Cuba TV Broadcasts NBA Game
HAVANA TIMES — Cuban television on Monday night aired a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers – the first NBA game to be broadcast on the island in two decades, reported AFP.
The game, which was actually played this past Friday by the two Los Angeles teams, was a part of the NBA’s recently begun season and was shown as a pre-recorded broadcast on the sports program “Al duro y sin guante,” though without having been advertised and without color commentary.
According to the news note, prior to the London Olympics, a sports commentator had announced that the island would begin broadcasting games of the NBA and of Major League Baseball on Cuban television.
The Cuban government abolished professional sports in 1961, but in the early 1990s Cuban television began broadcasting NBA games, though these were later taken off the air. Professional Football (soccer) has been routinely shown in recent years on Cuban TV.
This is great news! What wonderful irony. On average, NBA players are the highest paid professional athletes. Moreover, the overwhelming majority are fantastic spenders. That the revolution has finally succumbed to public demand and decided to broadcast perhaps the most anti-revolution sport possible (okay, maybe golf takes that title) still speaks to the baby steps Cuba is taking to join the 21st century. I can´t wait for the day when Major League Baseball is broadcast and a Cuban player is named most valuble player and during his speech thanks his mom and dad for their support. (The inside joke here is that in Cuban, Cuban athletes are encouraged to publicly thank Fidel, Raul and the revolution).