Baseball Diplomacy in Cuba - NYTimes.com Last year's college championship team from the University of Tampa played an exhibition game against a Cuban youth squad on Wednesday in an attempt to help bridge the gulf between the United States and Cuba. In their weeklong tour, the Floridians are acting as cultural ambassadors, not only in their interactions with the Cuban coaches and players they face, but also with student groups, artists, children and others. On Tuesday, they visited what is known as Havana's "hot corner," a central park where islanders spend all day, every day, arguing passionately about baseball. Two Tampa players and a coach who are bilingual translated. For the record, the collegians won the game, 2-1.