Ok, Ozzie, you made your outlandish statement for the year, now it’s time to focus on the Miami Marlins.
The city of Miami and thousands of other Cuban-Americans across the country were enraged when Guillen praised dictator Fidel Castro for staying in power despite many attempts to get rid of him. He was suspended for five games and will be returning tonight against the Chicago Cubs.
While the team is prepared for protesters, all three home games this season sold over 30,000 tickets, so it’s not like the outrage will be altering the checkbook of the Marlins’ front office. It’s time to move on from one ill-advised quote and concentrate on the new-look franchise.
It’s a new era in Miami and the fanbase needs to focus on the production on the field and not the manager that holds controversial opinions. Marlins broadcaster Cookie Rojas has been around the game for years after coming over to America from Havana. He is ready to forgive, and hopes others will as well (via latino.foxnews.com):
I’ll tell you something about Ozzie. As long as I’ve known him, he never before felt sorry saying, ‘Please forgive me.’ This is the first time really that he had to admit he was wrong and made a mistake. Let’s get over with it and play ball. I hope they realize this is done with.
Guillen has stuck his foot in his mouth on multiple occasions over the years, but making controversial comments like that when your stadium is located in Little Havana did cross a line.
But after a heart-felt apology that seemed incredibly genuine…what else do you want? He has learned a hard lesson and will surely never utter positive words about Castro again. It was a mistake, but fans shouldn’t look at this as a deal-breaker.
And they won’t.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that winning cures all that ails. Right now the Marlins are a disappointing 4-6, but the have 152 games to change that. As long as Ozzie is able to successfully turn the ship around and make the Marlins a contender for the National League East title, all will be forgotten.
Well maybe not forgotten, but swept under the rug.
Fans don’t ask a whole lot from their managers, but winning is at the top. So if the Marlins are in the bottom of the division come August, then we’ll have some real problems.
For now, fans need to forget about the comments and focus on their resurrected franchise and a first World Series title since 2003.
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