Student comments about Dr. Milton Jamail

“I attended the lecture on Friday about Cuban baseball. My husband is a big baseball fan and drags me to different games. I found it fascinating that to the Cuban people baseball is so much more than a sport. It is a way of defining themselves. The entire island is consumed by what used to be the ‘Great American Sport.’ Football now has that title in the U.S. I attended a Yankees’ game last month (arguably the most popular team around) and the stands weren't even quite full then. But in Cuba the stands are almost full for all of the games. Baseball is so important to them that boys are trained from young ages to become the next Cuban stars. The lecturer said that baseball is so important to the Cuban culture that fathers dream of having sons so they can play baseball. I was moved by this presentation because it humanized the Cuban people and made them more than a news story or the people ruled by Fidel Castro. There is more to Cuba than Castro.” – Melissa Dunson