His unfortunate diagnosis became evident early Tuesday morning, when he remorsefully apologized for comments he made in Time magazine about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. He also willingly accepted a 5 game suspension from the Marlins' brass, who have inexplicably treated Guillen's utterances as if they were indicators of high treason against the United States.
The comments, which appeared in Time magazine's recent profile of the feisty manager, are definitely a little off color and blunt. "I respect Fidel Castro" he proclaimed. "You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that son of a bitch is still there." Guillen's usual bravado, which was clearly on display during that interview, was no where to be seen at Tuesday's somber press conference. Rather, the usually feisty Guillen was apologetic and muffled, stifling back tears as he asked for forgiveness from the Latino and Cuban communities.
"I'm very, very, very sorry. I will do everything in my power to make it better." he said, sounding more like a man who just got caught cheating on his wife, rather than as a person being attacked in the court of public opinion for relatively innocuous comments.
Look, everybody understands that Fidel Castro isn't somebody that you want to openly embrace. He's a stifler of freedom and a ruthless micro-manager of political and religious expression. Cuban exiles, who make up a substantial portion of Miami's population, are extra sensitive to discussions surrounding the man who all but forced them away from their homeland, so hearing the manager of their local MLB team say anything other than negative things about Castro would obviously jar them to some extent.
But after getting past that knee jerk reaction (something our modern society struggles with), it becomes clear the Guillen was not professing loyalty to a despot. Rather, he was simply acknowledging the fact that since Castro took control of his island nation in the aftermath of the 1959 revolution, America has had 11 different Presidents come and go. Certainly, that type of longevity is impressive and deserving of some level of respect, especially when you consider that he has somehow managed to survive approximately 600 assassination plots.
As Ozzie put it, "that son of a bitch is still there".
What Ozzie Guillen said is perfectly understandable, and not worthy of the scorn that is currently being directed towards it by the press and the Cuban community. Respecting Castro's uncanny survival skills does not equate to respect for Karl Marx and the Communist manifesto. If Guillen had said that he admired Bobby Cox , Vin Scully, or Jamie Moyer for their long baseball careers, there certainly wouldn't be an uproar. So why does it have to be this way with Castro? Even if he is an evil "son of a bitch",the length of his tenure as dictator of an enemy nation is just as impressive as the long, long careers of many professional athletes and coaches. There's no need to let nationalistic rigamarole cloud up that obvious fact.
Guillen's 5 game suspension is the most recent testament to how political correctness is unnecessarily laying waste to our First Amendment right to free speech. In 21st century America, we no longer have the freedom to speak openly and without fear. Instead, we have the privilege to express only our most mundane opinions in a cookie cutter format. If you decide to trail off that script, you risk having your reputation soiled and your name slapped onto an Orwellian government watch list. Up until now, professional sports had been a refuge from these types of nonsensical procedures. While the outside monitored our phone calls and nitpicked over our internet postings, the fortified walls of our stadiums and arenas served as "free speech" clubs. Fans cursed and cheered loudly, announcers used off the wall metaphors, and players and coaches made outrageous post game comments that we all used to laugh at.
That is changing quickly. The NFL, which is fast becoming the poster child for political correctness in sports, has implemented rigid conduct policies that have led to fines and suspensions over benign comments, touchdown dances, and minor tweaks to jerseys or shoes. Now baseball, one of America's oldest and most cherished institutions, is also caving to the world of lawyer-speak and uniformity. Sad times indeed.
There are, of course, areas in which free speech is inapplicable, even in athletics. For example, telling your players to kill another man's head or to blow out his ACL definitely equates to violent rhetoric, and it shouldn't be tolerated. Giving sports teams insensitive names and logos, such as the Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians, is arguably a form of hate speech. But we don't hear much criticism directed towards these things. Sure, Gregg Williams and the New Orleans Saints are being punished for their aforementioned misadventures in "bounty gate", but in the audiotape of Williams' disgusting and gruesome diatribe, not one player spoke up to condemn him. Similar language is, in all likelihood, given a free pass in locker rooms across the country. That is the real crime. Ozzie Guillen's lighthearted and ultimately accurate statement is tame by comparison.
If the sporting world really wants to launch a foray into the increasingly insipid world of political correctness, they'd best direct their energy to cleaning up the more egregious elements of their culture. If Ozzie Guillen is truly remorseful for his comments, he shouldn't be. His suspension is a travesty, and an insult to democratic principles that we are supposed to defend.
Shame on the Marlins, and shame on the people criticizing Guillen.
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