Ozzie Guillen, as you may know, is in hot water over comments he made in a Time magazine story that were supportive of former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Pretty insensitive on Guillen’s part, especially after you factor in the demographics of the city where he now makes his living. Guillen should have known better, but after all, he is Ozzie Guillen.
Guillen had the sense to apologize multiple times since the backlash started. He’ll also be flying back to Miami to issue a public apology during the Marlins’ day off Tuesday at Marlins Park, which, oh by the way, happens to be located in a neighborhood of Miami called Little Havana.
Citing the city’s large Cuban-American population, some local politicians have called on the Marlins to remove Guillen. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez thinks that Guillen would already be out of a job if he made these remarks before the Marlins moved into their swanky new home and were still trying to raise funding and support for it.
“If they didn’t have the Marlins stadium, and they were trying to negotiate to get it and this thing blew up, Ozzie Guillen would be gone,” Martinez said on ESPN 760’s “JMP and Pugh.” “The fact that they already have their stadium and the tax payer paid for it and many by people here, and it’s tax payer funded and they already have it and you can’t take it back, I think their reaction would be a lot more measured than were they not to have it, and they were still asking for us to give them all those millions of dollars.”
Guillen is apparently truly sorry for what he did, or so he says. By personally flying back to Florida in the middle of a road trip for his public apology is his way of showing he’s sincerely remorseful. Yes, Castro is an atrocious human being, but Guillen in the aftermath of his remarks has done enough to save his job. But, if anything, the guy who prides himself on having a lose connection between his brain and mouth now has to be skating on thin ice with the Marlins executives.
Photo credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE
