Ozzie Guillen Suspended

Ozzie Guillen has said a lot of things throughout his 9 year tenure as a Major League manager, but has apologized for very little of it. If you follow MLB or watch ESPN Ozzie Guillen's antics are always under constant monitoring, he's always quick to start a fight with an umpire, or get vulgar with reporters in news conferences, but that's just Ozzie being himself. After an interview with Time Magazine, Ozzie said, "I respect Fidel Castro, you know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that [expletive] is still here." Now some people may not understand why this would be such a big deal, and they must look at the current situation Guillen is in. Ozzie now manages the Miami Marlins, which the city of Miami has a large Cuban population. He must now realize that he has offended these Cubans because some of them have fled Cuba during Fidel's reign and came to Florida seeking refuge. To put it in perspective, "It's like going to New York's Jewish district and saying, 'Hitler wasn't so bad. He managed to stay in power for a few years,'" veteran Spanish-language baseball announcer Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, who left Cuba at age 17. In a live press conference today, Ozzie apologized once more as he did not mean to offend anyone and didn't mean anything behind the comment. Cuban baseball players around the league feel as though Ozzie should be accepted, especially since he is sincerely upset with himself more making such comments. After today, Guillen will be receiving a 5-game suspension, which he will not appear, for he wants to make it up to the city of Miami by doing all that he can. Ozzie lives in Miami, he now works in Miami, and is willing to do everything in his power along with the power of the Marlins to help the Cuban community, and the Latino community within the city of Miami. He will not say whether or not he agrees with the decision of the suspension, but as of right now he'll respect their decision, because he is in no place to complain. Honestly, I think Ozzie did make a mistake in saying such comments, especially with managing in Miami, but he needs to realize that he is always in the spotlight and will always be under the cameras. Unfortunately, we live in a time where people can always take offense to any sort of comment due to sensitivity, but for statements about political dictators, maybe we should keep those comments to ourselves, or at least away from reporters.