I am starting a tradition in which every week I write about a sports figure who really had a lapse of judgement. Last week it was Nick Farley for getting arrested for having a small amount of marijuana on him and this week that honor goes to Ozzie Guillen. Why in the world would you honestly think that praising Fidel Castro while working in Little Havana not get you any backlash? Of course people are now going to hate you. Most of the people who live near the stadium had to flee or their parents had to flee from a Castro-run Cuba. Guillen had done an interview with Time magazine in which he praised Fidel Castro and stated that he admired and respected the dictator. However, during his press conference this morning he said that he misspoke in that he knew what he wanted to say in Spanish, but used the wrong words in English. This almost seems like a real excuse considering I cannot understand a word he says when he speaks. The Marlins did not take too kindly to Guillen’s apology and suspended the manager for five games. The Marlins’ front office definitely made the right move by doing this. If he had done nothing, the backlash would have been unbelievable. There are Cuban-American players in the league that would have been offended and of course all the fans that would have personally felt offended. This was a really awful move for a team that just opened a new ballpark and went out in free agency and picked up some huge names. They have not been performing up to expectations thus far, it is still very early and they did have a big win over the Phillies so anything can happen. Really bad move Ozzie, really bad.
It was actually the Marlins that suspended Ozzie for five games. They had a lot of pr work to do after this one.