Cuban Leader Fidel Castro was an excellent baseball player in his youth. He has forced all of his many children to learn a particular sport intensively. He wouldn't allow any of them to play baseball (so as not to diminish his achievements) but has given them free choice of all other sports. Although generally pleased with his children's choices, including soccer, boxing and wrestling, he was reportedly very upset when one son chose bowling, and had to be hospitalized when told that his son Angel had decided he wanted to be a pro bass fisherman.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro is passionately attached to the children's game Chutes and Ladders (He doesn't like the English version, Snakes and Ladders because he hates snakes). He plays the game obsessively, with the same endurance that is evident in his multi-hour speeches. In his younger days he was known to play the game for over 24 hours in a row. He says that the game is the perfect metaphor for life with its unexpected setbacks and advances.