Chicago Tribune feature on Ozzie

[Balta1701]

Chicagosports.com has put up a bundle of articles on Ozzie, some of which I can only assume will show up in the print edition at some point. Here's the banner one:

 

It's about three hours before first pitch, and Ozzie Guillen's restless energy is on display for all to see, if you can keep track of him.

 

The Venezuelan-born manager zips around the grass near the White Sox dugout at U.S. Cellular field, talking incessantly and moving from spot to spot like a pinball.

 

Everybody wants a piece of Ozzie, it seems, from the growing throng of daily media who are the first to get their fill, to ESPN baseball analyst Rick Sutcliffe, to a grateful fan, sick with cancer, who recently wrote to the Sox that it was his dream to meet Guillen.

 

There's a lot to pack in before the game gets under way, but Guillen, at 40 the second- youngest manager in baseball, wouldn't have it any other way. This isn't work, he says. It's a dream fulfilled.

 

"I never feel tired from anything," Guillen told RedEye this week from his spare office adjacent to the Sox players' lockers. "I think you will rest when you die, and you will rest for good. While you're alive you enjoy yourself, be the best you can be and take advantage 100 percent because you don't know how much longer you're going to be here."

 

That Guillen is at this place, having guided the Sox to the best record in baseball as they prepare to face their crosstown rivals this weekend, is something of a surprise. Few thought he had a chance to land the job when the Sox fired Jerry Manuel after the 2003 season. General Manager Ken Williams reportedly wanted to hire someone else, but Guillen won over his former Sox teammate with his energy and enthusiasm.

 

"That was my goal, that was my dream, that was my everything," Guillen said. "The only thing I know in my life is baseball. I grow up, I breathe, eat, talk [baseball]. Everything is around baseball."

 

Guillen does have a life away from the game--he and his wife, Ibis, have three sons, Oswaldo Jr., 20, Oney, 19, and Ozney, 13--but he brings that life to the ballpark too. Guillen's sons often spend the day at the park with their dad, helping out where they can and bringing more of the Guillen spirit to the clubhouse.

 

Guillen is known for being as honest as he is talkative, qualities that make him a hero to most of his players but occasionally get him into trouble.

 

The same day Guillen took the Sox job he criticized Sox slugger Frank Thomas, saying he "was a great teammate, but I hear a lot of negative things about Frank." Asimilar controversy erupted last month when Guillen said Thomas, currently rehabbing from ankle surgery, was part of the "bad attitude" of previous Sox teams.

 

Guillen said his words were taken out of context, but he apologized to Thomas for picking at a sore spot for no apparent reason. "That was the worst day I ever had in my career," Guillen said, "because that day I was hurting Frank Thomas' family [and] the Chicago White Sox organization."

 

He didn't apologize for telling the truth.

 

"To me, honesty is like you got your feet in the earth," he said. "When you're honest, you can hurt people. But at least you're honest and you tell the truth. That's all I do."

 

Guillen is so honest he even admits that he would have accepted a job as manager of the Cubs--whom the White Sox face Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Wrigley Field-- if it had been offered to him first. But he doesn't hesitate to say that the Sox job is like no other in baseball for him, because he spent 13 years on the South Side as a player, from 1985 to 1997.

 

"It would be tougher for me to manage another team besides the White Sox because I don't know the fans, I don't know the people in the front office, I don't know the organization," he said. "Coming to the White Sox is like I know everything."

 

The resurrection of the Sox is a testament to a different baseball philosophy than the team employed in the recent past. Williams calls the style "grinder" ball, in which the Sox first rely on a deep starting rotation, then win games by playing good defense, stealing bases and not waiting for somebody to hit a home run. Guillen buys into it, because that's the kind of player he was--a good fielder and base runner with next to no power at the plate.

 

Guillen and the Sox are a perfect fit, and his infectious personality is a big reason why the South Siders could find their way back to the World Series for the first time since 1959. "I think the relationship between me and the players is we're friends," he said. "But we have to respect each other. I respect you, you respect me, respect my rules, respect your teammates, respect the fans, respect baseball. That's all I'm going to ask you."

 

They also have: Ask Ozzie

 

Ozzie Quotes

 

Ozzie Stories

[Dam8610]

They also have: 

 

Ozzie Quotes

 

Do they have the quotes where every other word is replaced by (explative deleted)?

[Heads22]

Ozzie might've used a little better judgement naming his kids. It's almost as bad as Magglio's.

[Soxy]

NFL or NASCAR?

NASCAR, because you can die.

 

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.