Yesterday was a remarkable day in the world of sports news. Two highly successful coaches were the subjects of criticism. One for opening his mouth, the other for opening his fly. And in each case they showed a continuing lack of morals and wisdom.
Coach Bobby Petrino
Bobby Petrino was fired as head coach of the University of Arkansas football team. Ozzie Guillen should be fired as Manager of the Major League Baseball Miami Marlins.
As I understand the facts of Petrino’s case he deserves some sort of prize for possessing the largest testicles since Rod Blagojevich. While vacationing with his family the 51-year old Petrino went for a motorcycle ride, where he met up with his 25-year-old mistress. Together they managed to wreck his Harley Davidson, Apparently driving it into a ditch. Knowing he was in trouble Petrino asked that a witness to the accident not call 9-1-1. Petrino called an aide who came and picked up him and Jessica Dorrell. If I have the story straight, the girlfriend was dropped off at her car and Petrino was taken to the hospital. (And while having an inappropriate relationship with the 51 year old, married football coach with four kids, did I also mention Dorrell had a fiance`?)
The Arkansas Razorbacks football program is a highly visible top-notch program. Last year they finished 11-2 as the 5th ranked team in the country. Playing in the South Eastern Conference, they were expected to compete for a National Championship this year.
While not advocating Petrino’s affair with Dorrell, that was not his fireable mistake. There were several. When questioned by his employer and media about his accident Petrino lied. He said he was the only one on the bike. Later, a police report revealed the presence of Dorrell. Also, 3 days prior to this April 1 motorcycle accident Petrino had hired Dorrell to his staff. In doing so he failed to reveal his intimate relationship with the former Arkansas volleyball player to his boss, Athletic Director Jeff Long.
Petrino took the Arkansas job in 2007 when he unexpectedly quit on the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons only 13 games into their season, showing himself then to be a rat. Long fired that rat yesterday, for cause, thus eliminating any right Petrino had to an $18-million buy-out clause in his contract. Long made the correct decision.
Now, if only the Miami Marlins owner Jeff Loria would make the same decision with Guillen.
The former Chicago White Sox Manager has a mouth that never stops. For those like me who aren’t easily offended his bombasity is endearing. He says some of the most outrageous stuff, including last week when he told reporters he likes to get drunk after every game, win or lose.
But when he told a Time Magazine reporter that he “Loves Fidel Castro“, he disqualified himself from ever Managing the Miami Marlins. Let me be clear. Were he still in Chicago, or managing any other Major League team, his comment would be chalked up as Ozzie-being-Ozzie. It would be largely unimportant. In fact Guillen said much the same thing in a 2008 interview with a Chicago reporter and nothing came of it.
But the Marlins just built a new $624-million palace stadium in the community of Miami known as Little Havana. Dade County, Florida is more than 50% Latino and most of those are Cuban immigrants or their descendants. The Cuban Dictator who has run the authoritarian communist regime 90-miles south of Miami for the past 50 years is their sworn enemy. City and County leaders in Miami have already called for Ozzie Guillen to be the former Manager of the Miami Marlins. Protesters demonstrated outside the location of Guillen’s nationally televised apology yesterday. He offended his teams entire fan-base. Apology or not he doesn’t belong in Miami.
And any leftist wacko, like Michael Moore, who agrees with Guillen and likes the murderous dictator with the long ugly beard…your opinion doesn’t count. It doesn’t count because you are not a tax paying citizen of Dade County Florida or ticket buying fan of the Miami Marlins. It doesn’t matter what I think of Castro. And as I mentioned earlier, any other city on the country, it wouldn’t matter that Guillen loves a man who has enslaved a whole island of human beings and denied democratic elections, and imprisoned political opponents, killing many for more than 50 years. But in Miami it matters.
Guillen’s insensitivity and stupidity just one week into his first season as Miami Manager displays a callous disregard for those he serves. Fire him. Because there is one thing you can be sure of with Ozzie…he’ll do it again.
The fact that Bobby Petrino is a self-absorbed, morally questionable person and Ozzie Guillen is a self-absorbed loud mouth with questionable beliefs is perfectly OK, if that’s what they want to be. But it’s equally OK for their employers to determine such people are not the type of people we want representing our multi-million dollar enterprise. Arkansas came to that conclusion. The Marlins should.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
Related articles
- Petrino Lies to Athletic Director About Motorcycle Accident, Fired (theprbuzz.wordpress.com)
- Guillen May Be Insensitive, but Petrino Much Worse (abcnews.go.com)
- Bad things come in threes? Best Buy, Arkansas and Miami in crisis (steveoncrisis.wordpress.com)
- Ozzie Crossed The Line (welcometothe716.com)
- Ozzie say it ain’t so (theprbuzz.wordpress.com)
M Schuett blah blah blah 