http://www.chicagosuntimes.com/output/telander/cst-spt-rick23.html Rick Telander’s piece–"ozzie needs real lesson on real world"

Ozzie: "The man writes every day what he reads.  He doesn’t write what he sees.  When one guy sits in his office and sends other people here to tell him what we do in the sport in Chicago, and he make a lot of money doing that—that’s cheating." Basically, Ozzie is saying Mariotti is a plagiarist….Telander tries to defend this by saying modern tech has made it possible to be ‘virtually there’ and cover a game from anywhere…umm, so just as some fans would root for their fantasy teams rather than their real teams, I guess it’s OK to fantasy report, rather than report….another point to this is that you NEVER see Mariotti out on the town watching the game interacting with the fans watching the game…technology is an enabler, it enables me to catch up when I decide to take a day off from the ballpark…that is called respecting technology, but not deferring to it, experience is still the best way to learn…

Ozzie’s *** friends are largely behind him, yet Telander still plays the social and moral patriarch, "Still, Guillen can’t use it" "They love him here(referring to the rabid Sox fans)…and he should learn to respect that love, even if it means learning how the real, cruel world works."—Say what???  As someone who used to have acknowledgment issues w/acknowledgment issues, I ask Mr. Telander to look inward….respect is earned, Ozzie has earned it through performance, that is why the fans love him…and what’s up with the last line…Rick, perception is reality….my world is bountiful and joyous and it’s reality is not cruel….with apologies to Luther Ingram—if loving this life is wrong, I don’t wanna be right…it would seem someone else might need a real lesson on the real world

Peace, E maj

e-maj@spikesballparks.com

"this time Ozzie HAS gone too far" on Roman Modrowski’s blog—Sun Times

http://blogs.suntimes.com/fullcourtpress/2006/06/this_time_ozzie_has_gone_too_f.html

let’s get some media out of the way..I don’t scour the press as I used to…a lot of it is redundant, and is embodied by misintentions of promotion and political correctness…I am developing my own thesis and style as a writer…we are all writers…believe that…I believe I’m onto a creative baseball path that didn’t always exist…yet it started w/some simple bedside notes….writing is about being creative and listening to your inner voice, and most importantly, trusting it…I didn’t for 33 years…now I do…I’m doing things a little smarter, not harder. 

Espn.com wrote the front page headline, "Ozzie apologizes to Mariotti." the day after…..Not true.  And when one clicks to the 2nd page, the headline is exactly what it should be, "ozzie apologizes for the words, but not to Mariotti.".. this diversion is endemic of the cloaking/shielding that goes on at these major corporations, and indirectly, is a reason the Steroids Era was with us for so long.**

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/offbase/060622 ..Jim Caple mails it in with this meandering article

Gene Wojo misses badly in this article… Jerry Reinsdorf gave Guillen a ringing endorsement, saying Mariotti is a bad person….everyone’s so P.C….guillen ain’t going anywhere unless he starts losing….  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2496971

more media later…a lot more….Ozzie is about as real as it gets…come on, I say the F-word ..not incessantly, but i do…popular media acts different on camera than they do in real life = not real….. i’d also like to get off my chest that it’s hard to listen to anyone reporting on sports in a suit…..right, because so many of us put on a suit to talk sports….and the Press Box not being able to root for a team so as they can stay objective?????….oh, i get it, the Stewards of our game with the Hall of Fame votes, the "professionals" can’t watch the RedSox and still give Derek Jeter props.??….can’t one root for the Cubs and still comment on how well the WhiteSox execute?… there is one fracture, coming to you straight from E-Maj….baseball writers(other than me,lol, are not allowed to be baseball fans….Mariotti is not a baseball fan….

Peace, E Maj

e-maj@spikesballparks.com

a post to the Roman Modrowski Sun-times blog…

I’m writing an essay on the whole Jay/Ozzie thing for www.spikesballparks.com   To this writer, it all comes down to intent.  Ozzie hasn’t wavered from the fact he doesn’t care for Jay Mariotti.  Mariotti is an opportunist at best, using his medium to play the victim.  I have never gotten the impression Jay is a sports fan.  Anecdotally speaking, most that I’m in contact read him for the ‘lighting rod’ effect, i.e. people stopping to see a car crash, train wreck, etc.  At least we know where Ozzie stands on things.  Mariotti shows amoeba-like tendencies in his writings, flipping around to suit his immediate narcissistic convenience.  He wrote 4 Choke articles on the WhiteSox last year, and when the Sox won it all, his mea culpa read, "Yeah I was wrong, but millions of others were wrong too."  It’s hard to be a prognosticator, but it’s easier when one has some accountability.  Most of Mariotti’s ‘arguments’ are cause and effect.  Everyone thinks Ozzie is going to ‘self-destruct’.  LOL.  He knows exactly who he is and what he’s doing, and hasn’t wavered from the stance that Mariotti is a piece of ****.  Whilst I would not use those terms, Jay’s tenure at the Sun-times is laughable.  Given the constant use of invectives, over-use of hyperbole’, and general distaste for most things Chicago, for him to play the moral card is pathetic, yet to this writer, expected. 

E-Maj

"I’m not going to change. One thing I’m going to make clear is I apologize to the community, but to Jay?.  No chance."

Ozzie apologized to anyone offended by the word, but kept his intent of saying Mariotti is a piece of ****.  He feels Mariotti is ‘unaccountable’, which I am in total agreement with, hence the nickname, the ‘Amoeba’.

Peace, E Maj

e-maj@spikesballparks.com

I was going to skip this part as everyone who reads this Weblog prolly knows what transpired, but one can’t assume. Never assume as a writer. Start out with the premise….(done)…., then state the initial circumstance. I’ll try to keep my thoughts brief, as there’s a lot to share. Ozzie Guillen called Amoeba Mariotti a "piece of shee-it, an f-in gaf(yes, i use pig latin because MLB censors this stuff), and a piece of garbage." The Amoeba pulled the victim card and outed(pun intended) Ozzie.

peace, E Maj

e-maj@spikesballparks.com

p.s. this will be the last email change for a long while(i think, lol)

goto www.spikesballparks.com to get the "Come Sail Away" essay….

It was so uplifting to let the essay come to me, the 2nd time in this life I’ve felt the essay wrote itself…..

Peace, E Maj

(this was a fun piece for E Maj that I worked on last year…recently re-edited and updated for www.spikesballparks.com )

With the WhiteSox winning their first World Series championship since 1917, manager Ozzie Guillen’s quirky, unorthodox, and irreverent style has gotten more and more press. Some writers have panned Ozzie as being crazy, left-of-center, half-witted, and were in utter disbelief when his ‘smallball’ South Siders brought home the prize. 

Indeed, there are times it seems that Ozzie should be in a room with padded walls rather than a dugout.  The Venezuelan F-Bomb machine even call himself crazy.  "They don’t call me Crazy Ozzie for nothing.  ****, even Crazy Ozzie calls himself Crazy Ozzie." (http://www.yardwork.org/?p=417).  A 3rd person reference to oneself in the 3rd person, that’s deep. .

Could it be that Guillen is the modern-day managing equivalent to TV Police Lt. Columbo(played by Peter Falk), a homicide investigator w/a crumpled trench-coat and a beat-up car? One who acted as an incompetent bumbler, but who was really crazy like a fox(www.tv.com) .  The criminals would underestimate the Lt., get overconfident and complacent, and inevitably make a mistake.

When he signed on as WhiteSox manager, the crime Guillen was entrusted with solving was how a major market team could go 88 years with out a World Series title.  And how to do it with last year’s version of the South Side nine, a team choc full of more miscasts and degenerates than that of the Indians in the baseball movie comedy, "Major League".

Well, picture this.  Many organizations/cultures/societies etc. have a hierarchical system of power, or social system based on a dominance order, be it a government, prison, or a wolfpack.  Wolves have often been studied to describe social behavior.  The leader of the pack is called the alpha male. A weak alpha or one whose dominance is challenged successfully can result is the disbanding of the pack.   

One has to wonder how Alpha Ozzie kept his pack of WhiteSox together so long and so successfully.  Look at the resume’s of this group of Shady Slims/miscasts(w/’Major league’ reference in parentheses):

Jose Contreras(Cerrano): defected from Communist Cuba, and spent 2 years in depression as his family was not allowed to leave.

A.J. Pierzynski(Roger Dorn): reputed Clubhouse Cancer who allegedly kneed a S.F. trainer in the family jewels during an exhibition season.

Bobby Jenks(Ricky Vaughn): 270lb punk rookie closer with who was released by another team for his alcohol problems.

Scott Posednik(Willie Mays Hayes): Career minor leaguer w/one good ML season.

Damaso Marte: Sensitive LH reliever w/confidence issues.

Frank Thomas: Veteran slugger whose sometimes selfish and soft play earned him the derisive moniker "the Big Skirt".

Mark Buehrle(Eddie Harris): normally steady-Eddie #1 starter who almost went off the deep end when he had his 6 IP streak stolen from him.

‘Crazy’ Carl Everett: most erratic and angry player in all of MLB, one could argue, his most dubious moment was head-butting an umpire in 2000.

This was an attendance roster for an insane asylum, not a baseball team.  Dominant order.  Keeping the pack together.  With an entire criminal population, who’s the alpha of a prison? The baddest mo-fo.  An insane asylum?.  The CRAZIEST of them all.  No one messes with the guy walking down the street twitching his head or speaking in tongues.

Ozzie gets this.  As a player and as a coach, Ozzie has always been regarded as having a high Baseball I.Q.  Since day one, he’s had the acumen and ability to solve the ‘no World Series ring’ crime.  No way to do this if you lose alpha male status, no way to get that message across to the pack.  So like Lt. Columbo, Ozzie gives us a show, and makes people think he’s nuts, by throwing an occasional curve to keep the pack on its toes.  Calculated craziness to maintain pack order as a means to deliver the knowledge to solve the crime.  Brilliant.

Ozzie Guillen is the Venezuelan Columbo.   

Peace, E Maj

A Tale of Two Cities:

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’

The first page of the famous Dickens novel aptly describes the state of feeling in Chicago fandom these days, and this divergence of WhiteSox euphoria and Cubs despair was on full display in the crosstown series. Both of these franchises have fabled histories, and have maintained a co-dependence based as much on futility as geography. Is it possible we saw a changing of the guard this past weekend w/Chicago going from a Cubs to a WhiteSox town? The plot took a dramatic twist on Saturday, even by Windy City standards. After getting bowled over at the plate, Cubs catcher Michael Barrett tried literally to beat the "dickens" out of A.J. Pierzynski, landing a cheap haymaker, and igniting a bench-clearing brawl.(Barrett later received a 10-game suspension for his Jerry Springer-like theatrics). The notorious and emotional Pierzynski, somehow kept his feet after the blind-sided blow, and more impressively, kept his cool.

"It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

The brilliance of Ozzie Guillen and his diverse staff, old-school coaches who stress fundamentals, accountability, and team play. Cubs manager Dusty Baker has seemingly assembled a staff of ‘yes’ men devoid of creative thought. Over the last 2 years, the Cubs have repeatedly made mental errors. Missed signs, not covering first, botched pickles, not knowing how many outs there are, etc. The Cubs have invented ways to lose, and invented ways to excuse themselves from it as well.

"It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity."

Ozzie sticking by young reliever Neal Cotts two years ago, paying big dividends in last year’s run. The improbable story of the unknown closer Bobby Jenks. Staying true and able to change the face of the franchise, letting the petulant Frank Thomas depart. Not being complacent after reaching the ultimate prize, willing to assume risk trading fan favorite OF Aaron Rowand, to acquire the big upside of a Jim Thome who was injured last year. The Cubs, in contrast, have watch countless players underachieve. Corey Patterson, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Kyle Farnsworth, et al. While these eyes don’t have all the answers, it appears the North Siders haven’t even grasped the questions.

"It was the season of light. It was the season of darkness."

The South Side has its first World Series ring in 88 years as a result of the Ozzie/Kennyball Era, and are playing solid baseball this year as they mount their defense. After missing the playoffs 2 years in a row, The North Side watched their MVP candidate Derrick Lee break his wrist in a freak accident, and suffered through an unthinkable 4-19 stretch as of press time.

"It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."

In 2004, the WhiteSox television ratings on WGN/WCIU and Fox Sports were 3.7 and 2.1 respectively. Thus far in 2006, they are 4.6 and 2.6, increases of 24 and 19 percent. The Cubs ratings in 2004 were 9.1 and 6.5. This year, 4.9 and 3.4, DECREASES of 46 and 47 percent. The anecdotes are many, but these real numbers are remarkable.

"We had everything before us, we have nothing before us."

The WhiteSox are playing like champions, seeking to defend their crown, and would make the playoffs were the season over today. The Cubs? Re-signed to speculation of whom they will ‘sell’ come the trading deadline, and this before the month of May has reached a conclusion.

Summary: Just as the backdrop of Dickens’ "A Tale of Two Cities’ itself, which was set in a time of revolution in France, we are witnessing a baseball revolution in Chicago. There is a renaissance on the South Side, which has been perpetuated by Manager Ozzie, GM Kenny Williams, and CEO Jerry Reinsdorf being true, getting back to real baseball, and looking inward to make difficult decisions. The Cubs have held themselves hostage by deflection of blame, conventional thought, and talking rather than doing. Proactive vs Reactive. Independent thought vs corporate groupthink. Wanting to win vs wanting the almight dollar.

Going forward the Cubs will occasionally get their once a decade playoff ‘cup of coffee’, which will keep hope alive, the turnstiles moving and stale 7 dollar beers selling. Yet until the suits of the Tribune Company decide to divest the Cubs franchise and have a progressive owner come in, Cubs fans can can look forward to much more of the same mediocrity.

A.J. Pierzynski took the high road in the weekend altercation with Barrett, a development as unlikely as Chicago becoming a WhiteSox town.  Representative of a squad more interested in winning, than extra-curricular activity or tomfoolery.  Kenny Williams, GM of the WhiteSox, said earlier this year he wouldn’t be happy until his squad was number #1 in Chicago, not just the league. If they’re not there yet, they are well on their way. Times do change. A Tale of Two baseball ‘Cities’, indeed.

Peace, E Maj

The American Samurai

In 12^th century feudal Japan, there emerged a military noble class known as Samurai. These warriors were known for their fearlessness, martial arts, weaponry, and they abided by a strict unwritten honor code called Bushido. Bushido, or the ‘Way of the Warrior’, commanded loyalty to one’s master, self-discipline, honesty, and respectful ethical behavior. It was founded on the principle of death before dishonor, and as a general term, the ‘Way of the Warrior’ is resolute acceptance of death, or mortality, which is the ultimate acceptance of truth.

Hundreds of years later in the year 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry and the U.S. Navy made their historic expedition, and isolationist Japan was officially ‘opened’ to trade with the West. Fifteen years later, the rights of the samurai were abolished, during the Meiji Restoration that returned Japan to emperor rule and began its Industrial Era. The Bushido code over the centuries had trickled into the social and educational structures of Japan and would live on, even as the Samurai had lost their status. Western culture was now being imported, and Tokyo Univesity professor (American) Horace Wilson introduced baseball to Japan in 1873. Over a century later, Japan is now exporting baseball back to America,, and by proxy, the ‘Way of the Warrior’ code in the form of such players/’samurai’ as Hideki Matsui, Tadahito Iguchi, and Ichiro Suzuki.

There is an American baseball player who embodies the traits of the Bushido code.

A battle-tested warrior whose stoic disposition represents genuine respect for Baseball, and for life itself. A baseball player who is respectful of the game, those who came before him, and is simple on the far side of complex. "He’s so smart, he makes everything look so simple."—Leo Mazzone, renowned Atlanta pitching coach at the time.

Greg Maddux is the baseball modern-day equivalent of the American Samurai.

After a record 17 seasons winning 15 games or more, this future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer went a pedestrian 13-15 last year, which could have signified the end of a brilliant career. While the ancient Samurai were skilled with bow and arrow, it was the sword that embodied the ‘soul’ of their warriorship. Maddux could have sailed into the sunset, but that would have dishonored the warrior’s code. Instead, knowing he hadn’t met his own physical hierarchy of needs, he worked out with a personal trainer for the first time in his career. Improved his ‘sword’, or his baseball soul, that magical right arm. He adapted to his current circumstances, and has started 2006 for the Chicago Cubs with a 5-1 record, at the ripe young age of 40.

Vintage Maddux. Or maybe calling this maestro vintage is redundant in terms. It’s just Maddux, period.

"I still enjoy coming to the ballpark." "I’d like to play good enough this year so I can play again next year. I’ll make decisions about next year when I have to." "I enjoy this city so much, and want to be part of the Cubs winning a World Series."—Maddux, in a couple of soundbites that represent his sense of the here and now, as well as his loyalty to his people/master in the Chicago Cubs and their fans.

The warrior prepares through observation, by watching hitters on his day off, and  throws the majority of his practice pitches from the ‘stretch’ position, because that’s when the toughest pitches need to be thrown come game-time. 

His economies of motion have resulted in less strain on his body, and those mechanics have helped him not to land on the Disable List but once in 20 years.

There is an unwritten code in baseball, similar to the Bushido, where you respect those who went before you, in order to earn it. Not the collusive denial of the Steroids Era, but the real code of to do what’s right: put fellow man before oneself.

Former Cubs great Rick Sutcliffe shared this anecdote about Maddux, in Greg’s 1987 season, the year before he started his record 15-win streak. Greg went a mediocre 6-14, was struggling, and was told he if he didn’t win versus San Diego, he’d be sent down to the minor leagues.

In the 4^th inning with the Cubs leading, SD pitcher Eric Snow plunked Cubs veteran Andre Dawson, who had just hit his 3^rd homerun in 3 at-bats. Benches cleared. The code says to ‘respect your elders’, have ‘loyalty to your team’—protect it.. In other words, plunk the next opposing hitter. Sutcliffe, knowing the situation, and having gotten kicked out of the game himself, told the rookie to save it, pitch the fifth inning, get the win, and keep his job.

Bushido code: ‘Death before dishonor.’

Maddux to the veteran Sutcliffe: "I don’t care if I never pitch in the big leagues again. I’m hitting the 1^st batter."

Plunk. Right into SD catcher Benito Santiago’s back, which is allowed in the baseball code.

(Tears down the face….mine, not his)

Sure enough, Maddux got sent down to the minor leagues. Abided by the warrior code, and earned the respect of his teammates. He was called back up to the show, and has 323 wins and counting.

Greg Maddux is the American Samurai.

Peace, E Maj

bbheckler@yahoo.com