More "Crazy Venezuelan" Action

Over the last few weeks everyone's heard about the controversies surrounding White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. First, it was calling Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti (who has been on a mysterious 2 week "vacation") "a fag," then his selection of six White Sox players to the All-Star Game.

So of course, the person the national media was most anxious to interview during the All-Star break in Pittsburgh this week was Ozzie Guillen.

Hell, Ozzie was looking forward to it more than anyone. He felt it would give these sportswriters - who often just blindly write about him, despite the fact most have never sat with or talked to him - a chance to see what he's really like. A look beyond the sound bite.

Of course, sound bites are all anyone in the media generally look for when it comes to Guillen. They try to goad him into saying something controversial, all the while missing the real story.

The real story is this, summed up by White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski during last night's Home Run Derby: "He's the best manager I've ever played for. He's everything you want from a manager, he keeps you loose, tells you the truth, and doesn't hold a grudge."

Ask any of his players and you will get the same answer from each of them.

So, what exactly are those things he does to make his players want to kill for him?

Well, buried in the middle of a news conference where Guillen named Detroit Tiger Kenny Rogers the A.L. starter ("I'm going to pitch Kenny for the first 10 innings, and go from there"), was one of those reasons.

But the media missed it once again.

Guillen replaced Jose Contreras with Minnesota Twin Francisco Liriano on the All-Star roster. After pitching the first 6 innings of the 19-inning marathon between the White Sox and Red Sox Sunday, it was decided by Guillen and Jose that he shouldn't pitch in Tuesday's game.

Ozzie knew Jose was going to be pitching that Sunday all along. He also knew that Curt Schilling would be pitching that Sunday, the biggest factor in Ozzie not choosing Schilling.

So then, why did Ozzie put Jose on the All-Star team? If Jose had only pitched four innings in Sunday's game would he have been available to throw in Pittsburgh on Tuesday?

The truth is, Ozzie never planned on letting Contreras pitch in the All-Star game. But he still named him to the team and then was willing to deal with all the crap he would get for leaving off Schilling, Josh Beckett, Mike Mussina, Francisco Liriano.

All so Jose Contreras could be an All-Star.

Yet they still wonder how his players could love such a "crazy" and "unpredictable" man.

Maybe it's about time the media, and country in general, start looking at what Ozzie Guillen does, not what he says.

Of course, Ozzie probably doesn't want it that way. He wants to take the heat - people mistakenly say he just wants to be in the spotlight - so his team can go about their jobs uninterrupted.

So while the majority of people see Ozzie as that "Crazy Venezuelan" anyone paying attention sees him for what he actually is:

A manager for only 2.5 years, but already one of the best in all of baseball.