Castro ruled with iron club

With the retirement of Cuban leader Fidel Castro comes new hope for the golf industry in Cuba, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Cuba was once home to several world-class courses, but the sport went into a steep decline in 1962, after Castro lost a golf match against guerrilla icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Almost immediately Castro “had one Havana golf course turned into a military school, another into an art school,” the Journal reported. “A journalist who wrote about the defeat of Cuba’s Maximum Leader, who was a notoriously bad loser, was fired the next day.”

But Castro never lost another golf match.

Trivia time

Cuba is much better known for baseball players than golfers. Who hit the most major league home runs among Cuban-born players?

Face the nation

New York Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner recently lambasted the idea of Red Sox Nation, calling it “a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans.”

The Red Sox responded by playfully offering Steinbrenner an honorary membership.

“Just to ensure he knows how cool Red Sox Nation is, we officially inducted him as a member of Red Sox Nation and we are sending him his membership card giving him access to an array of options including our newsletter, bumper stickers, pins, Green Monster seats and a hat personally autographed by David Ortiz,” Red Sox owner John Henry wrote in an e-mail to the Boston Herald.

Roughing it

The Brazilian soccer team will stay with other athletes at the Olympic Village and will not receive any special treatment, Brazilian Soccer Confederation President Ricardo Teixeira told the O Globo newspaper.

That’s a contrast to the pampering the team has received at past Olympics and quite possibly a punishment for failing to bring home a gold medal.

Brazil was runner-up in 1988 in Seoul and in 1984 in Los Angeles and won bronze in 1996 in Atlanta.

“I’ve tried other ways and it didn’t work,” Teixeira said. “In Atlanta, we had the best team, stayed in the best hotels, spent $5 million and didn’t win.”

Empty handed

A high school football player is suing the University of Hawaii and former assistant football coach Jeff Reinebold because they left him empty handed after promising a scholarship, according to a report on SI.com.

Daniel Smith, 17, of Boise, Ida., said he verbally committed to Hawaii in April 2007 and did not entertain offers from other schools. Reinebold, who had recruited Smith, left after last season for Southern Methodist with former Hawaii coach June Jones, and the current Hawaii staff has informed Smith that he never received an official offer.

“I’m not trying to get any money,” the SI.com story quoted Smith as saying. “I’m just trying to get my scholarship that I was promised 10 months ago.”

Making their points

The East Kentucky Miners defeated the Atlanta Krunk, 194-115, on Sunday in a Continental Basketball Assn. game, breaking numerous league records in the process.

They broke the record for total points by a team, first-half points by a team with 113, largest margin of victory and most points in a quarter with 58.

It’s quite possible that they also broke the scoreboard.

Trivia answer

Rafael Palmeiro had 585. Jose Canseco is second with 462.

And finally

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com isn’t too keen on the idea of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field in Chicago.

“Renaming Wrigley would be like the Vatican’s signing off on the Tostitos Sistine Chapel,” he wrote. “Some places have earned the right to keep their maiden name.”

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peter.yoon@latimes.com