Today’s news reports three high-profile personnel moves.
- Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was fired for “the decision to mislead the public.”
- Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn resigned. “Certain issues were brought to the [Best Buy] board’s attention regarding Mr. Dunn’s personal conduct…and an audit committee investigation was initiated.”
- Miami Marlins (that’s a baseball team) Manager Ozzie Guillen was suspended five games. This is the one that’s interesting.
Why was Ozzie suspended five games?
Well…he said something. And now, he says, “I’m on my knees to apologize.” He was speaking at a news conference at the Marlin’s new baseball stadium that just opened in the Cuban-American neighborhood of Miami.
So…what did he say? Did he utter a string of profanity? Did he assault an umpire? Did he steal money? Was he having an affair with one of his ball-players? Was he insubordinate to the front office? Well…sort of the latter, maybe, in a round about sort of way.
He said something positive about the man Miami Cuban-Americans love to hate. He had outraged the very people the Miami Marlins owners are hoping will fill the seats of the new stadium.
“I love Fidel Castro. [OOPS!] I respect Fidel Castro [OOPS again!!!], you know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but [he] is still here.” – interview with Time magazine.
Ozzie is Venezuelan. Maybe he doesn’t remember that it was Miami Cuban ex-patriots who led the United States into the Bay of Pigs disaster. They tried to kill him. Instead they brought the world to the edge of nuclear holocaust. You don’t get to say that, Ozzie. Your fan base loves to hate Fidel. They hate Fidel more than they love the Miami Marlins, and more than they love the Marlins’ new Spanish-speaking Manager.
Ozzie has a history of sticking his foot in his mouth. That comes with the territory when you hire Ozzie. Now he’s back-tracking, claiming the statement came out wrong because he wasn’t speaking in Spanish. It came out wrong in English. Time magazine stands by its story.
The Associated Press reports this morning that “Guillen said the uproar he created has left him sad, embarrassed and feeling stupid. He said he accepted the team’s punishment. ‘When you’re a sportsman, you shouldn’t be involved in politics,’ he said. ‘I’m going to be a Miami guy for the rest of my life. I want to walk in the street with my head up and feel not this bad, the way I feel now.'”
Bobby Petrino and Brian Dunn have lost their jobs. Ozzie still has his… in Miami.
Given the history of the intended fan base of the Miami Marlins, if I were Ozzie, I think I’d stand by my words and take the first flight home to Venezuela while I still had time before I became the surrogate for the man they love to hate and want to kill in Cuba.
Views from the Edge 
We hear so many perfunctory, insincere, unapologetic apologies that it can be hard to tell which ones are sincere.
I don’t want to hear any kind of apology unless the speaker truly regrets what she said and has decided, or her own free will, minus outside pressure, that she wants to apologize.
The apology that drives me crazy? “I’m sorry I upset you. . . .I’m sorry if what I said/did was upsetting to you.” The classic Non-Apology Apology.
Grrrrrrr.
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Grrrr! We hardly recognize a real apology when we see one any more, they’re so rare. I wish Ozzie had jus said, “Look, people, get over it. I was hired to manage a baseball team. I can take this team to the World Series – the Marlin’s roste is that that good – if you’ll just shut up, fill the stands, honor freedom of speech, and do your best to be Americans rather than Cuba’s 1950s elite, the reason for the revolution!” But it ain’t goin’ to happen. In the meantime, the Marlins have started the new season by losing. If they keep losing, the owners will show Ozzie the door, and invite a new manager who hates Fidel as much as intended Marlins fan base.
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And what does this have to do with whether or not he is a good coach?
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Not a thing. But that doesn’t matter in Little Cuba.
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Well, I am sooooooooo disappointed in our country. He ‘said’ something? Isn’t that the definition of free speech? I could understand his punishment if he publicly trashed someone, or used profanity in a family-friendly environment, but all he did was acknowledge respect for the leader of a country….a country who we consider a non-friend because they do not practice ‘democracy’ – which we just stopped practicing when we punished Ozzie for expressing his views. What is next?
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So much for our right to speak freely. Freedom of speech – another old-fashioned concept … ?
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Curious, isn’t it?
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