Cuba protester arrested after attacking Tampa Bay Rays' dugout with beverages

Last Tuesday, Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays played an exhibition game against the Cuban national team in Havana as Barack Obama, Raul Castro and other political luminaries watched. It was hailed as a symbolic moment belying a bright future between Cuba and the United States.

On Saturday, the Rays and others tracking the slow thaw of relations between Cuba and the U.S. were served a visceral reminder: One baseball game does little to counterbalance decades of complex international conflict. 

A fan was arrested during the Rays' spring training game in Florida for running onto the field and throwing a beer can and a soda can into the team dugout, according to the Tampa Bay Times. 

The arrested fan was reportedly of Cuban descent and the Times reports "yelled what police and players said were obscenities about the Castro regime and threw the beer into the dugout."

Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi gave some detail. 

"It was a Cuba thing," he told the paper. "I don't speak Spanish too well … I think it was a Cuban person, frustrated about the politics of it, I guess. He threw two beer cans. Nobody got hit. Nobody did anything. Maybe some guys got wet. It was a Cuba thing."

Tampa Bay Times reporter Marc Topkin provided more color on his Twitter feed. 

The episode sounds like little more than a drunk person sharing his political views in sloppy, aggressive fashion. But it's a reminder for everyone that -- when sports bodies decide to get political -- they must brace for bad reactions along with praise.