Ozzie Guillen Is Not Ready for Some Football
It’s been a routine for the Chicago White Sox under Ozzie Guillen: If things go poorly enough for long enough, a Guillen outburst occurs like clockwork. In Saturday’s 12-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the Sox gave up a five-run lead to record the eighth loss in their past ten games, and, of course, gave their manager fits.↵
↵⇥After he walked into the clubhouse afterward and saw players watching television instead of pondering one more embarrassing loss, it sent Guillen off into another X-rated tirade in front of the media.↵⇥↵⇥"Very embarrassing," he said. "Not because we're out of the pennant race. I've been dealing with this for how many months, six months? Dealing with this for the next two, three days, five days, six days, whatever I have left, I'm not going to tolerate.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥"[Do] they think the season's over for them? Yes. If they think the season's over for me, no. And I'm going to make it clear. It's a bunch of [bleeps] out there watching football games like a piece of [bleep] with no pride the way they [bleep] play, and that's embarrassing.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥"I'm not in a pennant race, but at least I have some pride. ... When you go out there and you turn your TV on and watch stupid-ass football when those [bleep] football players don't give a [bleep] about you, that's embarrassing.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥"We have how many games, seven games they have to put their [bleep] together. Because I don't mind losing games. That's part of the game. But when you lose games and you don't even care about it, we're going to have problems. ... Getting your ass kicked like that, then all of a sudden you're watching football games, that's a bunch of [bleep]."↵⇥
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↵↵I’m not entirely sure how that’s rated X and not R, but, either way, Guillen’s outbursts are so old by this point that they barely make a wave in Chicago, much less the rest of the media. And Guillen’s rant is oddly timed, because the White Sox were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention after Friday’s loss, not Saturday’s.↵
↵↵But it’s his threat to destroy TVs turned on during games this week that I’m excited about. Guillen’s volatility as a manager has been alternately prized and shamed during his tenure, so it’s nearly impossible to tell whether his job is in jeopardy. But if his final memorable act in the White Sox clubhouse is a whirlwind of destruction in the name of pride and passion in baseball and/or an anti-football bent, it will just be a fitting cap to Ozzie’s reign of craziness.↵
↵↵Oh, and if he destroys a bunch of TVs and doesn’t get fired? Even better.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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