[Ozzie’s moonwalk tribute to Michael Jackson, who is reportedly gravely ill as we go to press, at Saturday’s game. If Bill Veeck isn’t around to hire midget players, Sox fans at least get this.]
In a story that appeared here Sunday, I mistakenly paraphrased White Sox mgr Ozzie Guillien on the subject of Cubs mgr Lou Piniella, whom he sided with, when Piniella publicly disciplined OF Milton Bradley during Saturday’s game. Ozzie noted that players should police their own dugout, not the managers and coaches, which I took to mean that he thought not just Bradley, but all modern players, are shit. Then Lou noted that it takes a Cubs appearance at Sox Park to sell the park out, and Ozzie, the South Side’s ambassador to the United States, was asked why:
After Cubs manager Lou Piniella pointed out the spike in attendance from 22,000 when the Dodgers faced the White Sox last week to a full house when the Cubs visited U.S. Cellular Field this weekend, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was asked why attendance was so low for the Dodgers series.
“Because our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans,” Guillen said. “They know we’re [expletive].”
Guillen said Cubs fans will watch any game at Wrigley Field because “Wrigley Field is just a bar.”
Hey, Ben, sorry to keep piling on but it looks like the Trib has eliminated the position of Cubs GM and replaced it with a web poll. In its first personnel move, the North Side hoi polloi has decided to trade Carlos Zambrano. They aren’t getting anything in return other than the sense that they now don’t have to deal with a “pansy” in Wrigleyville.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-30-cubs-zambrano-jun30,0,452150.story
Pete — apparently readers referred to Phil Rogers as a “pansy” and an “embarrassment.” So much for Ozzie’s theory that all Cub fans are stupid.
Pansy, btw, was meant in the politically correct “whiner” and “wimp” context, not the offensive gay one.
Well, scathing invective is a risky way to drive your team to .500 (or, as it’s called in the AL Central, “in it”) but it seems to have worked for Ozzie.