MLB: Ozzie Guillen's Mouth Gets Him in Trouble in Miami Already

cigaretteman

Well-Known Member
Nov 8, 2006
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That didn't take long, did it?

Raise your hand if you had two as the number of games the Miami Marlins would play before their first serious Ozzie Guillen moment. The guy who wrote himself out of the White Sox ****** is already working against himself in South Florida, this time with an inane, thoughtless screed in which he said he loves Fidel Castro, the brutal dictator who many Marlins fans fled Cuba to escape.

Guillen didn't mean it, of course. There's almost never real brainpower behind what comes out of his mouth.

A Time Magazine reporter simply didn't do Guillen the favor that so many of us have done on an almost daily basis, letting his stream-of-consciousness ramblings go in one ear and out the other. So now the Marlins have a serious choice to make, and it is almost certainly going to end with Guillen being disciplined and then feeling as if he is the one being victimized.

That's the way the lasting trouble with Guillen begins, and thus this incident significantly lessens the chances he will thrive throughout the four-year contract with the Marlins.

But now's not the time to think long-term. Jeffrey Loria, his front office and his manager were in crisis mode Monday, listening to Cuban American fans threaten boycotts of the glittering new $645 million stadium funded largely by taxpayers, and the question is whether Guillen or his bench coach, Joey Cora, will be in charge of the Marlins when they return for a homestand against the Astros and Cubs, which begins Friday.

It seems likely that someone is going to suspend Guillen, either Major League Baseball or the Marlins, because Guillen's comments -- which he hasn't disavowed -- are offensive to both Cuban players and almost anyone of Cuban heritage. Some believe that Loria should make the strongest statement possible and fire Guillen, who also went on a stupid rant in Cincinnati about how all he ever does is go to the hotel bar and get drunk.

Now that's impressive, isn't it?

Guillen's Castro comments were flip, and off the cuff. But the thing about printed words is that they don't go away quickly, and Ozzie certainly should know this by now.

Yet after initially saying he loved Castro, he backed away only enough to say he doesn't love him, he merely respects him. "You know why?'' he asked in the Time piece. "A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that (expletive) is still there."

Yes, he is, and he's a painful reminder about the unfairness of life to the large population of transplanted Cubans -- three generations of people taken out of their country that Castro ruined for his own personal reasons, the biggest of which seems to be an all-consuming need for power. George Diaz, a sports columnist for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, left Cuba behind as a child in 1961, and counts himself lucky because he left with an intact family.
Rogers: Yet another Guillen controversy; will he ever learn? - chicagotribune.com
 
There is a hilarious trending topic on Twitter called #ozziemisquotes and Daniel Tosh has been retweeting quite a few. Not exactly PC, but a good laugh.
 
I'd fire him. It's bad enough to say that in the first place. But in MIAMI, of all ******* places?
 
The media has blown this way out of proportion just like everything else. On ESPN.com the first line said, "in which he expressed admiration for Fidel Castro". Didn't he say he didn't appreciate the way he treated his people, but was impressed because the guy has been hated for 50 years and no one killed him? It sounds to me like he was joking, but I could be wrong. He's an idiot for saying something like that and the media is stupid for blowing this thing way out of proportion.
 
Rule #1 Ozzie... dont **** off the cubans in Miami
One would think that conversation would have been brought up during an interview.

Should at least give some good drama to a very long season of baseball............. (goes is search of popcorn)
 
The media has blown this way out of proportion just like everything else. On ESPN.com the first line said, "in which he expressed admiration for Fidel Castro". Didn't he say he didn't appreciate the way he treated his people, but was impressed because the guy has been hated for 50 years and no one killed him? It sounds to me like he was joking, but I could be wrong. He's an idiot for saying something like that and the media is stupid for blowing this thing way out of proportion.

You realize this would be similar to joking about Hitler/the Holocaust with Jewish people, right?
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sports/baseball/miami-marlins-ORSPT000174.topic
Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen will return to Miami after the team's game on Monday -- the team's off day -- to again apologize for his comments about Fidel Castro.

Guillen said he will fly to Miami after Monday's game and explain his comments about Castro on Tuesday at Marlins Park. He invited anyone to attend who wants to ask a question or hear what he has to say. The time has not been determined.

"Anybody who wants to be there, feel free," he said. "I don't want to make a statement because I think when you make a statement it's a bunch of crap. I want people to look at my eyes and look at my face and see what's going on, tell what the deal was, and that's it."

Guillen said he has been troubled and unable to sleep the past three nights since the story broke.

"I feel very guilty about it and very bad and sad and very embarrassed," he said.

Guillen has been under fire since reports surfaced that the upcoming edition of Time magazine quotes him as saying, "I love Fidel Castro."

He later amended his comment, saying: "I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that [expletive] is still there."

On Monday, he continued to express regret.

"I feel sad and a couple days stuff in my stomach," he said. "Not because what I did, just because I know I hurt a lot of people. And I'm going to make it clear, especially for me. … I told the Marlins I want to fly as soon as I can. [Tuesday] is a day off. I'd rather be in Miami clear everything up. I think that's the best for everyone."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sports/baseball/miami-marlins-ORSPT000174.topic
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sports/baseball/miami-marlins-ORSPT000174.topic

Ozzie Guillen will fly back to Miami Tuesday to apologize for Fidel Castro comments - chicagotribune.com
 
I don't agree with what he said and I think it's stupid. However the media, like always, blows this **** way out of proportion. Firing him would be a bit too much.


As you can see from the excerpt from the story, Guillen isn't the slightest bit sorry about his comments. And if he were in NYC, this wouldn't be quite as big of a deal. But you don't say "I love Fidel Castro" in MIAMI. That's incredibly boneheaded, and worthy of termination if the owners had chosen to take such action.
 
if he gets them to the world series like he did in chicago it won't matter anymore.
 
if he gets them to the world series like he did in chicago it won't matter anymore.

Long term yes, short term he will still face a **** storm in Miami for awhile. That being said I doubt he gets fired. If Miami didn't know what kind of honey hole they were sticking there hand in with Ozzie its there own damn fault.
 
Long term yes, short term he will still face a **** storm in Miami for awhile. That being said I doubt he gets fired. If Miami didn't know what kind of honey hole they were sticking there hand in with Ozzie its there own damn fault.

Plus, Miami isn't likely to win the World Series.

And while I agree that you should expect Ozzie to say stupid things, you don't expect anyone to say they love Fidel Castro, unless they're family members or someone with a gun to their head.
 
Long term yes, short term he will still face a **** storm in Miami for awhile. That being said I doubt he gets fired. If Miami didn't know what kind of honey hole they were sticking there hand in with Ozzie its there own damn fault.
exactly
 
The Miami Marlins have suspended manager Ozzie Guillen for five games for comments he made in which he expressed admiration for Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Guillen was expected to address the media in Miami on Tuesday morning over the comments, which were published on Time magazine's website last week.
Guillen told Time magazine for an article published last week that he loves Castro and respects him for staying in power so long. It's not the first time that he has praised Castro publicly. In a Men's Journal interview in 2008, Guillen was asked to name the toughest man he knows.
"Fidel Castro," he said. "He's a bull---- dictator and every-body's against him, and he still survives, has power. Still has a country behind him. Everywhere he goes they roll out the red carpet. I don't admire his philosophy. I admire him."
Guillen, who is from Venezuela but became a United States citizen in 2006, also praised controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in 2005. He had appeared on the leader's radio show twice and when asked about it, he said: "Not too many people like the president. I do."
Guillen has since been critical of Chavez. During his first news conference as Marlins manager in September, he bristled at a suggestion he supports Chavez.
"Don't tell my wife that, because she hates that man. She hates him to death," Guillen said. "I supported Chavez? If I was supporting Chavez, do you think I would be manager of the Marlins? I never supported Chavez."
Ozzie Guillen of Miami Marlins suspended for five games - ESPN
 

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