I am not an avid sports fan, I literally only watch sports when any of the teams of my country are playing. That being said, Los Nuestros/Team Rubio managed to get me to watch 4.5 hour long baseball games (and I don't like baseball - like, at all!). But their accomplishment and what they mean to me does not stem from them actually getting to watch the World Baseball Classic, it steams from what they made me feel and what they did for my country.
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As you may or may not know, Puerto Rico is in a really though spot, and it has been for a while now. We have a massive debt we're being forced to pay back without the option to declare bankrupcy, we have a general blackout last year, a drought a few summers ago, and now we are under the control of a US led control fiscal board which has recently cut funds in education, natural rescoures, tourism, and much, much more. The situation is dire and hope seems farther away each day.
Our team making it to the Classic, making it to the finals, obviously doesn't slove any of these issues - but it did something we hadn't had in a while: give us hope. It happened in the Olympics and it happened again during the WBC. Sports have a way of bringing out the best in us, an unwavering patriotism, a unity and a joy incomparable with any other. Needless to say, I was overjoyed to hear that during the WBC there was no crime in my beautiful Island of Enchantment - we were all too disctracted following the games to do anything else.
It made my heart even happier to hear that so many kids now want to play baseball, that MLB wants to create programs in Puerto Rico so that these kids can really become succesful athletes - kids who can so easily end up on the streets in shady buissness were given a new aspiration and a legion of heros in Yadier Molina, Mike Aviles, Javier Baez, Andrew Barbosa, Carlos Beltran, Jose Berrios, Hiram Burgos, Alex Claudio, Joseph Colon, Carlos Correa, Jose de la Torre, Jose de Leon, Edwin Diaz, Reymond Fuentes, Rayan Gonzalez, Kike Hernandez, Joe Jimenez, Francisco Lindor, Jorge Lopez, Seth Lugo, Miguel Mejia, Angel Pagan, Emilio Pagan, Roberto Perez, Joel Piñeiro, Rene Rivera, T.J. Rivera, Dereck Rodriguez, Orlando Roman, JC Romero, Eddie Rosario, Andres Santiago, Hector Santiago, Mario Santiago, Giovanni Soto, and Kennys Vargas.
In all the shadows and sorrow surrounding my people, the WBC gave us something to look forward to. Win or lose, to me we'd already won. This team from this tiny island had made it to the finals. They were invincible (losing only 1 of 8 games - the only loss being the final against USA). People were dying their hair blond in support of the team, everyone was suddenly a baseball afficionado - there was already a party set for them after the Championship - win or lose.
Yes, the loss was difficult for us all and some were very upset with Los Nuestros, but while my heart shattered at the loss of the Championship title, I was still immensly proud of my team. What I wasn't so happy about were the comments made afterward by some. There was a barrage of insults on Twitter celebrating the US's victory by degrading the Puerto Rican team using derrogatory language or trying to minimize us by reminding us of our status as a colony.
But it wasn't just the internet trolls, it was the remarks made by Adam Jones, a player for the US team, that didn't sit quite well with many of us. He said that the reason for their going hard for the Championship title was that Team USA was upset that there was a private plane set to take Team PR home after the Finals, that there was a caravan and that there were shirts and hats prematurely made to celebrate their victory over the US. As an ESPN article pointed out, Team USA more than likely had merch made as well but it was simply released after their victory.
Look, I understand Jones' point of view. It can't feel nice to have a premature celebration over a game that's yet to happen, but as many other articles have pointed out - Puerto Rico was celebrating win or lose. We were so unbeliavably proud of our boys and their success that we were going to celebrate them because they were already our Champions.
As Yadi Molina pointed out, the reason for this celebration and the reason why the Classic meant so much to Los Nuestros and Puerto Rico was that this was a much bigger deal for us than it was for the US in the sense that for Team USA, this was incomparable to MLB finals while for all of Team Rubio being in the Classic representing Puerto Rico (and possibly being the Champions) was the highest honor.
Another amazing win for us was that after the WBC, the All Star team included 5 players from Team Puerto Rico (Javi Baez, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Beltran, Yadi Molina, and Carlos Correa). 
So after our Puñeta signs were taken from us and pleneros were asked to stop playing music during the game (a typical Puerto Rican way to show support in sporting events) because it was "harrassment," this was still a massive win. Los Nuestros mean to me the same every athelete and artist that comes from Puerto Rico mean to me - they are the symbols of hope for a country that desperately need it and they are our Champions because the work they do on the field will never equal what they did off the field.
