The Miami Marlins thread

[Steve9347]

Honestly though, if you're the Marlins, and you've made the decision to risk the reputation of your franchise on making Ozzie Guillen one of the games highest paid managers, how do you not also hire him a media consultant?

Does anyone here really think Ozzie Guillen would pay attention to or utilize a media consultant?

[Balta1701]

Does anyone here really think Ozzie Guillen would pay attention to or utilize a media consultant?

Ozzie Guillen is on a $16 million contract. How many of those dollars would he be willing to sacrifice to get rid of that requirement?

[southsider2k5]

Ozzie Guillen is on a $16 million contract. How many of those dollars would he be willing to sacrifice to get rid of that requirement?

 

$10 million.

[Balta1701]

$10 million.

$12 million, but you're right my number was off. I was going off of initial reports that Ozzie would receive $4 million a year. Guess the fish only gave him $3 a year. My bad.

[greg775]

I actually feel for Ozzie a little bit here. Yeah, it was dumb what he said. But c'mon now. This is officially ridiculous.

 

Ozzie got caught up in the latest open mouth insert foot controversy in America.

Hasn't the Rush Limbaugh thing which was all over the airwaves (he was supposed to lose all his sponsors) already died down and he's back to Rush being Rush?

People will move on soon, but he will be booed (if the team is losing) big time at home games.

[Steve9347]

$12 million, but you're right my number was off. I was going off of initial reports that Ozzie would receive $4 million a year. Guess the fish only gave him $3 a year. My bad.

I think he was pointing out how much money Ozzie would sacrifice. Ozzie is an idiot, plain and simple. In retrospect, given he's a bad manager, I'm shocked he was with the White Sox for so long.

[Steve9347]

Ozzie got caught up in the latest open mouth insert foot controversy in America.

Hasn't the Rush Limbaugh thing which was all over the airwaves (he was supposed to lose all his sponsors) already died down and he's back to Rush being Rush?

People will move on soon, but he will be booed (if the team is losing) big time at home games.

This is nowhere near on the scale of Rush Limbaugh. You're on a White Sox message board in a baseball forum, so it's a hot button topic. Just because there's other idiots saying stupid things, that doesn't excuse your boy Ozzie for blabbering on a topic he knows little about and offending a portion of his newly adopted fan base.

 

I am so glad Ozzie is embarrassing a franchise that isn't the White Sox now.

[greg775]

This is nowhere near on the scale of Rush Limbaugh. You're on a White Sox message board in a baseball forum, so it's a hot button topic. Just because there's other idiots saying stupid things, that doesn't excuse your boy Ozzie for blabbering on a topic he knows little about and offending a portion of his newly adopted fan base.

 

I am so glad Ozzie is embarrassing a franchise that isn't the White Sox now.

 

What are u talking about?

My point was Rush survived as Ozzie will. Nobody's even talking about Rush's blunder. For a while there was talk all the sponsors would leave.

Oz will serve his five games and get booed. His fate will be decided on the field.

I love Ozzie. So shoot me.

[chw42]

What are u talking about?

My point was Rush survived as Ozzie will. Nobody's even talking about Rush's blunder. For a while there was talk all the sponsors would leave.

Oz will serve his five games and get booed. His fate will be decided on the field.

I love Ozzie. So shoot me.

 

Ozzie Guillen = baseball manager.

Rush Limbaugh = political commentator.

 

I don't know how those two things even correlate. All I know is that Ozzie tried to delve into a topic professional athletes/managers should never delve into and he's getting fried for it.

[Balta1701]

What are u talking about?

My point was Rush survived as Ozzie will. Nobody's even talking about Rush's blunder. For a while there was talk all the sponsors would leave.

Oz will serve his five games and get booed. His fate will be decided on the field.

I love Ozzie. So shoot me.

Limbaugh lost Philadelphia's largest talk radio station today.

[RockRaines]

At least Rush at times has a basis for his opinions and has somewhat of an educational background (though not much). Ozzie is like a homeless man rambling at times.

[MexSoxFan#1]

At least Rush at times has a basis for his opinions and has somewhat of an educational background (though not much). Ozzie is like a homeless man rambling at times.

Nah, Rush is an idiot.

 

I know what Ozzie said wasn't the smartest thing to say in Miami, but if he likes Castro or Chavez or the tele tubbies, it's his right to like anyone or anything. Besides, isn't Fidel dead already?

 

Much to do about nothing, IMO.

Edited April 10, 2012 by MexSoxFan#1

[witesoxfan]

What are u talking about?

My point was Rush survived as Ozzie will. Nobody's even talking about Rush's blunder. For a while there was talk all the sponsors would leave.

Oz will serve his five games and get booed. His fate will be decided on the field.

I love Ozzie. So shoot me.

 

Actually Rush was on the NFL Sunday Countdown set, and then he made a racial comment about Donovan McNabb, and he was, in no short order, removed from the NFL Sunday Countdown set.

[Kyyle23]

Limbaugh lost Philadelphia's largest talk radio station today.

 

Lol, I was going to mention this as well as the lost sponsorships but I thought "naaaaaah"

[Steve9347]

Actually Rush was on the NFL Sunday Countdown set, and then he made a racial comment about Donovan McNabb, and he was, in no short order, removed from the NFL Sunday Countdown set.

Holy hell, that was 9 years ago. We're getting old, Soxtalk.

[hi8is]

I no consider myself a dumb

-Ozzie

 

That pretty much says it all.

[greg775]

Actually Rush was on the NFL Sunday Countdown set, and then he made a racial comment about Donovan McNabb, and he was, in no short order, removed from the NFL Sunday Countdown set.

 

Yet he's still going strong and making zillions of dollars yearly.

[StrangeSox]

Keep comparing oz to Rush, please!

[caulfield12]

Yet he's still going strong and making zillions of dollars yearly.

 

But the key difference here is that he didn't say anything that would patently offend his audience, because they already listen to his show due to the fact that they generally support his ideas, his opinions and his philosophy.

 

Limbaugh could care less about the 80-85% of the country that would never listen to his show on a daily basis.

 

Whereas Ozzie is one of, if not the most important, representative and symbol of his team in a market where there are many Cubans and Hispanics. In other words, ANY person in South Florida, but particularly a Cuban or Hispanic, could be offended by his actions and not attend a Marlins game, costing Loria money both over the short and long term.

 

Not only that, but it's likely the relationship between the two countries will open up more and more in the next couple of decades, they'll have many daily flights between Havana and Miami, even more fans will be coming to games from Cuba...not to mention that the Marlins want to be THE destination for Cuban free agent baseball players AND "Central/Latin America's Team," in the same way the Cowboys are in the NFL, etc.

Edited April 11, 2012 by caulfield12

[witesoxfan]

Yet he's still going strong and making zillions of dollars yearly.

 

Well it's odd isn't it? When he sticks to doing what he's best at doing, he makes money and is only considered a jackass by the audience that doesn't agree with his philosophical differences. When he stepped outside of that, he was a trainwreck.

 

Now, who am I talking about, Ozzie or Rush?

Edited April 11, 2012 by witesoxfan

[chw42]

-Ozzie

 

That pretty much says it all.

 

Lawl. English skillz.

 

[caulfield12]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11817911-41...is-problem.html

 

Richard Roeper wading into the controversy (should correct that fact that it was the Cards and not the Phillies opening that new ballpark).

 

 

 

Some controversy has also emerged over Guillen’s stance on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. A YouTube video of Guillen — who was born in Venezuela — blurting “Viva Chávez” or “Long live Chávez” following his World Series win in 2005 against the Houston Astros became another source of discontent.

 

Ana Sanchez, a Cuban-American born in 1950, who attended both Marlins World Series appearances, said she thought Guillen had misspoken. But after reviewing Guillen’s remarks on Castro and seeing the YouTube video, she has decided to boycott the Marlins’ games.

 

“I do hope this community grows a pair, [and] stays away from Marlins stadium in droves,” Sanchez said.

 

Other season ticket holders also said they plan to boycott the games until Guillen is fired.

 

“I hold season tickets. But not for long after this outburst from Mr. Guillen,” said Tony Exposito, a retiree from Miami.

Said Mario Cicilia, 63, who lives in Miami and was born in Cuba: “If he stays as a manager I will ... sell my tickets this season even if I lose money.”

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/10/2740...r#storylink=cpy

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/11/2741...re-hurtful.html

Greg Cote, feature columnist for sports section

 

By Fabiola Santiago

fsantiago@MiamiHerald.com

 

I wanted to call in sick today.

 

I had nothing to add to the loud and obnoxious conversation swirling everywhere you turned about the top news of the day, the kind of incredulous, ridiculous, predictable story that brings out the worst in all us, including the media.

 

An uninformed fool, with a history of offending everyone from African Americans to gays and who readily jumps from one political stance to another, says in a Time magazine story that he admires the longevity of Fidel Castro, and all hell breaks loose in town.

 

The players readily line up, as if this were a hurricane-preparedness drill and everyone knew their part: The most hysterical elements of the community rip something and holler at cameras; the bosses of the offender, whose money-making plans the fool just spoiled, release statements of outrage; the politicians, who see the opportunity to easily win votes without actually having to work for them, send press releases; and the journalists who can’t pass up a good fray chime in because we all know that crap like Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen dishes out drives readership, viewership and viral Internet activity.

 

Ca-ching-g-g!

 

At the end of it all, the cause of Cuba — a worthy cause that deserves much better —and a people long-suffering are reduced

to caricature.

 

Only one word for the circus came to mind: Barf.

 

I could’ve called in sick, I was that nauseous.

 

Please, even the usually civil New Yorker magazine got off its high-brow train to further spin the overexposed Guillen story.

 

Aiya (that would be a Cantonese expression of exasperation), I walked back and forth from my computer to the phone.

 

I gulped half a cup of straight-up dark café cubano sweetened with Splenda, and after reading all the hoopla surrounding the Guillen press conference at Marlins Park, in which the most hated manager in America swore he hated Castro and apologized, I brewed Starbucks French Roast Extra-Bold.

 

Who gives a hoot about what Guillen thinks?

 

The man has a history: He insults people, then apologizes.

 

A man or woman of real convictions stands by them even in the face of criticism, even if it costs them their job.

 

Who gives a hoot what Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez thinks about what Guillen thinks?

 

The man needs to stick to running the county.

 

And the rest of us, well, we never learn the lesson: We have the right to protest and express our views, however unpopular they might be with the rest of the nation, but we must never forget that even fools have First Amendment rights.

 

That’s what makes this a democracy, but honestly, do I really need to say that?

 

I grabbed the phone and started to call my editor. Then, a real breaking news headline flashed across my screen: Rick Santorum suspends his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

 

Country saved, sanity restored, at least temporarily.

 

But stay tuned, the circus is not over yet. There’s still the weekend news cycle, and not all the pundits have had their say.

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/10/2741...l#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2012 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

 

Some political context, if you could call it that: Guillen is Venezuelan, and has said nice things in the past about Hugo Chávez, even calling him a “friend.” And yet he also called Sean Penn a “loser” and a “clown” for Penn’s own support of Chávez. During spring training, when I spoke to Guillen for The New Yorker, he insisted that his only rule was that players be on time for the singing of the national anthem—“especially if you come from another goddamn country,” he said. “Lot of people been killed trying to make this country free for us.” Asked about a letter tacked up on the bulletin board behind him, he said, “Some guys want me to work with Obama to be a President again.” The next day, the letter was gone. While managing the White Sox, Guillen used to display a photo of him and his family with President Bush. If you spend enough time with Guillen, you will hear him contradict himself, guaranteed.

 

Guillen rightly finds the formality of the interview process contrived. (He is the manager of a baseball team, after all, not a politician.) He likes to get a rise out of people. “If it passes through his mind, he’ll probably say it,” Ozzie’s son Oney told me several weeks ago, in the course of marvelling over the fact that his father had become much more celebrated—a national hero, even, in Venezuela—as a chatterbox in retirement than as a Gold Glove-winning shortstop. “He says things other people wish they could say.” So does Oney, who was forced to resign from his job with the White Sox after tweeting too many personal opinions about the way the club did business. The Guillens are fun to be around, unless you’re their boss.

 

Tuesday morning, while the Marlins were in Philadelphia, Guillen returned to Little Havana and held an emergency press conference to try to save his job. “They hired me to manage the ballclub, not to talk about politics,” Guillen said, in Spanish, and yet talk about politics he did, for much of the next forty-five minutes, in an attempt to convince Miami’s Cuban population not to boycott the Marlins. “I prefer to die before voting for Hugo Chávez,” he now said. “I will never vote for Hugo Chávez.” And: “Everybody in the world hates Fidel Castro, including myself.” Miami, you are now free to go back to being baffled by the Marlins.

 

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/spor...l#ixzz1rhj5Skbc

[kitekrazy]

I actually feel for Ozzie a little bit here. Yeah, it was dumb what he said. But c'mon now. This is officially ridiculous.

 

He's just one of those foreigners who get confused on what free speech really is in modern Amerika.

 

[kitekrazy]

Yet he's still going strong and making zillions of dollars yearly.

 

That's the thing. Controversial people will always make money. There is no such thing as bad press.