ozzie guillen... a racist, pompous jerk

So I was going to blog about Ozzie Guillen last week when the White Sox were in town against the Rangers, got lazy and decided against it; but after his latest incident, I can no longer hold my tongue, especially after recently being accused by some of only blogging about baseketball. If you follow the Rangers at all you'll remember during last Wednesday's 8-0 win over the Chisox that Guillen ordered his pitcher to throw at Hank Blalock.

To set the table some, Rangers pitcher Vincent Padilla hat hit AJ Pierzynski twice early in the game, once in the 2nd and once in the 4th before striking him out in the 6th. After Pierzynski was hit in the 4th, home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi to issue warnings to both benches. Fast forward now to the bottom of the 7th, the Rangers are up 6-nil and Guillen brings in rookie pitcher Sean Tracey. Guillen orders Tracey to pluck Hank Blalock, the first batter of the inning, who had drilled a deep homer back in the second. Tracey throws the first two pitches way inside with Hank scrambling to get out of the way so as to not get hit. On the third pitch, Hank fists another inside pitch weakly to second for an out. Guillen is then seen slamming a water bottle to the ground, he promptly removes Tracey from the game (for Agustin Montero) and berates him all up and down the dugout for not being able to hit Blalock.

Maybe it's just me, but that's wrong on every level. Not only should a manager never order a pitcher to throw at someone, you don't yell at him then in the dugout after you take him out. Coincidentally, Tracey was sent to the minors the next day. Ozzie's take, "I tried to get Montero ready (to face Blalock) and wasn't able to. It was a little late," Guillen, explained. "It was my mistake. I didn't get him up quick enough. I didn't want Tracey in that situation." So not only is Guillen an unethical, he's a liar as well... that or he meant he really wanted Montero to hit Blalock, which I doubt is the case.

Now this week Guillen called local Chicago Sun-Times writer and ESPN Around The Horn regular Jay Mariotti a fag, insinuating that he is gay. Here's the quote: "What a piece of shit he is, f-ing fag." Guillen's dislike for Mariotti is well known as Mariotti is often critical of the White Sox in his columns, most recently regarding the Sean Tracey incident, but there's no excuse for derogitory remarks such as those made by Guillen. He deserves to be suspended by MLB, and not just a one or two game thing, it needs to be 10 games minimum.

Guillen defended his use of the term "fag" by saying this about homosexuals and the use of the word in question: "I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country." Guillen said that in his native Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing]." Guillen also stated that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago. "I called that of this man [Mariotti],'' Guillen said. "I'm not trying to hurt anybody [else]."

Based on Guillen's past, I'm not buying his bogus excuse. And even if there was a shred of truth to his explanation, Guillen should know better. He's the manager of the defending World Series Champions and as such he needs to set an example. Guillen is a pompous prick. He seems to think he's better than everyone else because he's won a World Series and should be above criticism. Sorry but that's not the case Ozzie. You weren't that good as a player and as of now, you're no better as a manager.