The manager of this week's opponent for the Royals offers an important lesson: No matter how much you achieve in life, you can still complain -- loudly.
In 2003, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen led his team to its first World Series championship since 1917. The White Sox are first in the AL Central, a welcome start for a team expected to finish with a mediocre record.
Despite all of this, Guillen is deeply unhappy. His lucrative contract lasts until 2012 but he seems determined to get fired before then.
Earlier this year, he trashed his own fans and Chicago's media in a hilarious pre-game rant. Earlier this week, he trashed his own employers. Here's a fun sample, only safe for work at truck stops and Comiskey Park:
In other jobs, this will get you a free admission to anger management classes at best, a pink slip with no severance at worst. But in sports, you'll just get euphemistically tagged as "colorful," "eccentric" and "unorthodox."
This isn't Guillen's first brush with controversy. He is, to borrow from ESPN's Scott Van Pelt, fluent in three languages: Spanish, English and obscenity. Two years ago, Guillen offended many by using a homophobic slur to describe a Chicago sports columnist, earning a trip to sensitivity training as well as an invitation by the McCain campaign to serve as a spirtual advisor. This year, female sportswriters described the White Sox clubhouse as uncomfortable to women after the team used a female blow-up doll as a motivational tool. The ensuing controversy thrilled The National Association of Headline Writers and snagged the blow-up dolls a reality show on E!
Guillen offends everyone -- the media, fans, women's groups, gay and lesbian groups, his own employers. By October, he might expand his efforts, standing outside Comiskey Park and insulting passers-by.
But he won't go away. Despite his best efforts, he keeps winning. And being surly about it.
Some believe that there is a method to his madness.
Or maybe he's just gone mad.
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