One of the first things I did after coming to work for CBSSports.com in 2008 was to fly to Chicago for an Ozzie Guillen crisis story.
One of the last things I wrote about Ozzie Guillen during his time as White Sox manager was a blog about Ozzie calling his critics "the idiots out there."
Now Ozzie is four games into his tenure with the Marlins, and there's another crisis.
So when I say "I love Ozzie," I mean that I love writing about Ozzie.
A look back:
June 4, 2008: Ozzie demands changes, in comments that are seen as both throwing general manager Ken Williams under the bus and threatening the job of hitting coach Greg Walker. Ozzie gets called to a meeting with Williams, later describing it as the most uncomfortable of his career. Ozzie sits in the White Sox dugout and tries to explain it all away.
I say this is what makes Guillen so much fun.
February 24, 2010: It's spring training. What can go wrong? It's Ozzie, and Twitter, and Ken Williams again. Ozzie: "People are acting like I murdered someone or stole someone's money."
I say this is just another day with Ozzie's White Sox.
April 30, 2010: Ozzie takes off against the Arizona immigration law, including saying, "This country can't live without all the Latinos. Sorry. . . There's a lot of people from this country, they're very lazy. We do the hard work. We're the one who've got to go out there and work in the sun, all day long, to make this country better."
This time, I present it without comment.
April 25, 2011: The White Sox come to New York, and they're in crisis. People in the White Sox organization are asking, "Is Ozzie's voice getting old?" Ozzie says, "Every year at some point, somehow, I'm getting fired."
I say I don't think Ozzie is getting fired -- yet.
August 5, 2011: Ozzie talks about "the idiots out there." Ozzie rips outfielder Alex Rios saying he's "brutal everywhere."
I say that more than ever, it looks like Ozzie could be on his way out in Chicago, and on his way in with the Marlins. And I say that the Ozzie/Miami combination could turn into disaster.
September 27, 2011: Ozzie is finally out in Chicago and in with the Marlins.
Scott Miller says this could be when the Marlins become relevant.
February 22, 2012: Ozzie opens his first spring with the Marlins, and he's as happy as can be. So are they. "It really is a perfect fit," club president David Samson says.
I say Ozzie needed this change of scenery, but also that there's no guarantee this marriage will work.
April 10, 2012: Is the marriage already failing? Ozzie says "I love Fidel Castro" in an interview with Time magazine, then holds an hour-long press conference in an attempt to apologize.
I ask, didn't the Marlins know this was what they were getting? Jon Heyman suggests that the one-hour apology may not have been enough.
Remember when Ozzie said . . .
Ozzie Guillen has gotten himself in another mess, this time because he told Time magazine that "I love Fidel Castro" (and then qualified it). Which reminds us of the time Ozzie said Americans are lazy . . . and the time he said his critics were "idiots," and the time . . .
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