Ozzie Guillen's Controversial Comments

SI Staff | Apr 10, 2012

Ozzie Guillen's Controversial Comments /

Ozzie Guillen's Controversial Comments

It took less than a week for Ozzie Guillen to get in hot water for something he said -- and this time it nearly cost him his job. In a Time magazine article that came out in the first week of the season, Guillen said he "loves" longtime Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and also said "I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that [S.O.B.] is still there." Guillen was later suspended five games for those remarks, which set off a firestorm in South Florida, home to many Cuban exiles. The Marlins are playing their first season in a new ballpark in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood and had hired Guillen in part to be a drawing card for the next chapter in the team's history.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen exploded once again after a 2-1 loss to the Royals in which he called his team's effort "pathetic." "A lot of people say I talk s--- because I have to talk s---," Guillen said. "No, I don't. I talk s--- because what I see; that's all I see. Very bad. Nothing against (Bruce) Chen. Nothing against the Kansas City pitching staff. They're good. They got a young ballclub. The way we go about our business here, horse s---. They can say whatever they want to say." If the defeat wasn't painful enough, Guillen was also hit by a foul ball during the game that left with him a swollen right eye. "One day we're good, three days we're bad," Guillen said. "We don't have no energy in the dugout. Horse s--- approach at the plate for the 90th time. If we go to Cleveland the way we go there, huh, good luck. We're wasting our money on this club if we go to Cleveland the way we were here. That's all I have to say."

ozzie.guillen.fans.jpg — Tom Szczerbowski/US PRESSWIRE

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen lashed out at Chicago fans for being forgetful. Guillen was still steamed about Saturday's 14-inning defeat to the Blue Jays and defended himself and his coaching staff against those calling for their jobs. The manager said no one in the White Sox locker room has more passion for the game than he does and that he'd be "lying to myself" if he tried not to care so much about wins and losses. He also decried Chicago fans' short memories, saying that "when they're drunk" they urinate on the display outside U.S. Cellular Field that honors the 2005 World Series champions.

After umpire Joe West ejected him from the game: "I don't think he has the right and the power to let people know who is the chief on the field. We know he has to control the game, we know he has to control all the s---, but in the meanwhile, I don't think it was the right thing to do, like we balked him while we were on the field. Joe has been like that for a lot of years, and he's always going to be like this. I'm not going to change it, nobody is going to change it, but sometimes he thinks f---ing people pay to watch him f---ing umpire. He's the type of guy that wants to control the game, it's good for the game, and to me one of the best umpires in the game, no doubt. But in the meanwhile, those years are on his shoulders and kind of heavy and showing people who he is. I deserve respect and the players here deserve respect here, too. When you tell the manager to get the f--- off the field, I don't think that's a good way to handle situations. No matter what you say, what you do, how long you talk here, Major League Baseball doesn't do s--- for anything. I'll be waiting for my fine, get 'em the next day."

"I'm not going to quit. I'm not a quitter. When I want to quit, I'll do a lot of stupid things and make sure they fire me and get paid."

"3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd."

After losing to the Tigers: "Very embarrassing. 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]."

After losing to the Yankees: "I'm embarrassed, and everybody in that room should be embarrassed. If they're not embarrassed, they got the wrong job or they're stealing money from baseball. I feel like I'm stealing money from Jerry, and that's a shame. When you have more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror and second-guess yourself. I'm second-guessing myself right now, making the wrong lineup every day. I watched Little League this morning ... they were playing better than we did. At least it was more fun. This is not major-league baseball, sorry."

After a loss to the Tigers: "Is the clubhouse closed? We should open it and let them [answer] why they're so horse[bleep]."

On Wrigley Field and why White Sox fans weren't showing up at U.S. Cellular Field other than for Cubs games: "Because our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans. They know we're [bleep]. ... Wrigley Field is just a bar."

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. We're horse[bleep], and we're going to be horse[bleep] the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win. We are the [bleep] of Chicago. We're the Chicago [bleep]. We have the worst owner [Jerry Reinsdorf]. The guy's got seven [bleeping] rings, and he's the [bleeping] horse[bleep] owner."

On Dustin Pedroia: "I never thought I would walk a jockey. I must be the worst manager in the history of baseball right now, walking a guy that just came from being on the top of Big Brown to beat the White Sox." "The guy right now is on fire. No matter what you throw there, he's going to get it. I can't believe it. You can change professions from one year to another. To go from the Kentucky Derby to the Boston Red Sox ballpark and perform, that's amazing."

After brawl with White Sox: Cubs starter Rich Hill called Pierzynski's play "gutless" and "pathetic." Guillen responded with several expletives and said Hill, "is going to make (Cubs manager) Dusty Baker get fired. Shut up. He just got to the big leagues. When you make a comment that (it) was a cheap shot, you don't know the game."

After a controversy with then-Rangers manager Buck Showalter: "[Showalter] never even smelled a jock in the big leagues. He didn't even know how the clubhouse looked in the big leagues when he got his first job. Those guys don't bother me. Mr. Baseball never even got a hit in Triple-A."

Said to umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, son of respected longtime ump Harry, during an on-field argument: "You're not even a pimple on your daddy's [rear]."

Published Apr 10, 2012

SI STAFF