By: Pedro Heizer
“A couple of days ago we were the [bleeping] best stuff in town. Now we’re [bleep]. … We won it a couple years ago, and we’re horse[bleep]. The Cubs haven’t won in 100 years, and they’re the [bleeping] best. [Bleep] it, we’re good. [Bleep] everybody.”
That right there is vintage Ozzie Guillen, during an interview with the media during his time with the Chicago White Sox.
Guillen has become a common household name for being one of the few people left in sports that speaks his mind without a filter, and that’s what has made Guillen so successful.
The Marlins didn’t offer Guillen a massive contract because he is the best manager in baseball (although he is a great one). They wanted him because he himself is a star and a celebrity. Guillen says unpredictable, brutally honest and controversial things that make him relevant even when his team is not. They wanted him because they know that someone like Guillen can single-handedly fill a ballpark and put a team on the map.
Guillen has made a living out of speaking his mind and after all those years just because he said “I love Fidel Castro” people want to fire him?
For years, Guillen has thrived on confrontation and controversy and saying whatever is on his mind, he has gone into interviews with far more cruel intent than this one and gotten away with it, but because the Cuban-Americans of South Florida got angry and offended they expect the Marlins to fire the manager they hired not even a year ago?
This has turned into a circus, a circus that could have been avoided if people would have stopped and looked at what he said. Instead, they are focused on Guillen saying, “I love Fidel Castro.” He was also quoted as 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.”
Look, Castro is not a bad man, we all know that. We know his reign of terror in Cuba is horrible but let’s be honest, Guillen is not supporting the things Castro has done, he’s not taking a political side with Castro, he’s simply saying he admires that even after people have been trying to kill him for over 60 years he’s still there.
What’s wrong with that statement? Absolutely nothing, I myself have heard many Cubans talk about how they are surprised Castro has been in power for so long.
I believe this situation will be a problem for the Marlins for only one simple reason; what happened makes it impossible for Ozzie to be Ozzie in Miami again.
By the looks of it, the only way Guillen can get through to the Cuban-American fan base is to shut his mouth and manage the team, which is something that’s not second nature to a manager that has thrived on confrontation and controversy and saying whatever is on his mind.