12 replies to this topic

[Brett]

If you haven't heard, Ozzie Guillen recently said that he "loves" Fidel Castro, and "respects" him for staying alive so long despite people trying to kill him. As you'd expect, this went over horribly in Miami, and lots of large groups are calling for him to be fired.

He's about to speak about it at a press conference, and the Marlins just suspended him for 5 games. I think there's no way he was going to get fired (the Marlins knew what they were getting), but this seems to be pretty serious.

[Robbo]

Ozzie is a nutball, that guy has zero filter when he makes comments. Can't wait to see the Ozzie - Z interaction when Big Z breaks the team gatorade cooler after a bad outing. Should be some fireworks in that dugout.

[Fishin Phil]

I knew his mouth would get him in trouble, but I didn't believe he could do it that fast.

That's like walking into a room of Holocaust survivors and telling them how much you admire Hitler.

[Oswego Chris]

I would like to read the full context....but either way, serious stupidity...

I will say I still prefer Ozzie to Kenny Williams...

The way I look at it, the Sox sold their souls to win in 2005....Ozzie, Kenny, a Kenny Powers like closer(Jenks) who was waived from a team because of his drinking, fighting with teammates(and he supposedly had a swaztika tatoo on his arm that he had removed)...how is he doing now?

[Luke]

I'm thinking this is a great time for Tampa to launch a huge marketing campaign that focuses on the Cuban-American population. If Miami is going to lose the fans, maybe the Rays could pick up a few up.

Goodness knows the Rays need them.

[King Jeff]

I am going to be behind the Marlins dugout for all three games next week. I'll be sure to send in some of the nicer comments towards Ozzie that I hear from the crowd. That is if I can understand them.

[King Jeff]

I'm thinking this is a great time for Tampa to launch a huge marketing campaign that focuses on the Cuban-American population. If Miami is going to lose the fans, maybe the Rays could pick up a few up.

Goodness knows the Rays need them.

The problem is, that the Cuban fans don't really support the team anyway. If you go to a game, it's mostly white Americans, and most of them from another city cheering for their team. Miami has a huge Cuban population, but it's never been one that is integral to the Marlin's financial success. They can make all the stink that they want, but they didn't go to the games or watch them on tv most of the time anyway, so the impact will be minimized.

[Luke]

I'm thinking this is a great time for Tampa to launch a huge marketing campaign that focuses on the Cuban-American population. If Miami is going to lose the fans, maybe the Rays could pick up a few up.

Goodness knows the Rays need them.

The problem is, that the Cuban fans don't really support the team anyway. If you go to a game, it's mostly white Americans, and most of them from another city cheering for their team. Miami has a huge Cuban population, but it's never been one that is integral to the Marlin's financial success. They can make all the stink that they want, but they didn't go to the games or watch them on tv most of the time anyway, so the impact will be minimized.

That would explain why the crowd that gathered behind the Baseball Tonight set after the opening night game kept chanting "Let's Go Heat."

[SirCub]

I just think it's funny, because they were trying to make a big splash with Reyes, Beuhrle, Z, and Ozzie to take advantage of the new park and see if they could get the city behind the them to make the jump to being a big market team. So much for that plan!

[MichiganGoat]

Haha ha of course he did this and I imagine the five game suspension won't shut him up. Wait until after a bad game when someone asks him a question I don't think he'll finish the season. You just can't put Ozzie in a room with a loaded gun, he will shoot something.

[cys_av8r]

Newsflash - Ozzie is fucking stupid. The ownership of the Marlins has to be thrilled that their manager just pissed off a large percentage of the city where the team is located...a city that didn't want to spend their tax dollars on the new stadium to begin with....

[FFP]

"I love Fidel Castro" I can almost buy as a translation problem (Ozzie thinking in Spanish and talking in English), but "love" doesn't seem to be a word that gets mistranslated internally very often. I'd love to think it does sometimes.

But, I heard Ozzie's "apology," and I don't need to cut him any linguistic slack. He sounds insincere, clueless as to whom he has offended and how, and totally incapable of leading a franchise that was partly being re-built to market to Cuban Americans.

As I grow into a bit of a fanboy for good managment, I can't help thinking that Ozzie is a complete, freakin' dope. What other higher level thinking skills does he lack? What other errors in judgment should I expect? Good Luck, Miami. If you have any upper-level managment skills, Ozzie will somehow go away.

[Segal27]

I find this hysterical