Return of the Black Sox?

Ozzie Guillen on Jay Mariotti:

"Jay, I think I made this guy a lot of money and he's famous. If not for Ozzie Guillen, no one would have heard of him."

"Jay's a piece of shit. If he wants to know, he should be talking to me here right now. If he were a man, he'd be here with you guys right now. Jay's a piece of shit."

"That's the way he is. He's garbage, still garbage, going to die as garbage. Period.''

Ozzie Guillen on calling someone a "fucking fag":

"I've been here for 20 years, but people have to know that I grew up in a different country. That's not an excuse. I called the guy that name, but, no, that's the way I grew up, that's the way I've learned that language."

"I have been here enough to know you can use so many words in the States. That's not an excuse, but I wasn't calling people that. I was calling him that."

''I will apologize to the people I 'offended' because I should have used another word." [Sarcastically holding up his hands and making quotations with his fingers while saying "offended"]

Ozzie Guillen on his requirement to attend sensitivity training:

"I don't think I'll be going -- I don't think that'll happen.''

"I never lie. First of all, I said I'll have to take an English class first to understand what they're talking about. Believe me, this is the last day I talk about this. Anybody who wants to play games or put me in a position. ... I'm going to continue to manage, but I'm going to start getting nasty with the media."

"I don't need this job. I don't need to kiss anybody's butt to keep it.''


The list of bad Ozzie quotations could go on and on. The bottom line is that he should feel fortunate he has a great team playing for him--if the White Sox weren't the defending champs and one of the best teams in baseball right now I think he'd have been punished more harshly by the league and front office. (It'll get harder for Reinsdorf to defend him after comments like the last one above.) Frankly, I am one of many who is just getting sick of hearing about the guy. He's flirting with that line that separates the Shaq's and the TO's, the say-it-as-it-is tough guys and the nonsense, egomaniacal distractions. Guillen needs to direct his attention from Jay Mariotti to the AL Central division race.
Now, I realize the comparison to the old Black Sox is farfetched, but they are slowly obtaining a reputation of dirty play. The sweep of the Astros in last year's summer classic was convincing enough, but there were a couple key controversial plays involving A.J. Pierzynski (of whom in Sports Illustrated was voted "Most Like To See Get Beaned" by his fellow major leagers). Ozzie let out the rage on a young pitcher after he didn't retaliate by intentionally hitting a batter, leading to his return back down to the minors the very next day. Three days ago he was suspended for ordering his pitcher to intentionally hit Chris Duncan, son of St. Louis pitching coach, Dave Duncan. The latest accusations come from the Cards blowout in Chicago concerning illegal sign stealing. This isn't the first time they have been accused of using a camera in center field to steal the catcher's signs, but it is the most evident. I didn't believe this story at first and hung my head at the idea of my beloved Cardinals making excuses for getting pounded in a largely hyped powerhouse matchup, but the evidence is quite convicting. According to one of the St. Louis players, they became suspicious partway through the second game of the series with the score 13-3 and changed the set of signs after the 5th inning. The numbers don't lie: The Sox were 40-for-88 with 15 extra-base hits and 33 runs before the change, going 4-for-36 with one run scored afterward. Looks fishy to me...
This really is a shame because I jumped on the White Sox bandwagon last year and cheered for them to win a world championship. This season I am beginning to root for a collapse. I'll be the first to admit how good they are (particularly Dye, Thome, and Konerko, of whom I think are standup, classy players) but until Ozzie says something worth hearing about, I'll stand on Mariotti's side of public decency. We've seen him put up, now it's time for him to shut up.