Free Ozzie Guillen!

Ozzie Guillen has been hammered by the sports media in the last few days because of an off-handed remark he made about Fidel Castro. But if Ozzie has been known for anything in his last 25 years in baseball it is for his mouth, his loose cannon tendencies. In fact, among all major league managers, Ozzie is far and away the most quotable, the most entertaining, and the most apt to say something offensive. Just last week in a New Yorker article about the Miami Marlins, Ozzie was asked by his son what he was going to do for his mom – Ozzie’s wife – on the occasion of their 29^th wedding anniversary. Ozzie’s response – in front of his son and the New Yorker writer – was, “I’m gonna fuck her real good!” This was typical, vintage Ozzie.

So I really don’t get why he is being crucified for his remarks about admiring Fidel Castro. It’s NOT that I don’t understand the offensive nature of his remarks to Cubans who have risked life and limb to flee Castro’s regime. It’s not that I don’t grasp the economics of this situation, where the Miami Marlins have spent millions to bring Guillen to Miami precisely to court the enormous Hispanic and Latin population, far and away Miami’s biggest fan base. But what baffles me is our expectations for Senior Guillen. He is, after all, a baseball manager. He is not a politician. He is not an elected official. He is not a college professor. People need to realize that the average education level of a Major League baseball manager is between eleventh and twelfth grades. It is literally lower than any other professional sports education level.

Charles Barkley had a point when he claimed decades ago that he was not a role model. He was essentially saying, “I’m a basketball player. I get paid to put this ball in a hoop. Don’t expect or ask me to be anything else.” So what are we expecting when we stick two dozen microphones in front of these uneducated mouths? What are we expecting when we follow these athletes around twenty four seven and ask for their comments on things?

Again, Cuban Americans, died in the wool capitalists, and anyone else who cares to are welcome to be offended at what Ozzie said. But I’m not sure they have the right to call for his ouster or to rip him a new one the way they might if he were in a different line of work with a different education level. We ask far too much of our athletes, be they at the college or professional level. Yes, we also pay them far more than we should. But we’re the ones who continue to pay the ridiculous ticket prices and we’re the ones sticking microphones in front of them when the only thing they have ever been trained to do is play meaningless games that the rest of the world does for fun in our leisure time.

Ozzie Guillen is a baseball manager. Taking our political cues from him is like deciding what our position on Syria should be from Lindsay Lohan. Shame on us for our ridiculous and misplaced expectations.

Bounty-Gate

So I suppose it's time I weigh in on the Bounty scandal that is now front and center in the NFL. I’ve heard from and/or read all the experts on this. I’ve had more than my fill of the muscle-headed former NFL players who insist that this paying to mame has been going on forever and is simply an acceptable part of the violent culture that is professional football. So what DO I think about all this?

First, I think that the NFL players who are defending the bounty culture are proving themselves to be even less intelligent than their most critical fans have always assumed football players to be. By insisting that all those outside the game are making too big of a deal out of vicious, bounty-inspired hits and concussions, professional football players are essentially confirming that they truly are the short-sighted, selfish morons that so many non-football players have always assumed them to be. The tough guys crying “enough already!” to the intelligent, concerned dialogue regarding concussions and bounties are far too willing to sacrifice themselves, their brothers in the game, and even their own family’s futures at the altar of a few highlights on Sports Center. Grow up, boys!

Shouldn’t these “professional” athletes be thinking at least a little about what their lives and their family’s lives might be like after they retire? Shouldn’t they do everything in their power not to be brain dead and wheelchair bound by the time they are forty- five? And why isn’t anybody interviewing Brett Farve’s wife or Peyton Manning’s kids to find out how they feel about their husbands and fathers being the subjects of a bounty?

Every time I see Troy Polumalu and James Harrison intentionally use their own heads like battering rams, I realize just how idiotic these gazillionaires are. With all the data and information we now have about concussions and their long-term effects, you simply have to be a moron to play so recklessly and to intentionally injure your fellow competitors that way.

Yes, football is and always will be a violent and dangerous game, particularly when it is played at the highest level. But there is no intelligent argument against controlling and limiting the violence in two very minimal and rational ways: 1) rule changes that protect players’ heads and seriously punish head shots, and 2) doing away with the bounty culture and the outmoded macho mentality that has produced it. I take my hat off to Commissioner Goodell for standing up to this idiocy wherever it rears its ugly, selfish, and short-sighted head.