Fun with Ozzie

When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be neighbors with someone who had season tickets for the Orioles games at Memorial Stadium. Better yet, the seats were in the first row by the visiting team's on-deck circle where players warmed up just inches away from your head.

Once -- I'm going to say it was 1987 -- the neighbor gave me the tickets for an Orioles-White Sox doubleheader. So before each of his 9 or 10 plate appearances that day, White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen chatted me up. All. Day. Long. He talked and talked and talked. He didn't hold anything back nor did he censor himself, which was fine by me. Then, like now, I was much more interested in reality than the airbrushed version. Like most people, I don't like to be told what to think or how to feel and if Ozzie Guillen wanted to speak to me frankly -- even though I wasn't old enough for a drivers' license -- I was going to enjoy it.

Twenty years later, Ozzie Guillen is still speaking frankly. Actually, his mouth has gotten him into a bit of trouble lately and some of his actions have made even his most ardent supporters scratch their heads and wonder what ol' Ozzie was thinking. In fact, there is even a funny story on The Onion spoofing the trouble Ozzie has gotten himself into.

Apparently, Ozzie was on a roll again yesterday in a little tirade when talking to writers about accusations of his team "cheating." Based on the story, Ozzie doesn't think much about the NL Central, nor does he think he can find a spot on his roster for the Cardinals' lefty Mark Mulder.

Sadly, I think Ozzie's run in Chicago is going to end badly. I'm not basing that on any inside knowledge or anything other than observations. It just seems that people who allow others to know what they are thinking never seem to have a long shelf life -- that's especially the case when the speaker isn't exactly "politically correct."

Nevertheless, it looks as if Ozzie keeps things loose with his team. Here's a video of a wrestling match with a professional wrestler during spring training. The best part is the look on Jim Thome's face. He seems to be thinking, "Geez, Bowa never did anything as crazy as this... and he was nuts!"



Finally, I would be remiss not to include one of the all-time great quotes from Guillen about making it in America as skinny kid from Venezuela. From The Washington Post:

"I'm smarter than a lot of guys who go to Harvard. When you come to this country and you can't speak any English at 16 years old, and you have to survive, you have to have something smart in your body. If you take one of those Harvard guys and drop them in the middle of Caracas, they won't survive. But if you drop me in the middle of Harvard, I'll survive."

How would Guillen do in Philadelphia? I think he'd be able to hold his own.