Death watch update

Word that Fidel Castro might be at the end of his state-owned rope couldn't have come soon enough for this death watcher. Previously, I had only Barbaro on my death watch radar. I found this highly unsatisfying because Barbaro is a horse.

Fidel Castro, on the other hand, has ruled Cuba for forty-seven years and is a bona fide historical figure.

He is revered by some and reviled by others. My own feelings on Castro have softened over the years.

I'm not denying he made some poor ideological choices or isn't every bit the thief and murderer those rather rabid folks who live in South Florida claim him to be.

It's just Castro harkens back to a time where the enemies of America didn't do things like fly airplanes into buildings and hate us for our freedom. Sure, Fidel would get grumpy and throw retarded people at us, but at least we got the movie Scarface out of that.

Let's face it, an old man in a uniform is cute. (Which was why the otherwise profane Tommy Lasorda was such an effective pitch-man.)

And when that same older, uniform wearing man starts taking spectacular tumbles in front of large audiences he enters into the rare territory where cute and funny have converged -- like a puppy chasing its tail or a Sarah Silverman.

In fact, on the sad day I am forced to remove Fidel from my death watch list, an attractive comedienne is how I would like to remember him.

Barbaro will be remembered for being a horse.