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For A Moment, The First Lady Looked Kinda Annoyed At President Obama During The Tampa Bay Rays Vs. Cuba Game

By March 22, 2016 at 5:16 pm

Days after President Barack Obama landed in Havana for a historic visit, Major League Baseball returned to Cuba for the first time in 20 years. The Tampa Bay Rays arrived at the Estadio Latinoamericano to face off against the Cuban national team, and the stadium was packed. President Obama and Raúl Castro were both in attendance, along with several baseball legends. Here’s what went down:

Before the game began, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer made a new friend.

Credit: @MLB / Twitter

After a game of catch, Archer made his way over to President Obama…

Credit: @MLBGIFs / Twitter

Earlier this month, Archer asked Obama to join him for lunch in Cuba. Obama didn’t reply to his tweet, so Archer teased him about it before the game.

The Cuban national anthem rang out loudly at the Estadio Latinoamericano.

Credit: @hatzelvela / Twitter

As did the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Credit: @markknoller / Twitter

Cuban baseball legend Luis “El Tiante” Tiant threw out the first pitch along with two-time Olympic gold medal-winning pelotero Pedro Lazo.

Credit: @RedSox / Twitter

Lazo, who is still playing at 42 years old, is the one on the left. Tiant, who left Cuba in 1961, told Fox Sports it wasn’t easy to return to Cuba. But the 75-year-old former pitcher said he hopes the U.S. and Cuba can mend their relationship: “The world changes. We have to fix it.”

After a moment of silence for the victims of the terror attack in Brussels, Belgium, the game began.

Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

Obama later defended his decision to attend the game following the attacks: “The whole premise of terrorism is to disrupt people’s ordinary lives.”

Once fans heard the first crack of the bat, things became a bit more festive. Here’s everyone doing the wave:

Credit: @rgaut999 / Twitter

And, yes, both President Obama and Raúl Castro joined in.

Credit: @charliespiering / Twitter

When the Rays scored the first run of the game, Obama started a little trash talk.

But the Cuban team showed they’re also loaded with talent.

Credit: @MLBGIFs / Twitter

At one point, President Obama must have ticked off the First Lady, because we all know a “Hey, don’t be mad me” shoulder grab when we see one.

Credit: @JemeleHill / Vine

Seems like everything was OK, because Obama was all smiles when he met up with Derek Jeter.

Credit: @Yankees / Twitter

When it all ended, Tampa Bay was victorious, defeating the Cuban national team 4-1.

Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

After the game, Dayron Varona, a Cuban player who defected from Cuba in 2013, embraced old friends.

Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

Varona, who plays for a minor league team affiliated with the Rays, was not even thinking about making the trip to Cuba. But several Rays players, including Evan Longoria, Kevin Cash and Chris Archer, asked for Varona to be included on their roster. Varona told ESPN he was surprised by the gesture: “It’s amazing. Longoria, Archer, the manager and other players on the team, who I’ve only known for around 20 days, have supported me so that I can go back to my country.”

Just a few days earlier, Varona reunited with his family for the first time in three years.

Credit: @RaysBaseball / Twitter

Moments after the game, a protestor interrupted a live report from ESPN’s Bob Ley.

Credit: CorkGaines / ESPN / YouTube

A man in a white shirt jumped in front of the camera and threw up a handful of pamphlets in the air.

Cuban police quickly swarmed the man in the white shirt and another man, then threw them into a police car. Ley then remarked that the situation underscored “the entire political nature in which this game took place.”

Credit: @Lizzs_Lockeroom / ESPN / Twitter

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Family Of Man Who Died From Taco Eating Contest Sue Fresno Grizzlies Owner

Entertainment

Family Of Man Who Died From Taco Eating Contest Sue Fresno Grizzlies Owner

By April 13, 2021 at 9:52 am
BY  | April 13, 2021 AT 9:52 am

Dana Hutchings, 41, entered a taco eating contest during a Fresno Grizzlies game in 2019. He choked and died during the contest and now his son has filed a lawsuit against the baseball team.

The son of a man who died from a taco eating contest is suing for wrongful death.

Dana Hutchings, 41, died after choking during a taco eating contest during a Fresno Grizzlies game. His son has filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that the event organizers were not equipped to host the event. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the organizers failed to provide a medical response team.

“People say all the time he knew what he was getting into, well clearly he didn’t,” Martin Taleisnik, an attorney representing Hutchings’ son, Marshall told CBS17.

Marshall and his attorney are pushing back at the notion that Dana should have known better.

People have sounded off on social media criticizing the family for filing the lawsuit. Yet, the family and their attorney are calling attention to the lack of information given to contestants.

“If you don’t know all the pitfalls, how can you truly be consenting and participating freely and voluntarily? It’s a risk that resulted in a major loss to Marshall,” Taleisnik told CBS17.

Dana’s family is seeking a monetary settlement from the Fresno Grizzlies owners.

The wrongful death lawsuit names Fresno Sports and Events as the responsible party. The lawsuit also notes that alcohol was made available to contestants and added to the likelihood of the tragedy.

“We are devastated to learn that the fan that received medical attention following an event at Tuesday evening’s game has passed away. The Fresno Grizzlies extend our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the family of Mr. Hutchings,” a statement from the Fresno Grizzlies read after the death in 2019. “The safety and security of our fans is our highest priority. We will work closely with local authorities and provide any helpful information that is requested.”

READ: Kobe Bryant’s Wrongful Death Lawsuit Has Tragically Been Moved To Federal Court Despite Vanessa Bryant’s Pleas

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BaseballDeathFresnoLawsuitTacos

In Cuba, Where Food Is Unreliable, Savvy Cooks Have Turned to Facebook to Share Recipes

Culture

In Cuba, Where Food Is Unreliable, Savvy Cooks Have Turned to Facebook to Share Recipes

By April 7, 2021 at 11:49 pm
BY  | April 7, 2021 AT 11:49 pm
Photo via Getty Images

COVID-19 hasn’t been easy for Cubans. Not only have Cubans been physically affected by the virus like the rest of the world, but the drop in the island’s gross domestic product has stymied local economic productivity. The island can no longer look to tourism to add to their GDP.

Because of this drop in GDP, food shortages on the island have become more severe than in recent memory. And Cuban cooks are feeling the effects.

Cubans must stand in line for hours at markets with no guarantees that the ingredients that they want will be available.

This way of living is especially hard for Cuban cooks, like 39-year-old Yuliet Colón. For Colón, cooking is both a creative expression and a stress reliever. “The kitchen is my happy place, where I am calmer and I feel better,” she recently revealed to the Associated Press.

Yuliet Colón is one of the creators of a Facebook page called Recetas del Corazón that has changed the cooking game for thousands of Cubans.

Now, thanks to Colón and other curious and generous Cuban cooks like her, Recipes from the Heart is now 12,000 members strong.

The goal of the page is to help struggling Cuban cooks cope with food shortages. Members of the page share creative recipes, tips, and food substitutions. Launched in June of 2020, the page was an instant success. Its success proves that Cubans have been desperate to find ways to adapt their cooking to the post-COVID-era.

To AP News, Yuliet Colón laments about the lack of rice, beans, cheese, fruit, and, most of all, eggs. “What I like the most is making desserts, but now it’s hard to get eggs, milk or flour,” she revealed.

The brightside is, however, that Cuban cooks are finally able to share food-related tips and tricks with each other on a much larger scale than they were before the internet became more widespread in the country.

Now that many Cubans have access to communication apps like Facebook and WhatsApp, they can now connect with one another and make the most of what they have–however little that may be.

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COVID-19Cubacuban foodFood Shortages