I’ve never liked Cuba. I don’t really know why – I have no personal agenda against the country. Yes, they were almost a Cold War nuclear launching pad for their big sister Russia, but I’m over it. No hard feelings.

But still, there is something about the country that doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t put my finger on what it is. I just know it’s there.

But right now there is something more important than my petty feelings of unease. Right now, I’m Cuba’s biggest fan.

The U.S. government and the Cuban government are currently in the midst of a brouhaha over the latter’s participation in the World Baseball Classic.

The U.S. government doesn’t want Cuba to field a team, and many other nations are threatening to pull their support for the international competition if the Cubans are not allowed to play.

The Cubans are sticking to their guns (metaphorically speaking), and are not backing down from the United States.

And I couldn’t be happier. This could mean an end to the misguided idea of the World Baseball Classic before it even got off the ground.

Baseball officials from across the world got together and came up with the idea for the World Baseball Classic.

The tournament consists of 16 countries, all chock-full of Major League superstars.

Baseball fans should be in heaven – an almost month-long tournament that is nothing short of a continuous All-Star game. But it’s not. It’s the worst idea since officials decided to call the 2002 All-Star game in Milwaukee a tie after 11 innings.

There are several reasons the tournament should be scrapped.

First: There is almost no popular fan support for the tournament. Baseball fans don’t care, especially because the tournament will coincide with the end of the NCAA basketball season.

Second: Players won’t be in midseason form. This tournament will be the first time most of these players have played baseball since September. That’s going to lead to mistakes and poor performances on the field – not what I want to watch.

Third: The Netherlands has a team. I didn’t even know they had baseball in the Netherlands.

Fourth: The United States has a good chance of losing. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the team from the Dominican Republic. Try pitching to Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Alfonso Soriano, Miguel Tejada and Vladimir Guerrero and then hitting off of Pedro Martinez. Sadly, those aren’t the only stars on the roster.

And finally: What happens if someone gets hurt and misses the Major League Baseball regular season? As a Minnesota Twins fan, I will be paying attention to exactly four players in this tournament: Johan Santana, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan.

If any of them get hurt and are forced to miss even one Twins game, I will be beyond livid.

Ask me sometime what I did after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. That’s approaching the level of anger I will show if one of them get hurt.

And what about Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Derrek Lee or Alex Rodriguez? What if one of those players goes down with an injury? There goes the season for their teams.

This whole thing is a bad idea. Just writing about it has me all worked up.

Now where are those fine Cuban cigars I ordered?

– Grant Wall is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Fort Dodge.