Les Miles is taking time away from thinking about LSU’s spring football practice and is spending his spring break vacation in Cuba.
Tuesday, the eyes of the sports world are focused 90 miles to the south of Florida, where the Tampa Bay Rays are taking on the Cuban National Team in the first game played on the island nation involving a team from the United States since 1999. At the same time, the MLB team aren’t the only group of people associated with American sports that are spending time visiting our neighbors to the south.
LSU head football coach Les Miles, looking to get away from Baton Rouge and the pressures of spring football practice during the school’s spring break, is visiting Cuba on a goodwill trip to learn more about the country and it’s people … and maybe audition for his next job should he ever be let go from LSU:
The secret is out. @LSUcoachMiles is in Cuba this week. Could he be down there auditioning to become the World's Most Interesting Man?
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) March 22, 2016
Actually, @LSUCoachMiles is in Cuba to visit schools & experience the culture. He brought dozens of soccer balls to distribute to kids. #LSU
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) March 22, 2016
News of Miles’ trip to Cuba was first announced (well, more like letting the cat out of the bag) by Rays pitcher Mikie Mahtook, who played his college ball at LSU. A college football game hasn’t been played on the island nation since 1946 (over a decade before Fidel Castro took power).
LSU was the first school to play a football game in Cuba, taking part in the first Bacardi Bowl in 1907. Tulane, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Florida, Villanova, and Southern Miss are the other schools who participated in the sanctioned bowl game.
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