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I’ve been interested in Cuban sports ever since I read S.L. Price’s “Pitching Around Fidel” a few years back. I got further into the country’s history when I got to write a bit about Livan Hernandez, one of the island’s most famous defectors.

But until I read today’s story in The Washington Post about a Cuban soccer player defecting, I never knew this about Cuban teams that play outside of the country:

After Thursday’s training session in Washington, the team returned to the hotel and the players reported to their rooms. The telephones had been removed by Cuban officials, a standard practice to discourage players from communicating with outsiders on foreign trips.

How must it feel to travel to the modern world and be insulated by your government from the 21st century? I can’t even imagine.

The White House is honoring Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi tonight, and the guest list reads like a cross between Fat Tony’s known associates and the nightly specials at Olive Garden. It seems like anyone with an Italian last name is invited tonight, and I mean anyone. Among those on the guest list: Washington Redskins general manager Vinny Cerrato. How else to explain how a guy who could’ve been fired months ago is getting a White House invite?

“Saturday Night Live” is getting good press recently for its parodies of the presidential and vice presidential candidates — okay, well, really just of Sarah Palin — and it got me thinking about the best “SNL” political sketches of all time. The 2000 debates have to be considered, but for my money, it doesn’t get much better than Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton stopping by a D.C. McDonald’s.

Enjoy:

So this story came across my laptop tonight:

Clint Malarchuk, the former NHL goalie best known for having his jugular vein slashed by a skate in a 1989 game with Buffalo, is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the chin with a rifle.

Wife Christy told sheriff’s deputies that the .22-caliber rifle discharged after her husband placed the butt on the ground between his legs. He had been shooting rabbits.

After reading that to my roommate, his first comment was not, “What an idiot!” or “He did what?” No, his first comment was: “A .22-caliber? That’s his first mistake. He should be using a shotgun to shoot rabbits.”

Mid-Missouri: where irony comes to die.

Maybe it’s just because I spent the summer pointing out the unusual and sometimes subliminal advertising during the Beijing Olympics, but when I saw this Getty Images photo on the front page of washingtonpost.com last night, I had only one question: did Kodak sponsor last night’s debate? Because I can’t remember seeing four people with non-digital cameras in the same place since…. well, probably the Clinton presidency. Kodak had at least some role in the first debate, but to whomever passed out those point-and-shoots last night in Nashville, well done.

Today’s “Pearls Before Swine” reminded me that somewhere in the world, someone is always claiming that a politician is plagiarizing something.

This article is a few days old, but it is a fascinating read on the history of the original Maverick family. A thought: Republicans criticized Barack Obama for mentioning a solider’s name during the first debate, saying the family did not want the soldier referenced (a claim the family denied). Will Obama say tonight that McCain is wrong to take the title of “Maverick” when the family does not approve of it?

Google continues to amaze me on a daily basis. This is just one more reason why it’s obvious that they’re thinking outside of the box.

I’ve been given a front row seat here in Columbia to Democratic politics, watching as the Obama campaign ramps up marketing in Boone County. (Full disclosure: my roommate is running the re-election campaign for this state senator.) I’ve watched as the Democrats canvassed Columbia, handing out yard signs and posters and signing up voters en masse. The McCain campaign, it should be noted, has no noticeable presence in town.

So it’s no surprise to me that political insiders are starting to think that Missouri could tip for Obama. One very strong reason to believe that this is the case: pollsters have not been including first time voters — a large majority of whom are black or youth voters, likely to vote for Obama — in their polls. Add in a potential windfall from the cell phone vote and two huge resources in St. Louis and Kansas City, and Missouri could well be a blue state this fall.

There’s a New York Times story out today about the subconscious and its relationship with the Speedo warm up jackets that Michael Phelps wore in Beijing. It made me think of this Times piece about non-athletes wearing Under Armour to create a facade of athleticism. It’s incredible what the mind can trick us into doing and/or spending.