Ozzie Guillen Drops The Cuddly Act

Ozzie Guillen is what you call real real. That’s why it comes to a shock to most of us to learn the White Sox coach decided to muzzle himself last year when he spoke to reporters. It was a move that tried to make the coach into a more approachable, tangible human being. Er, yeah, that didn’t go over too well. The team lost 90 games and was 24 games out of the division race. Sure, it could’ve been the pitching not showing up or sluggers like Jermaine Dye not hitting, but Guillen isn’t hearing any of that nonsense. It’s all his fault, which means that he’s going back to his foul-mouthed ways. And damn if he doesn’t seem happy to bring it back.

“Last year I hated to walk back to the tunnel and see [reporters],” Guillen said. “I ran out of bullets because I was honest. Sometimes during games I was asking the coaches what to say. This year I’m going to know what I’m going to say because I’m back to being Ozzie.”

In fact, he has put the stadium operations people on notice, saying they might want to rethink the plan that calls for his postgame news conferences to air on the U.S. Cellular Field video screen.

“I know there are kids there,” he said.

Yes, this is in the same stadium where a father and son team stormed the field and beat the shit out of the Royals first base coach six years ago. That’s the kind of family atmosphere you’d want to protect.
Ozzie Guillen swears he’ll be tougher on White Sox [Chicago Tribune]
Image [Chicago Tribune]