steady left fielder who plays with a calm and poised demeanor of a veteran much his senior. Jordan will complete his high school career at Chipley HS next spring and certainly appears to have the necessary tools to play at the next level. At the plate, he shows the rare ability to recognize pitches early and to adjust his swing path accordingly. His patient approach and flat bat path allows him to drive the ball with authority to all parts of the field. Defensively, Jordan has the athleticism and arm strength to play any of the outfield positions.
Manning the first base position for the Pokers was
Joshua Keating
(2019, San Antonio, Texas). The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Texan is a gifted athlete who is the unquestioned leader of the Poker's infield and a constant positive verbal influence on all of his teammates. He wears his passion for the game on his sleeve. He can really swing the stick. The barrel-chested righthanded swinger can drive the ball with authority to all parts of the field. He incorporates a strong lower half into each pass and never gets cheated. The ball jumps off his bat. Defensively, Keating shows advanced skills around first base. He has sure and quick feet and the ability to help his infield mates when their throws are a little off.
The Scorpions Baseball Club is a tradition-rich organization that has long been a force in Perfect Game tournaments. The Winter Park, FL based Scorpions 17u Select club joins a long line of very talented teams making the annual trip to Fort Myers. Leading the Scorps Select club this summer is their very gifted catcher,
Jakob Runnels
(2019, Winter Haven, Fla.). The rising senior at Auburndale Senior HS has all the necessary tools to transition well to college ball. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Runnels is a solid backstop who has a confident and poised demeanor. He is an excellent receiver of the ball and transitions ably to throw. He has a quick trigger and his throws are true and firm. Runnels is also the Scorps three-hole hitter, which says a lot about his ability to swing the bat. He is a patient hitter who possesses plus pull-side pop and rarely misses pitches in the zone.
The Scorpions dynamic shortstop is 6-foot, 150-pound
Guillermo Garcia
(2019, Royal Palm Beach, Fla.). The energetic middle infielder will play his final prep season next spring at Palm Beach Central HS. Garcia can flash the leather, making all the plays and is especially good going to his glove side. His strong arm and obvious athleticism allows Garcia to use various arm angles to get his throws off. Offensively, the patient and heady righthanded hitter works counts and sees a lot of pitches. He has a short compact stroke and a middle-of-the-field swing path. He is a plus, instinctive runner who readily takes the extra base.
Brenham, Texas is the home of the Batter's Box – Black Club. The organization is making its second consecutive appearance in Fort Myers and once again brought a number of gifted players to Southwest Florida.
Kirk Macik
(2019, Caldwell, Texas) is two-sport standout at Snook HS in central Texas as the 6-foot-2, 190-pound corner infielder is also his high school's starting quarterback. Macik is an impressively built athlete who shows quiet and confident movements on the baseball diamond. He has outstanding raw power and his approach at the plate allows the broad-shouldered Macik to consistently drive the baseball to both gaps with authority. Around first base, he can make all the plays. He shows outstanding footwork, which one would expect from a Texas HS quarterback. He also has an exceptionally strong arm that is highly accurate.
Macik's mate on the right side of the Batter's Box defense is
Cash Callahan
2019, Burton, Texas). At 6-foot, and 175-pounds, Callahan is a rock-solid second sacker who unquestionably has the skill-set to play both middle infield positions. He has soft hands and a strong and accurate arm and can make plays going in either direction. On offense, he can hit line drives with authority. The ball jumps off his bat. He has noticeable strength in his forearms and shoulders and his quick and aggressive swing path allows him to generate plus bat speed with each pass.
Florida Burn UHit is a gifted club from the Sarasota, FL area. Two players stood out for this fundamentally sound team.
Parker Opie
(2019, Clearwater, Fla.) is a strong and steady corner infielder who has a smooth approach to defense and a strong and sure arm. He is especially good moving to his glove side. Opie, a 6-foot, 185-pound, solidly built athlete, is especially impressive with a bat in his hands. He never gets cheated and is in attack mode when he steps into the box. He has a slugger's lift at contact and certainly showed the strength to hit the all out of the park.
Garrett Gould
2019, Dover, Fla.) is a rising senior at Plant City HS in central Florida. The righthanded hitter is a table-setter for the Burn UHit and shows a patient approach and excellent barrel-to-ball skills. Gould is an aggressive, yet knowledgeable base runner who can and will take the extra base.
A club that has turned heads and created quite a buzz this week is the Boardman, Ohio-based Ohio Glaciers. There are a number of standouts on the Glaciers, who are undefeated at this juncture in the tournament.
Brian Shevitz
(2019, Mercer, Pa.) is a corner infielder for the NE Ohio club. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound dynamo is the energetic catalyst for his ball club. He can make all the plays and shows the athleticism and baseball acumen to play anywhere on the field. He really stands out with a bat in his hands. He uses a patient approach and a middle-of-the-field mentality to drive the ball, with authority, from gap to gap.
The Glaciers very gifted shortstop is
Braden O'Shaugnessy
(2019, Poland, Ohio). The 6-foot-2, 185-pound rising senior at Poland Seminary HS is a smooth-fielding, strong-armed and steady middle infielder who never appears rattled or rushed. He truly can make all the plays and throws. Offensively, he is a middle-of-the-order slugger who makes consistent contact and uses the entire field to drive pitches with authority.
Cam Whalen
(2019, Hermitage, Pa.) holds down the catching spot for the Glaciers. Whalen will play his senior season next spring at Hickory HS. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound steady and even-keeled receiver is a great field general for his club. He calls a very mature game and controls the tempo and pace of play for his staff. He has a true veteran's presence. He has advanced movements behind the plate and has a quick throwing motion and a strong arm that is highly accurate.
Toeing the rubber for the Glaciers in their first game during early pool play was
Travis Harvey
, (2019, Boardman, Ohio). The 5-foot-9, 160-pond righty showed an impressive three-pitch mix that he pounded the zone with for six solid innings. His riding four-seamer was consistently clocked at between 84-86 mph. He complemented his well-commanded heater with a sharp-breaking 12-to-6 curveball (68-71 mph) and a change that was steady at 75 mph. All of his pitches were thrown out of the same window, which added to his deception.
Closing out afternoon play at The City of Palms Stadium was one of the tournament's top clubs, the Florida Burn-Platinum. Starting on the mound for the Burn was TCU commit,
Nolan Hudi
(2019, Safety Harbor, Fla.). The 6-foot, 172-pound lefty was solid for five-plus innings and showed why he is bound for the Big 12 powerhouse in Fort Worth. The senior-to-be at Calvary Christian HS featured his outstanding curveball as his out-pitch. The sharp, 12-to-6 late breaker, was thrown to both sides of the plate at 75-76 mph. He also shows a heavy fastball at 86-87 mph that has plus arm-side sink and run. His changeup is also a promising pitch that sat at 74 mph and shows depth at the dish.
Cameron Wademan
(2019, Fort Myers, Fla.) is a local product who plays his high school ball at Fort Myers HS. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Wademan is a rock-steady center fielder who is a ballhawk in the middle for the Burn. There aren't too many balls that he cann't corral. He also shows a great awareness for positioning which allows him to utilize his plus arm to its fullest. Offensively, he shows consistent bat-to-ball ability and his middle-of-the-field path allows him to regularly drive the ball to each gap.
The true standout for the Burn in their afternoon contest was United States Military Academy appointee,
Kevin Dubrule
(2019, Venice, Fla.). Before Dubrule leaves for West Point he will play his final prep season at Venice Senior HS. This gifted middle infielder can make all the plays going in either direction and has the arm strength to play on either side of the diamond. His enthusiasm and playing style is infectious as he brings an energy to his club that is matched by few. He truly stands out with a bat in his hands. He is a patient hitter who sees a bunch of pitches and never unnecessarily expands the zone. Debrule uses an inside-out path to hit consistently solid line drives up the middle and to the off field.
– Jerry Miller
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Final 17u Travel Team Rankings
After winning both the 17u WWBA National Championship and the 17u PG World Series, Canes National finishes the 2019 season as Perfect Game's No. 1 team at the 17u age division.
Power Surge Earned Stamps MVPs
Ethan Stamps slugged his way through an impressive summer of Perfect Game events, earning three MVPs and nine All-Tournament selections thanks to a powerful stroke at the plate.
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About U.S.-Cuba Relations
The relationship between the United States and Cuba for the last 40 years has been marked by tension and confrontations. The United States recognized the new Cuban government, headed by Fidel Castro, on January 7, 1959. However, bilateral relations deteriorated rapidly as the regime expropriated U.S. properties and moved towards adoption of a one-party Marxist-Leninist system. As a result, the United States established an embargo on Cuba in October 1960 and broke diplomatic relations the following January. Tensions between the two governments peaked during the April 1961 "Bay of Pigs" invasion and the October 1962 missile crisis.
Cuba established close ties with the Soviet Union and served as a Soviet surrogate in Africa and several countries in Latin America, which fueled cold war tensions and kept the bilateral relationship distant during the 1960s. In the 1970s, during the Nixon administration, the United States and Cuba began to explore normalizing relations, but the talks were suspended in 1975 when Cuba launched a large-scale intervention in Angola. The United States and Cuba did established interests sections in their respective capitals in September 1977 to facilitate consular relations and provide a venue for dialogue, and both currently operate under the protection of the Embassy of Switzerland. Cuban international entanglements in the 1970s, such as deploying troops to Ethiopia and allowing Soviet forces on the island, continued to strain bilateral relations.
In the 1980s the focus of friction in U.S.-Cuban relations shifted to include immigration, as well as Cuba's international engagements, when a migration crisis unfolded. In April 1980 an estimated ten thousand Cubans stormed the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum. Eventually, the Cuban government allowed 125,000 Cubans to illegally depart for the United States from the port of Mariel, an incident known as the "Mariel boatlift." A number of criminals and mentally ill persons were involuntarily included. Quiet efforts to explore the prospects for improving relations were initiated in 1981-82 under the Reagan administration, but ceased as Cuba continued to intervene in Latin America. In 1983, the United States and regional allies forced the withdrawal of the Cuban presence in Grenada.
In 1984, the United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement to resume normal immigration, interrupted in the wake of the 1980 Mariel boatlift, and to return to Cuba those persons who had arrived during the boatlift who were "excludable" under U.S. law. Cuba suspended this agreement in May 1985 following the U.S. initiation of Radio Marti broadcasts to the island, but it was reinstated in November 1987. In March 1990, TV Marti transmissions began to Cuba.
The 1990s witnessed another migration crisis that set back U.S.-Cuban relations. When demonstrations fueled by food shortages and prolonged unannounced blackouts erupted in Havana in August 1994, the Cuban Government responded by allowing some 30,000 Cubans to set sail for the United States, many in unsafe boats and rafts, which resulted in a number of deaths at sea. The two countries in September 1994 and May 1995 signed migration accords with the goal of cooperating to ensure safe, legal, and orderly migration.
On February 24, 1996, further worsening relations, the Cuban military shot down two U.S. registered civil aircraft in international airspace, killing three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident. The unlawful and unwarranted attack on two unarmed U.S. civilian aircrafts resulted in the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario M. de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. Immediately after this brutal act, and in response to this violation of international aviation law, Congress and former President Clinton passed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the Libertad Act. The legislation, among other provisions, codified the U.S. trade embargo into law and imposed additional sanctions on the Cuban regime.
Present U.S. Policy
The fundamental goal of United States policy toward Cuba is to promote a peaceful transition to a stable, democratic form of government and respect for human rights. Our policy has two fundamental components: maintaining pressure on the Cuban Government for change through the embargo and the Libertad Act while providing humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, and working to aid the development of civil society in the country.
Support for the Cuban people is the central theme of our policy. New measures will increase this support without strengthening the government. These measures (broadening remittances, expanding people-to-people contacts, increasing direct flights, authorizing food sales to independent entities, and establishing direct mail service) respond to Pope John Paul II's call to open up to Cuba.
U.S. policy also pursues a multilateral effort to press for democratic change by urging our friends and allies to actively promote a democratic transition and respect for human rights. The U.S Government opposes consideration of Cuba's return to the OAS or inclusion in the Summit of the America's process until there is a democratic Cuban government. The U.S. has repeatedly made clear however that it is prepared to respond reciprocally if the Cuban government initiates fundamental, systematic democratic change and respect for human rights.
In another area of concern, the U.S. Government monitors the possible use by narcotraffickers of Cuban airspace and territorial waters for the transshipment of drugs from South America to the United States. Additionally, Cuba continues to provide safe haven to fugitives from the U.S. justice system.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
About Human Rights in Cuba
The Castro regime has frequently been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extra-judicial executions. Many argue that several thousand unjustified deaths have occurred under Castro's decades-long rule.
Groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also criticize the censorship, the lack of press freedom in Cuba, the lack of civil rights, the outlawing of political opposition groups and unions, and the lack of free and democratic elections.
Justifying his actions, Castro sees this as an appropriate response to his claims that the United States is continuing to engage in covert activities against Cuba using spies and mercenaries, and claims that many human rights activists are in fact agents of the United States. Declassified documents now evidence that the US has used such tactics in the past, including counterfeiting Cuban currency, covert military actions, diversions and sabotage.
Opposition to Castro's regime is thus frequently portrayed as illegitimate, and the result of an ongoing conspiracy fostered solely by Cubans with ties to the United States or the CIA. Many Castro supporters thus feel that Castro's often harsh measures are justified to prevent the United States from installing a foreign or puppet leader, which is assumed to be Washington's ultimate goal. Castro's opposition, though, maintains that he uses the United States as an excuse to justify his continuing political control.
The United States government maintains the continuing US foreign policy goal in regards to Cuba is to bring democracy to the nation. The Cuban-immigrant population of the US state of Florida, which holds considerable political clout in US electoral politics, has significant influence in US relations with Cuba.
Supporters also contend that Cuba's human rights record is by far better than that of many other countries in the Caribbean or Latin America, particularly those that were ruled by U.S.-backed military regimes, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s. In particular, they argue the human rights record and quality of life in Cuba is better than under his predecessor, Fulgencio Batista.
Source: wikipedia.org
About Cuba
Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Cuba on October 28, 1492, during his initial westward voyage. In honor of the daughter of Ferdinand V and Isabella I of Spain, his benefactors, Columbus named it Juana, the first of several names he successively applied to the island. It eventually became known as Cuba, from its aboriginal name, Cubanascnan.
Colonization by Spain
When Columbus first landed on Cuba it was inhabited by the Ciboney, a friendly tribe related to the Arawak. Colonization of the island began in 1511, when the Spanish soldier Diego Velázquez established the town of Baracoa. Velázquez subsequently founded several other settlements, including Santiago de Cuba in 1514 and Havana in 1515. The Spanish transformed Cuba into a supply base for their expeditions to Mexico and Florida. As a result of savage treatment and exploitation, the aborigines became, by the middle of the 16th century, nearly extinct, forcing the colonists to depend on imported black slaves for the operation of the mines and plantations.
Despite frequent raids by buccaneers and naval units of rival and enemy powers, the island prospered throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Restrictions imposed by the Spanish authorities on commercial activities were generally disregarded by the colonists, who resorted to illicit trade with privateers and neighboring colonies. Following the conclusion of the Seven Years' War in 1763, during which the English captured Havana, the Spanish government liberalized its Cuban policy, encouraging colonization, expansion of commerce, and development of agriculture. Between 1774 and 1817 the population increased from about 161,000 to more than 550,000. The remaining restrictions on trade were officially eliminated in 1818, further promoting material and cultural advancement.
During the 1830s, however, Spanish rule became increasingly repressive, provoking a widespread movement among the colonists for independence. This movement attained particular momentum between 1834 and 1838, during the despotic governorship of the captain general Miguel de Tacón. Revolts and conspiracies against the Spanish regime dominated Cuban political life throughout the remainder of the century. In 1844 an uprising of black slaves was brutally suppressed. A movement during the years 1848 to 1851 for annexation of the island to the United States ended with the capture and execution of its leader, the Spanish-American general Narciso López. Offers by the U.S. government to purchase the island were repeatedly rejected by Spain. In 1868 revolutionaries under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaimed Cuban independence. The ensuing Ten Years' War, a costly struggle to both Spain and Cuba, was terminated in 1878 by a truce granting many important concessions to the Cubans.
In 1886 slavery was abolished. Importation of cheap labor from China was ended by 1871. In 1893 the equal civil status of blacks and whites was proclaimed.
Although certain reforms were inaugurated after the successful revolt, the Spanish government continued to oppress the populace. On February 23, 1895, mounting discontent culminated in a resumption of the Cuban revolution, under the leadership of the writer and patriot José Martí and General Máximo Gómez y Báez.
The U.S. government intervened on behalf of the revolutionists in April 1898, precipitating the Spanish-American War. Intervention was spurred by the sinking of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana of February 15, 1898, for which Spain was blamed. By the terms of the treaty signed December 10, 1898, terminating the conflict, Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba. An American military government ruled the island until May 20, 1902, when the Cuban republic was formally instituted, under the presidency of the former postmaster general Tomás Estrada Palma. The Cuban constitution, adopted in 1901, incorporated the provisions of the Platt Amendment, U.S. legislation that established conditions for American intervention in Cuba.
Certain improvements, notably the eradication of yellow fever, had been accomplished in Cuba during the U.S. occupation. Simultaneously, U.S. corporate interests invested heavily in the Cuban economy, acquiring control of many of its resources, especially the sugar-growing industry. Popular dissatisfaction with this state of affairs was aggravated by recurring instances of fraud and corruption in Cuban politics. The first of several serious insurrections against conservative control of the republic occurred in August 1906. In the next month the U.S. government dispatched troops to the island, which remained under U.S. control until 1909. Another uprising took place in 1912 in Oriente Province, resulting again in U.S. intervention. With the election of Mario García Menocal to the presidency later in the same year, the Conservative Party returned to power. On April 7, 1917, Cuba entered World War I on the side of the Allies.
Growing Instability
Mounting economic difficulties, caused by complete U.S. domination of Cuban finance, agriculture, and industry, marked the period following World War I. In an atmosphere of crisis, the Liberal Party leader, Gerardo Machado y Morales, campaigned on a reform platform and was elected president in November 1924. Economic conditions deteriorated rapidly during his administration, the chief accomplishment of which, an ambitious public-works program, was achieved by floating huge loans abroad. Before the end of his second term, he succeeded in acquiring dictatorial control of the government. All opposition was brutally suppressed during his administration, which lasted until a general uprising in August 1933, supported by the Cuban army, forced him into exile. A protracted period of violence and unrest followed Machado's overthrow, with frequent changes of government. During this period the United States instituted various measures, including abrogation of the Platt Amendment, in an effort to quiet popular unrest on the island. A degree of stability was accomplished following the impeachment in 1936 of President Miguel Mariano Gómez by the senate, which was controlled by Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar. With the support of Batista, the head of the Cuban army and unofficial dictator of Cuba, the new president, the former political leader and soldier Federico Laredo Brú, put into operation a program of social and economic reform. Batista won the presidential contest of 1940, defeating Ramón Grau San Martin, the opposition candidate. The promulgation in 1940 of a new constitution contributed further to the lessening of political tension.
In December 1941 the Cuban government declared war on Germany, Japan, and Italy; consequently it became a charter member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The presidential election of 1944 resulted in victory for Grau San Martin, the candidate of a broad coalition of parties. The first year of his administration was one of recurring crises caused by various factors, including widespread food shortages, but he regained popularity the following year by obtaining an agreement with the U.S. government for an increase in the price of sugar. In 1948 Cuba joined the Organization of American States (OAS).
Fluctuations in world sugar prices and a continuing inflationary spiral kept the political situation unstable in the postwar era. Carlos Prio Socarrás, a member of the Auténtico Party and a cabinet minister under Grau San Martin, was elected president in June 1948. Shortly after his inauguration a 10 percent reduction in retail prices was decreed in an attempt to offset inflation. Living costs continued to rise, however, leading to unrest and political violence.
The Batista Regime
In March 1952 former president Batista, supported by the army, seized power. Batista suspended the constitution, dissolved the congress, and instituted a provisional government, promising elections the following year. After crushing an uprising in Oriente Province led by a young lawyer named Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953, the regime seemed secure, and when the political situation had been calmed, the Batista government announced that elections would be held in the fall of 1954. Batista's opponent, Grau San Martin, withdrew from the campaign just before the election, charging that his supporters had been terrorized. Batista was thus reelected without opposition, and on his inauguration February 24, 1955, he restored constitutional rule and granted amnesty to political prisoners, including Castro. The latter chose exile in the United States and later in Mexico.
In the mid-1950s the Batista government insituted an economic development program that, together with a stabilization of the world sugar price, improved the economic and political outlook in Cuba. On December 2, 1956, however, Castro, with some 80 insurgents, invaded. The force was crushed by the army, but Castro escaped into the mountains, where he organized the 26th of July Movement, so called to commemorate the 1953 uprising. For the next year Castro's forces, using guerrilla tactics, opposed the Batista government and won considerable popular support. On March 17, 1958, Castro called for a general revolt. His forces made steady gains through the remainder of the year, and on January 1, 1959, Batista resigned and fled the country. A provisional government was established. Castro, although he initially renounced office, became premier in mid-February. In the early weeks of the regime military tribunals tried many former Batista associates, and some 550 were executed.
Cuba Under Castro
The Castro regime soon exhibited a leftist tendency that worried U.S. interest in the island. The agrarian reform laws promulgated in its first years mainly affected U.S. sugar interests; the operation of plantations by companies controlled by non-Cuban stockholders was prohibited, and the Castro regime initially de-emphasized sugar production in favor of food crops.
Break with the United States
When the Castro government expropriated an estimated $1 billion in U.S.-owned properties in 1960, Washington responded by imposing a trade embargo. A complete break in diplomatic relations occurred in January 1961, and on April 17 of that year U.S.-supported and -trained anti-Castro exiles landed an invasion force in the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. Ninety of the invaders were killed, and some 1200 were captured (see Bay of Pigs Invasion). The captives were ransomed, with the tacit aid of the U.S. government, in 1962, at a cost of about $53 million in food and medicines.
American-Cuban relations grew still more perilous in the fall of 1962, when the United States discovered Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. U.S. President John F. Kennedy then announced a naval blockade of the island to prevent further Soviet shipments of arms from reaching it. After several days of negotiations during which nuclear war was feared by many to be a possibility, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed, on October 28, to dismantle and remove the weapons, and this was subsequently accomplished. For the rest of the 1960s U.S.-Cuban relations remained hostile, although, through the cooperation of the Swiss embassy in Cuba, the U.S. and Cuban governments in 1965 agreed to permit Cuban nationals who desired to leave the island to emigrate to the United States. More than 260,000 people left before the airlift was officially terminated in April 1973.
Despite several efforts by Cuba in the United Nations to oust the United States from its naval base at Guantánamo Bay, leased in 1903, the base continues to be garrisoned by U.S. Marines.
Period of Isolation
Many of Castro's policies alienated Cuba from the rest of Latin America. The country was expelled from the OAS in 1962, and through most of the 1960s it was persistently accused of attempting to foment rebellions in Venezuela, Guatemala, and Bolivia. In fact, Che Guevara, a key Castro aide, was captured and summarily executed while leading a guerrilla group in Bolivia in 1967. Meanwhile, Cuba continued to depend heavily on economic aid from the Soviet Union and Soviet-bloc countries. In 1972 it signed several pacts with the USSR covering financial aid, trade, and deferment of Cuban debt payments, and also became a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).
The first congress of the Cuban Communist Party was held in late 1975. The following year a new national constitution was adopted. Among other provisions, it increased the number of provinces from 6 to 14 and created an indirectly elected National Assembly. The assembly held its first session in December 1976 and chose Castro as head of state and of government.
International Role
In the mid-1970s Cuba emerged from diplomatic isolation. At a meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in July 1975, the OAS passed a "freedom of action" resolution that in effect lifted the trade embargo and other sanctions imposed by the organization against Cuba in 1964. Relations with the United States also began to improve; U.S. travel restrictions were lifted, and in September 1977 the two nations opened offices in each other's capitals. The United States, however, warned Cuba that relations could not be normalized until U.S. claims for nationalized property had been settled and Cuba reduced or terminated its activites in Africa.
Cuban presence in Africa had begun inconspicuously in the mid-1960s, when Castro provided personal guards to such figures as President Alphonse Massamba-Débat of the Congo. It was not until 1975, however, that Cuban combat forces were actively engaged on the continent, fighting for the Marxist faction in Angola. Cuban troops later shored up the Marxist regime in Ethiopia, providing the winning edge in its war with Somalia over the Ogaden region. By 1980 Cuban activities had expanded into the Middle East (Southern Yemen). In both regions the Cuban presence was generally seen by the West as the spearhead of a growing Soviet thrust. In return, the Cuban economy continued to be supplemented by some $3 million in daily Soviet aid. Despite its relationship with the USSR, Cuba in 1979 played host to a meeting of the so-called nonaligned nations, at which Castro was chosen the group's leader for the following three years.
In 1980, when Castro temporarily lifted exit restrictions, some 125,000 refugees fled to the United States before the outflow was again halted. The U.S. government accused Cuba of aiding leftist rebels in El Salvador; another sore point in U.S.-Cuban relations was the aid given by Cuban advisers to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Several hundred Cuban construction workers and military personnel were forced to leave Grenada as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of that island in October 1983. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Havana in April 1989, when the USSR and Cuba signed a 25-year friendship treaty, but Castro explicitly rejected the applicability of Soviet-style political and economic reforms to his country. In July four army officers were executed and ten others sentenced to prison for smuggling and drug trafficking, in the worst scandal since Castro came to power.
With the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, Soviet-bloc aid and trade subsidies to Cuba were ended, and Soviet military forces were gradually withdrawn. After the United States tightened its sanctions against trade with Cuba, the UN General Assembly in November 1992 approved a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo. By 1993 all of the Soviet troops sent to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis had been withdrawn. Cuba's sugarcane production dropped to a 30-year low in 1993 and worsened in 1994, precipitating an economic emergency. As the effects of this poor yield filtered down through the population, greater numbers of Cubans attempted to flee the country for economic reasons. One such group hijacked a ferry and and attempted to escape, only to be challenged and sunk by the Cuban Coast Guard. The sinking sparked violent antigovernment demonstrations, to which Castro responded by removing exit restrictions from those who wished to leave for the United States. Already facing an influx of refugees from Haiti, the United States countered by ending automatic asylum to fleeing Cubans because the United States considered that they were fleeing economic rather than political conditions. More than 30,000 people were picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard and taken to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base or to refugee camps in Panama. The crisis came to an end when the United States agreed to issue 20,000 entry visas each year to Cubans wishing to enter the country.
In February 1996 Cuban authorities arrested or detained at least 150 dissidents, marking the most widespread crackdown on opposition groups in the country since the early 1960s. Many were members of the Concilio Cubano, a fledgling coalition of more than 100 organizations dedicated to political reform.
Later that month, Cuban jet fighters shot down two civilian planes that Cuba claimed had violated Cuban airspace. The planes belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a U.S.-based group headed by Cuban exiles dedicated to helping Cuban refugees. The group used small planes to spot refugees fleeing the island nation and then reported their positions to the U.S. Coast Guard. The United States condemned the shootings as a flagrant violation of international law; the United Nations also criticized the downing of the planes. Cuba said that planes from the same group had previously flown into Cuban airspace and dropped antigovernment leaflets, but Cuba's repeated diplomatic complaints to the United States about the incidents had gone unheeded. Castro said he did not directly order the shootings, but acknowledged that in the weeks prior to the incident he had given the Cuban Air Force the authorization to shoot down civilian planes violating Cuba's airspace.
As a result of this incident, U.S. President Bill Clinton abandoned his previous resistance to stricter sanctions against Cuba and in March 1996 signed into law the Helms-Burton Act. The legislation aimed to tighten the U.S. embargo by making it more difficult for foreign investors and businesses to operate in Cuba. It made permanent the economic embargo, which previously had to be renewed each year, and threatened foreign companies with lawsuits if they were deemed to be "deriving benefit" from property worth more than $50,000 that had been confiscated from U.S. citizens during the Cuban revolution. Canada, Mexico, and the European Union complained about the U.S. law, claiming that the United States was trying to export its laws and principles to other countries.
Later that month, the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party held a rare full session and endorsed a harder stance against dissidents, as well as against Cuban businesses that had been allowed to engage in free-market joint ventures with foreign companies. The committee had met only five times since Communists took over the Cuban government in 1959. Cuban officials said that dissidents, self-employed workers, and Cuban intellectuals were being manipulated by Cuba's foreign enemies to undermine the authority of the Communist Party. Castro vowed to step up the government's efforts to silence opposition groups and enforce compliance with the party's economic and ideological beliefs.
Source: www.emayzine.com
About Fidel Castro
Dr. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, commonly known as Fidel Castro, (born August 13, 1926) has ruled Cuba since 1959, when he overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista and turned his country into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. He held the title of premier until 1976, when he became president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. He has been the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since its inception in 1965. His brother Raúl, is the number two official in the country. As of October, 2004, Fidel Castro stated that Raúl would assume authority over Cuba should he become ill.
Early life and rise to power
Born in Birán, near Mayarí, in the modern-day province of Holguín (then a part of the now-defunct Oriente province), Fidel spent his early years with his wealthy farming family. The son of Ángel Castro y Argiz, an immigrant from Galicia, Spain, and his cook Lina Ruz González, Castro was educated at Jesuit schools, including the preparatory school Colegio Belén in Havana. In 1945, he went to the University of Havana to study law, from where he graduated in 1950.
Castro practiced law in a small partnership between 1950 and 1952. He intended to stand for parliament in 1952 for the "Orthodox Party" but a coup d'état led by General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government of Carlos Prío Socarrás, after which the elections were cancelled. Castro charged Batista with violating the constitution in court, but his petition was refused. In response, Castro organized a disastrous armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in Oriente province on July 26, 1953. Over eighty of the attackers were killed, and Castro was taken prisoner, tried, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. (Castro used the closing arguments in the case to deliver "History Will Absolve Me", a passionate speech defending his actions and explaining his political views.) He was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 and went into exile in Mexico and the United States.
He returned to Cuba with a number of other exiles, clandestinely sailing from Mexico to Cuba on the 60-ft pleasure yacht Granma. They were called the 26th of July Movement. At this point, Castro described himself and his movement as believing in "Jeffersonian philosophy" and adhering to the "Lincoln formula" of cooperation between capital and labor. As late as 1959, Castro told U.S. News and World Report that he had "no intention of nationalizing any industries." Many people (both critics and supporters of Castro) contend that the revolution never had anything to do with Jeffersonian philosophy, and that Castro was concealing his true aims.
The 26th of July Movement's first action was in Oriente province on December 2, 1956. Only twelve of the original eighty men survived to retreat into the Sierra Maestra Mountains and from there wage a guerrilla war against the Batista government. The survivors included Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Castro's movement gained popular support and grew to over 800 men. On May 24, 1958, Batista launched seventeen battalions against Castro in Operación Verano. Despite being outnumbered, Castro's forces scored a series of stunning victories, aided by massive desertion and surrenders from Batista's army. On New Year's Day 1959 Batista and president-elect Carlos Rivero Aguero fled the country, and Castro's forces took Havana.
Castro is an atheist and has not been a practicing Catholic since his childhood. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Castro on January 3, 1962. This was consistent with a 1949 decree by Pope Pius XII forbidding Catholics from supporting communist governments. For Castro, who had previously renounced his Roman Catholicism, this was an event of very little consequence, nor was it expected to be. It was aimed at undermining support for Castro among Catholics; however, there is little evidence that it did.
His relations with Pope John Paul II have been somewhat better. In the early 1990s Castro agreed to loosen restrictions on religion and even permitted church going Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. In 1998, Castro hosted the pope on his visit to Cuba, the first by a ruling pontiff to the island. Pope John Paul II was extremely critical of both the Castro regime and the US embargo.
Criticisms of the United States
Castro remains a vocal critic of United States policies, speaking against the continuing economic embargo and U.S. attempts to topple his government. He has also condemned what he sees as exploitation of developing countries by U.S. corporations and even the state of public health care in the United States. Recently, he has harshly condemned the migration policies of the United States, which severely limit travel of Cuban-Americans to their families in Cuba. Castro also opposes the policies of developed world vis-à-vis the developing countries, including growing costs of servicing foreign debt.
The accusations against the United States are many.
Castro claims that, during the Cold War, the United States engaged in a variety of covert, and often deadly attacks against Cuba in order to weaken the entire country as a way of weakening Castro's government. He points out the alleged infection of Cuban pigs by anti-Castro organisations supported by the CIA in 1971 with African swine fever, a disease of pigs not previously reported in the Americas. This started an epidemic which forced the Cubans to destroy half of all the pigs on the island in order to get it under control.
He also claims that, in 1981 the CIA started a Dengue fever epidemic that killed 158 people.2. Between 1956 and 1958 the US Army tested whether mosquitos of the type Aedes Aegypti – which are carriers of Dengue fever could be used as weapons of biological warfare. 3 During a trial in New York in 1984 a Cuban exile said that in the late 1980s a ship travelled to Cuba "with a mission to carry some germs to introduce them in Cuba to be used against the Soviets and against the Cuban economy … which later on produced results that were not what we had expected … and it was used against our own people, and with that we did not agree".
There may have been CIA efforts at sabotaging crops using pathogens. Fidel Castro has definitely been the target of several CIA-sponsored attempts at his life, but none have occurred since the early 1960's.
Economic policy
Castro consolidated control of the nation by nationalizing industry, expropriating property owned by Cubans and non-Cubans alike, collectivizing agriculture, and enacting policies which he claimed would benefit the population. Many Cubans fled the country, many to Miami, Florida, where activists established a large anti-Castro community. Because of the embargo imposed by the United States, Cuba then became increasingly dependent on Soviet and eastern block subsidies, worth up to one quarter of the island's gross domestic product, to finance improvements to Cuba's economic conditions. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 had severe repercussions on the Cuban economy.
The U.S. economic sanctions, which include a general travel ban for American tourists to Cuba, has been cited by Castro supporters as a major factor in Cuba's economic troubles. Supporters of the embargo reply that the United States is the only nation which has an embargo on Cuba, and that Cuba is still free to trade with all other nations. At the same time the United States attempts to forbid foreign subsidiaries of US companies from trading with Cuba, imposes sanctions on foreign companies that would benefit from properties which the United States alleges were taken without compensation, and restricts its own trade with smaller nations that would trade with Cuba.
Cuba is the second most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic), providing it with much needed foreign currency. Cubans also receive large amounts of currency (with an estimated value of $850 million annually) from Cuban-Americans who send money back to their relatives or friends. Cuba also receives most of its energy needs in oil from Venezuela, partly in exchange for Cuban medical personnel, replacing the previous long supply lines from Eastern Europe over a decade after these subsidies were cut.
In recent years, Castro has invested in biotechnology to support the Cuban economy and to find substitutes for foreign imports of medical supplies. Cuban developments in this area have stirred concern and fears around the potential for biological weapons. Thus in 2002 one of the goals of a visit by former US President, Jimmy Carter, was to inspect Cuban genetic engineering sites. Since then, the Cuban economy has benefited from both the export of medical technology and from "health tourism".
On October 25, 2004, Castro announced that USD currency in Cuba would be banned in Cuban stores as of November 8, after which US dollars could be exchanged for pesos with a 10% commission. The dollar was legalized in Cuba in 1993 following the fall of the Soviet Union, which had deprived the country of its primary source of economic aid and resulted in a general decline of living standards. Castro announced that the tax on US dollars is a response to economic pressure from the US, which has instituted restrictions on the transfer of US dollars to Cuba. Other foreign currencies, such as Canadian dollars and euro, will not be taxed.
Castro's Health
Recently, rumors have grown about the state of Castro's health. In January 2004, Luis Eduardo Garzón, the mayor of Bogotá, said that Castro "seemed very sick to me" following a meeting with him during a vacation in Cuba. In May 2004, Castro's physician denied that his health was failing, and speculated that he would live to be 140 years old. Dr. Eugenio Selman Housein said that the "press is always speculating about something, that he had a heart attack once, that he had cancer, some neurological problem," but maintained that Castro was in good health.
On October 20, 2004, Castro fell off a stage following a speech he gave at a rally. The fall fractured his knee and arm. He underwent three hours of surgery to repair his kneecap.
Following his fall, Castro wrote a letter that was read on Cuban television and published in newspapers. In it, he assured the public that he was fine and would "not lose contact with you."
Asked if he wished Castro a speedy recovery, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher responded "No," and urged for a change in Cuban leadership.
Popular image
An apparent cult of personality around Castro has arisen despite his personal attempts to discourage it. In contrast to many of the world's modern strongmen, Castro has only twice been personally featured on a Cuban stamp. In 1974 he appeared on a stamp to commemorate the visit of Leonid Brezhnev, and in 1999 he appeared on a stamp commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Revolution. There has been a much stronger tendency to encourage reverence for Cuban independence hero José Martí and the "martyrs" of the Cuban revolution such as Camilo Cienfuegos. He rarely appears in public without his military fatigues. Castro himself is famous for his long and detailed speeches which often last several hours and contain lots of data and historical references.
On October 20, 2004, Castro fractured his knee and an arm when he tripped and fell at the end of a televised public speech in Santa Clara. A government statement added: "His general health is good, and spirits excellent." There has been speculation about his health since he apparently fainted during a lengthy speech in June, 2001.
Source: wikipedia.org


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