Ozzie's In

The Southsiders joined their Wrigleyville cousins tonight, as both Chicago teams are in the playoffs in the same year since the 1906 World Series. The Windy City teams, following the lead of their managers, are so bland as to be unrecognizable. And I have a bridge in New York, and swamp land in Florida, to sell you.
People like Ozzie Guillen and Lou Piniella make the game fun.
If Der Kommissar for Life wants to actually do something in The Best Interest of Baseball, he should decree that Ozzie must be employed as a manager somewhere in the game for the rest of his life. The White Sox skipper is honest, even when it gets him in trouble, and that is a regular occurrence. On multiple occasions, Sox General Manager Ken Williams has wanted to fire Ozzie for shooting off his mouth. Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has not allowed it to date. They haven't even thought about a change due to on the field performance. The Sox play for Ozzie, as evidenced by their 2005 World Series championship, the franchise's first since 1917. We Red Sox fans liked to point out that their wait was 88 years; ours was only (?) 86! Ozzie analyzes the games honestly, and, so, sounds like he is ripping his players from time to time. Not so. Ozzie protects his guys. When things get too hot and heavy, he'll say something outrageous to keep the press focused on him. His player can then go about the task of getting straightened out without being constantly bugged about how long it's been since his last hit or win or save. Ozzie was a very fine shortstop who didn't hit much; he knows what the players go through. He does everything in his power to keep the reporters off their backs.
Ozzie had a famous feud with Jay Mariotti, late of the Chicago Sun-Times. Mariotti is the load that likes to try to match wits with Woody Paige on Around the Horn. Unarmed men should never go into battle. Mariotti is also the guy who somehow held, for years, a sports columnist's job, when he never went to the ballpark, the football stadium, the hockey rink or the basketball arena. He developed the habit of ripping everyone from the players to the executives to the ownership to the kids that sell popcorn, all the while failing to every talk to any of his subjects, or meet any of them face-to-face. Ozzie called Mariotti on his shenanigans, and Jay was hurt. Insulted. Almost in tears. Poor Jay. Jay no longer has a job. Good for Chicago. Chalk up another one for Ozzie.
Baseball needs more Ozzie Guillens. That's more real people who tell the truth, as they see it, and are willing for the chips to fall where they may. Ozzie missed the class on coachspeak. He was never trained by the diplomatic corps. He's a baseball guy!
And a very, very entertaining one.
The postseason will be much more fun with both Chicago managers involved.