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People need to stop overreacting to this guy's comments.

You have government officials asking for him to be fired.

WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did you attend the rally?

Where was all this attention when Luke scott through plantain chips at a dominican player and told him to stop acting like a monkey. Where was the outrage when Tony Larussa was caught driving under the influence?

This is the stpidest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Pharmcat wrote:did you attend the rally?

Nope.

Just. Plain. Dumb.

Agree with OP. This is just getting out of hand. Only people new to baseball would take his comments seriously.

I don't think any of you really understands how much of the Marlins fanbase is Cuban. Saying I love Fidel Castro is the equivalent of someone saying i love Hitler to Jews.

I don't agree with the outrage, but i understand it.

Stephano wrote:I don't think any of you really understands how much of the Marlins fanbase is Cuban. Saying I love Fidel Castro is the equivalent of someone saying i love Hitler to Jews.

What Ozzie said was stupid, but boiling it down to "I love Fidel Castro" pulls it entirely out of context. He never condoned Castro's actions, beliefs, or even Marxism in general. He was saying he had some level of admiration for Castro to survive all these years with a target on his back. Again, still a dumb/somewhat offensive thing to say, but simplifying it to "I love Castro" completely misrepresents what he meant.

And trying to equate Castro to Hitler is also wrong, and arguably pretty offensive in and of itself. Hitler attempted to commit genocide and directly or indirectly caused the deaths of tens of millions of people. Castro's a pretty deplorable human being in his own right but not remotely at the same level.

2 things

1. I didn't interpret him to be actually saying "Ozzie Guillen loves Fidel Castro." But it doesn't matter how we interpret it, it matters how Cubans living in South Florida do, and to them, saying ANYTHING pro-Castro immediately severely damages your image there, no matter what it is you actually meant to say. This is emotion we're dealing with, emotional people do not think rationally.

2. I'm also not comparing the actions of both Hitler and Castro, of course what Hitler did was worse, but to Cubans, Castro IS their Hitler. I don't want to get into a history lesson here, but there is no other comparable figure i could have used.

I'm not a Cuban immigrant so i can't express their feelings for them, but it's pretty evident how strongly they feel towards anything pro-Castro.

Stephano wrote:I don't think any of you really understands how much of the Marlins fanbase is Cuban. Saying I love Fidel Castro is the equivalent of someone saying i love Hitler to Jews.

I don't agree with the outrage, but i understand it.

The outrage is stupid.

You have people at the so called rally, rallying for no reason in particular - hell they don't even know what they are rallying for, aside for being Cuban.

On the news today, they interviewed this old Cuban gentleman who was outside the park and when he was asked, why he wanted Ozzie guillen fired, his response was - Who? I am just here to support my fellow Cubans.

The Cuban population in Miami, while strong and united, rally around the littlest of things and blow it out of proportion.

I want to reiterate that I don't agree with, and am not defending, peoples reactions in South Florida, I'm simply stating that i understand them.

Outrage over anything, whether it has merit or not, is just the norm these days with instant media

How dare Ozzie Guillen have opinions that people disagree with.

What a bunch of moronic plebs you guys are. They're "over-reacting"? Please...

So I take it you all have escaped from tyrannical dictators?

The ignorance of history here is disgusting.

bbjaylive wrote:What a bunch of moronic plebs you guys are. They're "over-reacting"? Please...

So I take it you all have escaped from tyrannical dictators?

The ignorance of history here is disgusting.

Ad hominen and assumptions will get you far here.

King of Troy wrote:

bbjaylive wrote:What a bunch of moronic plebs you guys are. They're "over-reacting"? Please...

So I take it you all have escaped from tyrannical dictators?

The ignorance of history here is disgusting.

Ad hominen and assumptions will get you far here.

As you previously just demonstrated.

bbjaylive wrote:What a bunch of moronic plebs you guys are. They're "over-reacting"? Please...

So I take it you all have escaped from tyrannical dictators?

The ignorance of history here is disgusting.

In many respects, the people who left could be considered the dictators to the one's on the island. For you to act like the issue is completely one sided is a farce.

Stephano wrote:2 things

1. I didn't interpret him to be actually saying "Ozzie Guillen loves Fidel Castro." But it doesn't matter how we interpret it, it matters how Cubans living in South Florida do, and to them, saying ANYTHING pro-Castro immediately severely damages your image there, no matter what it is you actually meant to say. This is emotion we're dealing with, emotional people do not think rationally.

2. I'm also not comparing the actions of both Hitler and Castro, of course what Hitler did was worse, but to Cubans, Castro IS their Hitler. I don't want to get into a history lesson here, but there is no other comparable figure i could have used.

I'm not a Cuban immigrant so i can't express their feelings for them, but it's pretty evident how strongly they feel towards anything pro-Castro.

You're using the same sentiments that Dan Le (Please Use More Appropriate Word) used on Sportscenter the other day. I'm not saying that's bad in your case, but it is a fair comparison.

I think suspending Ozzie was the dumbest punishment possible. Him flying from Philly to Miami just to apologize was good enough for me. He was embarrassed for saying what he did, but I can understand where he was coming from.

I can also see why the Cuban community and Marlins fanbase are so upset. Ozzie was supposed to be the father figure type manager for this team, since the stars of the franchise are all of Hispanic ethnicity. Ozzie was supposed to be the guy who represented that community as the guy in charge, and then he went and made those comments.

Ozzie is no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth, but in this case he put one in his mouth and a bullet in the other.

Stephano wrote:2 things

1. I didn't interpret him to be actually saying "Ozzie Guillen loves Fidel Castro." But it doesn't matter how we interpret it, it matters how Cubans living in South Florida do, and to them, saying ANYTHING pro-Castro immediately severely damages your image there, no matter what it is you actually meant to say. This is emotion we're dealing with, emotional people do not think rationally.

2. I'm also not comparing the actions of both Hitler and Castro, of course what Hitler did was worse, but to Cubans, Castro IS their Hitler. I don't want to get into a history lesson here, but there is no other comparable figure i could have used.

I'm not a Cuban immigrant so i can't express their feelings for them, but it's pretty evident how strongly they feel towards anything pro-Castro.

I can understand why Cuban immigrants would be having an emotional response to what he said. I can even understand why the Marlins suspended him as a business decision. But it's crossing the line when the league feels it needs to open an investigation into this, or when politicians and media loudmouths feel the need to parrot the same irrational rhetoric the Cuban protesters are using and blow the hype on this story sky high.

It suggests that the league and media don't have their priorities straight in terms of punishing for misconduct and are pandering to the wrong people. If the protesters want to run around screaming that Castro is Hitler until they can calm down a bit, then fine. But it shouldn't be part of the discussion for anyone else.

Da Schwab wrote:

Stephano wrote:2 things

1. I didn't interpret him to be actually saying "Ozzie Guillen loves Fidel Castro." But it doesn't matter how we interpret it, it matters how Cubans living in South Florida do, and to them, saying ANYTHING pro-Castro immediately severely damages your image there, no matter what it is you actually meant to say. This is emotion we're dealing with, emotional people do not think rationally.

2. I'm also not comparing the actions of both Hitler and Castro, of course what Hitler did was worse, but to Cubans, Castro IS their Hitler. I don't want to get into a history lesson here, but there is no other comparable figure i could have used.

I'm not a Cuban immigrant so i can't express their feelings for them, but it's pretty evident how strongly they feel towards anything pro-Castro.

You're using the same sentiments that Dan Le (Please Use More Appropriate Word) used on Sportscenter the other day. I'm not saying that's bad in your case, but it is a fair comparison.

I think suspending Ozzie was the dumbest punishment possible. Him flying from Philly to Miami just to apologize was good enough for me. He was embarrassed for saying what he did, but I can understand where he was coming from.

I can also see why the Cuban community and Marlins fanbase are so upset. Ozzie was supposed to be the father figure type manager for this team, since the stars of the franchise are all of Hispanic ethnicity. Ozzie was supposed to be the guy who represented that community as the guy in charge, and then he went and made those comments.

Ozzie is no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth, but in this case he put one in his mouth and a bullet in the other.

I'm using his examples because I don't have any where near the grasp on the situation that he would, as a Miami resident for his entire life, and a Cuban, so i figure his views and opinions would be more valid than my own.

there is a picture of seligh and the Os owner with this leader

MLB is a hypocrite to criticize ozzie on this