Dominican Republic Sports & Education Academy

It took place in Santo Domingo and the carpet was green, not red, but the 4^th Annual Dominican Republic Global Film Festival was a spectacle Hollywood would have been proud of and I was fortunate to be able to participate.

As one of the people featured in the documentary BUSCON: Searcher, Swindler that was screened at the festival, I was not only a special invite, I also served on a panel discussion following a screening that included Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, former Dominican stars Sammy Sosa and Pedro Martinez, and home run king Barry Bonds, and was aimed at discussing problems and solutions in Dominican baseball.

Scene from BUSCÓN

BUSCON takes a look at Major League Baseball’s search for talent in Latin America, focusing on the practice in Nicaragua. The director, Anthony Alcade, a Nicaraguan himself, saw firsthand the exploitation of a relative who played baseball and decided to document the system.

I am featured in the first five minutes of the film, talking about how I believe buscones are a “necessary evil” in Latin American baseball.  These scouts scour countries for talented baseball players, often providing food, shelter and other resources to prospects as they attempt to interest Major League Baseball teams in signing them.  That is the necessary part, as teams need the buscones to discover and deliver talent.

The evil rests in the corrupt side of the business where buscones encourage prospects to lie about their age and identities in order to get more money from teams; encourage young players to take steroids to become bigger, faster and stronger; and often take up to 50 percent of a prospect’s signing bonus.

While set in Nicaragua, the scenes in BUSCON are replicated throughout Latin America, wherever baseball reigns as king and Major League Baseball looks for the next generation of players that it can develop cheaply.  And no place is the system more prevalent than in the Dominican Republic which is second only to the United States in providing major league players.

I saw the entire film for the first time at the film festival and had to remind myself that it was not shot in the Dominican Republic, as the faces of the young boys look like those here as they exhibit the same passion and drive to achieve the dream of playing in the big leagues, a dream only a miniscule percentage will achieve, but that dream merchants peddle nonetheless.

At the site of the first screening, I was interviewed by Dominican television and the glare of the camera lights had me anxious but excited.  Everyone associated with any of the films being screened was treated with celebrity status, something I am uncomfortable with.  The first screening was to a group of preteens who all turn in their seats to look at me after seeing me on the big screen.  I am surprised after the film when they line up to get my autograph, asking that I write something for them in English.  When some of the older volunteers working with the festival also request an autograph, I am flattered. Eat your heart out, De Niro.

The official opening of the festival was a grand affair at the Teatro Nacional complete with a host of celebrities including Benecio del Turo, Claudia Cardinale, Nadine Velazquez, and Roger Guenveur Smith, as well as Marichal, Bonds and Sosa and a number of international directors and producers eager to promote their films.  I again walk a green carpet before live television cameras, praying I do not stumble and fall for all of the Dominican Republic to see.  Several people ask me to pause to take my picture and while I oblige, I am again uncomfortable with the unwarranted attention.

The main premiere is a new movie, Mother and Child, starring Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, a film I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend, though I was a bit embarrassed by the fact that there was nudity and profanity and Leonel Fernandez, the president of the Dominican Republic, was seated a few rows behind me.  I kept wondering what he was thinking; then again, he’s a grown man, right?

President Fernandez was also present at the Santo Domingo screening of BUSCON, which was warming embraced by the audience that included my good friend and DRSEA Board Member Cesar Geronimo, a great baseball player in his own right.

A panel discussion on the film followed the screening, with Marichal, Bonds, Sosa, Martinez, me and others debating Dominican baseball.

Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez is flanked by baseball stars Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal, among others, including myself.

President Fernandez took a group of us to dinner following the screening, to a fantastic restaurant in Boca Chica that jutted out into the ocean to be silhouetted under the moonlight and stars.  I was fortunate to be seated next to Martinez and enlisted his support for the DRSEA.

President Fernandez spoke about his love for baseball, recalling that when he was a child in New York, he used to go to the old Polo Grounds to see the New York Mets play.  He said he always looked forward to the San Francisco Giants coming to town to play the Mets, particularly if Marichal was pitching.  The stands were awash with thousands waving the Dominican flag, he said, “and it connected me; there was a Dominican identity.  That is how I connected with baseball.”

All in all, I was totally impressed by the film festival, which was held simultaneously in six cities in the Dominican Republic and in Port-a-Prince, Haiti, at 10 different venues with 150 participants from over 30 countries. About 50 films were screened during the week, and numerous workshops and panels on films and the film industry were conducted.  It was an outstanding tribute to international filmmaking and I was proud to be even a small part.

Do this simple experiment.  Copy a couple of paragraphs from this newsletter and paste into any online translation website (I use Yahoo! Babel Fish) and translate into Spanish.  Now take the Spanish translation and translate back into English.  Not quite what was originally written, is it? The experiment points out the intrinsic value of people who can accurately translate languages.

Ozzie Guillen

With that in mind, I definitely understand many of the comments made recently by White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen who stated Asian players are provided services that Latino players do not receive.  He said Japanese players are given translators when they come to the United States while Latinos do not get the same assistance.

Guillen, who is from Venezuela, said, “Why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don’t have a Spanish one? Why do they have that privilege and we don’t?”  He described going to see his son, Oney, who is playing minor league baseball and says the team has a translator for a Korean prospect who he claims makes more money than the players.

“Don’t take this wrong, but they take advantage of us,”Guillen said.  “We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid — Go to the minor leagues, good luck. Good luck. And it’s always going to be like that. It’s never going to change. But that’s the way it is.”

Given how things can get lost in translation, Guillen’s argument makes sense; why don’t teams routinely provide translators for Latino players whose primary language, like Asian players, is not English?

A few years ago, a number of Latino sports writers and broadcasters had a beef with the New York Yankees who refused to allow members of the Spanish language media to ask questions in Spanish to the newly acquired Alex Rodríguez.  The Yankees insisted that questions in Spanish be held to the end of the press conference, but anyone who has ever been in a press conference knows that by the end the quotes are old and stale, and players tend to give yes and no responses, which puts the Latino media at a disadvantage.

Julio Pablon

Julio Pabón, a good friend of mine, said he spoke out about the situation many years ago when he went to spring training and was often asked to act as translator for non Spanish speaking reporters who wanted to question Latino players, noting even then that Asian players had their own interpreters. That, and the situation with the Yankees, led to the creation of the Latino Sports Writers and Broadcasters Association (LSWBA).  The LSWBA met with both the Yankees and the Mets and, as a result, both teams now hold monthly press conferences in Spanish, but do not provide translators in the dugout or at post game interviews.

Pabón, who is president of the association, insists that the absence of Spanish language interpreters is because teams “do not understand Latino players, or the Latino community; they are taken for granted and the end result is a lack of respect for both.  Teams have a ready-made source of players in the Dominican Republic, in Venezuela, and Latin American, so they do not feel they have to do anything special because of the abundance of players.

“Japan, China, the Orient are new markets with billions of people.  It is not about the players, but the expansion of the market into the global economy so they will do anything for these players. It is all about the money, and Latinos are considered cheap and because it is economically cheap, that is the way they treat us.  There are no supportive services.”

He added that what is provided Asian players goes beyond translators, that they are assigned what amounts to personal assistants who “help them transition into a new culture, into a new society, helping to acclimate them.  They are babysitting them in their transition as players and you do not see that with Latino players. The Japanese player, he is totally foreign to the environment. They are assuming that the Latino player is not, that he will be okay, and that is not fair.”

Guillen also criticized Major League Baseball over what he says is the lack of steroid education provided Latino players, saying, “I’m the only one to teach the Latinos about [what] not to use.  I’m the only one and Major League Baseball doesn’t care.”

MLB released a statement refuting the charge. “We spend more time and effort educating our Latin players about PED (performance enhancing drug) use than we do our domestic players in the United States,” said spokesman Rich Levin.  Baseball has instituted a drug education program for all teams in the Dominican Republic

Okay, I have a confession.  I am crazy about Hoda Kotb.  The television vixen has slowly crept into my heart and soul; I rarely miss her Today Show program: Hoda And That Other Woman.

Hoda Koth

As a journalist myself, I have long admired her journalistic skills, particularly on Dateline NBC. She has this incredible knack of bringing a story to life, making it interesting, conducting great interviews by asking perceptive questions – all without her personality becoming part of the story, a difficult feat in the age of electronic journalism when a reporter’s stardom often overshadows the news.

But after moving to the Dominican Republic, I started seeing my beloved Hoda in a different light.  Most days, I am at my computer by 9 a.m., reading and responding to e-mail, checking the news on the Internet, arranging my day and week.

The Today Show became part of that routine and at 10 a.m., the fourth hour of that show kicks in; that is where my love affair with Hoda really began.  As much as her personality is absent from her news reports, it erupts weekday mornings, and I find Hoda has become the sunshine of my day.

First of all, she looks amazing to me.  It is like she has determined that this is her time to shine, and she is always radiant.  Her features, including her light mocha skin, are perfect for television and she plays them up perfectly.

But I also love her style.  She comes across as very intelligent, yet she is self deprecating, able to poke fun at herself.  She really seems to be enjoying herself in the role of being herself.  Her journalistic skills come to bear, but she is also able to interject her personality into the lighter Today Show format, reflecting humor when necessary, and seriousness when that is important, frequently providing her own insights, which I find very intuitive.

Her opinions on a wide range of subjects – from Jeremiah Wright, to Michael Jackson, to Lindsay Lohan, to the Gulf oil crisis, the Haitian earthquake, the latest Supreme Court nominee, Tiger Woods, treating varicose veins, the latest Idol castoff, how to cook a great steak, the New Orleans Saints – make Hoda even more intriguing to me.  I think about going to dinner with her and spending hours and hours in riveting conversation and debate.

Adding to the intrigue is that Hoda is an African American.  Yes, African American.  She was born in Norman, OK, but both of her parents are from Egypt, which, last time I looked, is part of Africa.  In Arabic, “Hoda” means “guidance”; “Kotb” means “pole” and is a common surname in Egypt.

The object of my eternal admiration grew up in West Virginia, went to high school in Alexandria, VA, and graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in broadcast journalism. Appropriately enough, she began her career as a news assistant in Cairo.

In March 2007, my Wonder Woman underwent surgery for breast cancer, and permitted Today Show cameras to document the ordeal, again testament to the inner nature of this woman who has become an advocate for breast cancer awareness as she intones that life after cancer is better than the one before.

Hoda, I think you are an amazing woman, both personally and professionally.  Allow me to invite you to the Dominican Republic where we can discuss the merits of a second term for Barack Obama.

Major League Baseball continues to reflect an international flavor as 27.7 percent of the 833 players on 2010 Opening Day rosters and disabled lists were born outside the United States.

The foreign-born players represent 14 countries and territories, with the Dominican Republic leading the way with a contribution of 86 players on the active rosters, and 83 on the DL or restrictive lists.  Next on the foreign country list is Venezuela with 58 players.  The rest of the list:  Puerto Rico (21), Japan (14), Canada (13), Mexico (12), Cuba (seven), Panama (five), Australia (four), Taiwan (three), and Colombia, Curacao, Korea and Nicaragua (two each).

As a team, the New York Mets have the most foreign-born players with 18 from seven countries and territories; five other teams – the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Anaheim Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers – have 10 foreign-born players each.

The number of foreign-born players continues to reflect the globalization of baseball, though the 2010 figures are down slightly from last year when 28 percent of the players at the start of the season were born outside the United States.  The all-time record for foreign-born players was 29.2 percent in 2005.

In addition to the majors, 48 percent of players in the minors – 3,370 of 7,026 – were born outside the U.S., virtually assuring that foreign countries will continue to be well represented in Major League Baseball for years to come.

In related news, Major League Baseball has revamped its operations, expanding its Scouting     Bureau to cover Latin America.  The announcement was made by Sandy Alderson, the new head honcho in the Dominican Republic, who will oversee baseball reform in the country.

Essentially, the Scouting Bureau is a centralized group of player evaluators, separate from any team, that provides scouting reports on players entering Major League Baseball’s annual draft. That bureau will now also provide reports on players throughout Latin America, players who are not currently subject to the draft, leading some to speculate that enhancing the responsibilities of the Scouting Bureau is a prelude to an international draft.

While Alderson has downplayed that interpretation as premature, scouting reports on Latin American players could assist Major League Baseball in addressing some of the fraud that has undermined baseball in the Dominican Republic.  As many as 10 team officials in recent months have been accused of inflating scouting reports on Dominican players to increase signing bonuses, then pocketing a portion for themselves; several have been fired.  The scouting reports could also provide another layer of security for Major League Baseball in its battle against age and identity fraud among young Dominican players.

When President Barack Obama tossed out the ceremonial first pitch to open the 2010 baseball season, it marked the centennial of a presidential tradition started by President William Howard Taft.

I couldn’t help but reflect that when Taft started the tradition, the national pastime had an unwritten rule preventing African Americans from playing in the majors.   Poet Walt Whitman was shortsighted when he said “I see great things in baseball.  It’s our game – the American game,” because not all Americans were included.

A hundred years later the world is included in the game – and the man tossing out the first pitch is African American.  Now I see great things in baseball; as my Dominican friends would say, “Es nuestro juego también.”

– I have always believed that the true beauty of sports lies in their unpredictability. From a journalistic perspective, sports provide pure, unscripted news, complete with a wide range of human emotions and pathos.  Joy. Pain. Sorrow. The thrill of victory; the agony of defeat.

The Butler University basketball team provided one of those shining moments recently when it defied the odds and the prognosticators to come within an eyelash of winning the NCAA men’s basketball title, and proving that you can reach the sky if you are willing to try.

Tiger Woods’ return to golf also proved to be more than a contest and while he didn’t win the Masters, he played an amazing tournament given that he hadn’t been in competition for five months, and in spite of all the controversy that swelled around him. And he proved the only thing he needed to prove; that he can still play golf.

And to see Phil Mickelson win the Masters despite all the turmoil in his life was uplifting and inspirational.  The picture of him hugging his wife, a tear dripping down his face, was a moment in time, one of those magical portraits only sports can provide.

Sports transcends and touches all levels of society;  here in the Dominican Republic baseball rules the hearts and minds of the populace, producing national heroes whose every move is documented.  If you read a Dominican newspaper, you might get the idea that only Dominicans play the game.

But the reality is that Dominicans excel at the game and provide so much pride and inspiration to youth in this country.  Unfortunately, many of them aspire to little else and with a statistical inevitability that they will not have a career in baseball, they need to put sports in perspective.

Life goes on for the basketball team at Butler;  I have no doubt that those young men will be successful beyond the basketball court.  And I have to believe that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both understand – now more than ever –  that there are more important things in life than golf.

Increasing the visibility and credibility of the mission of the Dominican Republic Sports & Education Academy are primary goals in our quest to build the DRSEA.  Recently we received some media exposure we think you will find interesting.

One Island, Two Worlds

La Buena Mentira: The Good Lie

Where A Good Arm Is A Golden Ticket

Baseball Emissary to Review Troubled Dominican Pipeline