I, too, rooted for the Cubans when the chance arose. I was enroute
from Portland, OR. to Burlington, VT. during the Cuba-US baseball
game and our flight was delayed in Chicago. So, I headed to the bar
and drank a beer while watching a couple innings of the game. Some
of my bar mates objected (quietly) to my exhortations in favor of the
Cuban team. We began talking about the defectors and I asked them if
they thought the Americans would be different and refuse the big
money if it Cuba and the US roles were reversed. They though for a
minute and said, no, the Americans would go to Cuba for the cash if
it were there instead of the other way around.
As for Ali, I always remember something I read back in the seventies
talking about how some peace corps folks went into some remote
village in Africa and there on the wall of the chief's grass hut was
a picture of Muhammad Ali. The man was amazingly popular and
inspiring. My military father hated the poster of him I had on my
wall from 1967 on as a kid. I believe his presence at the the
Olympics was not only in honor of a man who was wronged, but an honor
to a man who forfeited it all for his beliefs -- something sports
heroes don't do too often these days. Too bad it took so long....
Ron Jacobs <RJACOBS@thyme.uvm.edu> -