TELEVISED GAMES STRETCH TO NEW, RECORD LENGTHS

Long before there were a zillion cable TV stations and pure movie channels, three networks existed. They would occasionally run a movie which was categorized as a “made for TV movie.”

That was the beginning. That was when TV executives sensed that, to a large degree, they could manufacture and control something that was originally intended for a certain live audience and display it over the airwaves.

Obviously, that spilled into our world of sports. For the most part, the way it started off was good. It got even better throughout the years with advanced technology and more outlets to show the games. But, like lessons learned from ancient wealthy societies--over-doing it, greed, gluttony, you name it—can ruin a good thing.

How many of us can actually we enjoy watching all that goes into a modern day baseball play-off game or big-time college football game on TV? Broadcasts have gotten w-a-a-a-a-y too long, bordering on 3:30 – 4 hours. Though I don’t have even a touch of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), I do have HD (high definition). Yet, even that can’t always keep me fully engaged. In no particular order, here are some things that make me want to just fire a 90 m.p.h. fastball at the TV with my remote control.

Officials/Umpire Reviews—again, what started out as a good idea now stinks. In college football, unfortunately every play is reviewable. What it has done is take away far too much of the human element and added a whole lot of commercials to be run while “the previous play is under review.” It’s sad that the officials on the field have lost their self-confidence and are now running scared. They will often not make a call because they figure the replay official will cover for them. What are they getting paid for anyway, to be second guessed by the booth? The time factor is absurd and completely takes away from any flow of the game. Baseball has only a limited number of situations that allow for official replay/review to intervene. Let’s keep it that way. Lord knows we don’t need to slow baseball down any more than it’s already chilled-out, natural mosey-along pace.

Too Much Production—because we have such great technology in TV studios, production people have to show their stuff. That adds more time to the games. No matter what sport it is, as the sleep-inducing run of commercials end, now we have to endure some kind of rock or rap music playing over the top of highlights from earlier in the broadcast. The music & sports industries are in bed together. You notice that they are promoting these “artists” by having their name and the name of the song on the lower left of the screen, like a rock video. What happened to end of a commercial, a live shot of next play, and the announcer saying, “Welcome back. 1^st and 10 for the Bombers at their own 20 yard line” and the play begins. We don’t need to waste another minute promoting music sales. Let’s remember, it’s supposed to be about the game, what’s happening on the field, not what has been created in the production studio.

Everything is Sponsored—I always chuckle remembering the original “Rocky” movie when Sylvester Stallone’s title character entered the ring wearing his robe which proudly carried his sponsor, “Shamrock Meats”, on his back. I used to laugh at race car drivers, who despite spending hours cooped up in their cars, once out of the vehicle they are walking billboards for sponsors. Ah…everyone has their price. Well, we have all of that and more today in the so-called traditional sports on TV.

In both football and baseball there are major sponsors’ logos super-imposed on the viewers’ TV screen to make it look like it’s actually on the field. The yellow first-down line that TV produces on the football field for viewers is sponsored. The time-outs are sponsored. The net behind the goalpost that catches every field goal or extra point is sponsored. The paper cups that players drink out of on the sidelines are sponsored. There is more, but my time is not sponsored, so I won’t go any farther. You get the idea. Again, what is important is the game itself. But we have so much other stuff going on during the game that you can easily get lost and begin to question if you do, in fact, have a touch of A.D.D.

Commercials, Commercials, Commercials—we all understand that commercials are necessary to pay the bills (and make money, too). But, can we do something to NOT take away from the momentum and flow of a game, in particular a game as emotional as football? This is situation is not uncommon. A team is driving for a score and one of the two teams calls a timeout. Commercial break. A play is run, then “officials’ review of previous play.” Commercials. The offense scores and kicks the extra point. Commercial break. Ensuing kickoff and return. Commercial break. Finally, we get the start of next offensive series. Unbelievable.

Injury. Hey, a chance for MORE commercials. It used to be when a player was injured the medical training staff hustled out, administered to the fallen player, propped him up on the shoulders of two assistant trainers and the idea was to escort him to the bench as quickly as possible—game continues. Now, every player that goes down, for whatever reason, must be getting instruction to just lie there so the networks can break for commercial. I have never seen so many players flat on their backs for multiple minutes, then a commercial break, then we come back to see them walking off under their own power! Are you kidding me? Did they bring in one of those Sunday morning faith healers? As they used to say back in the day—“tape an aspirin to it and keep moving.” This is not to slight those who are legitimately hurt, but we are way too cautious and treat every injury as though these players are (cue the eerie angelic music) going toward the light. It’s football, people. Keep the broadcast on the field. This is not an automatic commercial break. Get the player off and get his sub in the game. Sheesh!

As stated earlier, once the “made for TV movie” was born it led to a whole new world of TV execs manufacturing and controlling shows. For us sports devotees, at times it seems like we have sold our souls to the devil. We will put up with whatever they want to throw at us. For the teams playing in the game, as well as the viewers, TV says, “You will all play by OUR rules.” We all pay some kind of price for free TV.

Plenty of Football Yet To Be Played Before Settling Who Is No. 1

One thing is apparent after this past week's college football games. No matter what the polls say, there is no apparent, lead pipe lock for a #1 team. There are several really good teams that have a chance to be national champs, there are some teams that often look good but are not terribly impressive in doing so, and there are some who put up wins and good stats, but the perception of their overall body of work is jaded because they lack strong weekly competition.

What makes college football so much fun is its unpredictability each weekend. What makes college football so maddening is attempting to interpret the value placed on wins and losses, and the effect that value has on rankings.

The first BCS rankings of '09 came out today and the top five are Florida, Alabama, Texas, Boise St., and Cincinnati. The defending national champion Florida Gators were afforded the top spot in all polls all the way from pre-season right through this weekend while SEC counter-part Alabama continued to gain ground in votes for the top spot.

By virtue of a late fourth quarter FG Saturday afternoon, Florida narrowly escaped defeat, 23-20 at home against an improving Arkansas team. A week ago the Gators went into the hostile environment of LSU to pass their biggest test of the season vs. the Tigers. But, sloppy turnovers in the red zone by their offense and an uncustomary yielding of a couple of big plays with their defense, the Gators provided a shadow of a doubt for BCS voters to allow Alabama to be within shouting distance. Over the last two years Florida's offensive production looked like video game numbers. With two key skilled offensive players (Louis Murphy & Percy Harvin) from last year's team now playing for pay in the NFL, the Gators offense has not had that "point a minute" potential like last year. The defense returns everyone from last year and expectations are extremely high for that unit.

'Bama does not have a player who already owns a Heisman Trophy like the Gators' Tim Tebow, but they do have a running back who is beginning to get enough national attention to enter the conversation for this year's award. Mark Ingram rambled for 246 yards against South Carolina last night. Ingram, his offensive line, and a talented defensive unit helped lift their team to a 20-6 win. The Crimson Tide overcame four turnovers and 10 penalties against the #22 ranked Gamecocks. An oddity is that in this age of inflated passing stats and the game geared to offenses throwing the ball, the Tide passed for just 90 yards on a beautiful, dry night against South Carolina. The question is, can Alabama throw it effectively if they are forced to do it? There's nothing wrong with winning with a strong running game, a stingy defense and a solid kicking game, it just doesn't get you those style points--it just allows you to win! But, if needed, can the Tide move it through the air?

Third-ranked Texas managed to get by a depleted Oklahoma team in the Red River Rivalry, 16-13. The 2008 Heisman Award winner, OU QB Sam Bradford, was knocked out of the game with another throwing shoulder injury, leaving after just eight plays. Longhorns QB Colt McCoy, who was a Heisman finalist last year, is having a good, but not great year, to date. Can the Longhorns continue their quest for an undefeated season and a Big 12 title? Only time will tell. But, if the 'Horns don't pick it up right away, it won't be a shock if they stub their toe with so much conference football yet to be played.

The general concensus is that #4 Boise St., because of their weak confernce schedule, would not be granted a ride in Cinderella's coach to the championship game. Cincinnati, also on a magic carpet ride of their own, still has a couple of challenges in the not-so-intimidating Big East. Unless they pour on a ton of style points and some teams above the Bearcats get toppled, Cincinnati's place in the top five is just a nice story like Boise's.

Iowa appears to be the best in the Big Ten at this point, but what does that mean when pre-season favorite Ohio State loses to a 1-5 Purdue team? Even though they suffered an upset on the road at Washington, USC is still lurking at #7 . By beating a solid Notre Dame team in South Bend Saturday, USC showed that if they finish strong and someone above them takes a hit, they could step right into the championship picture.

One thing to keep in mind is that some of the bigger "super conferences" have a 13th game which pits their two divisional champs against each other for the outright conference title--i.e. the ACC, the Big 12 and the SEC. Teams like USC of the PAC 10 and undefeated Iowa of the Big Ten would not have to prove themselves in a 13th game like a Florida, Alabama or Texas.

Whereas last year Florida was the wire to wire winner, the excitement this year is really just beginning to simmer. There are clearly some very good teams, but there is not a great deal of separation between those teams and some of their better conference rivals. The top teams all wear a big target on their back each week. Every one of their opponents zeroes in on their preparation in order to give their best effort and performance when they play the top-ranked teams. A lesser school from within the same conference as these top schools can make their entire season with a big upset victory. Let's stay tuned the next 5-6 weeks and see how it all develops.

The Term"Professional" Can Be a Stretch for Some NFL Teams

There’s an old saying that “even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.”

The Cleveland Browns, the blind squirrel of the NFL, went into Buffalo over the weekend and managed to find just six points. As it turned out, it was three more than the home-standing Bills, thus providing loyal, suffering fans of the Pumpkin Heads their first win of the year. The Browns are now 1-4 under Eric Mangini, who is in his first year on the shores of Lake Erie after being relieved of similar duties the previous three seasons with the NY Jets.

A couple of interesting notes: the Blind Squirrels or, excuse me, the Browns have failed to score a touchdown in three of their five games this season. Clevelanders know that with their baseball Indians having packed up their belongings a couple of weeks ago, it had to have been the Browns who won Sunday’s game 6-3. Mangini was hired by the Jets in 2006 and, at age 35, became the youngest head coach in the NFL. He wowed them in that rookie season with a 10-6 record and was tabbed “Mangenius” for his work. But, the Jets flight path took a 180-degree turn in 2007 to a 4-12 mark. Last season “Gang Green” started off 8-3, but suffered a late season swoon to the tune of 9-7, which kept them out of the play-offs. Mangenius was dismissed. But, Cleveland said, ‘Hey, we want that guy.” Well, now you’ve got him.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-5 and often times look even worse than that. They are a great example of having people within their organization empowered with decision-making responsibilities, but they don’t know how to do just that—make good decisions. Here are just some samplings from the Bucs sad song book.

At the end of last season long-time defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin left to join his son who had become the head coach at the University of Tennessee. Early thirty-something defensive backfield coach Raheem Morris was elevated to defensive coordinator replacing Kiffin. About a month later Bucs ownership fired Jon Gruden and decided to give Morris an elevator ride all the way to the top by naming him head coach. Keep in mind his only significant coaching assignment with any degree of advanced responsibility was one season (2006) as defensive coordinator at Kansas State University.

So, the Bucs handed the keys to the car to their kid, who was just 32 at the time of the promotion. The Bucs head coach and administration proceeded to hire a new offensive coordinator last winter, former successful Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski. But, later, much later, they decided that wasn’t going to work and they fired him one week before the season’s first game! Was it case of being hood-winked by Coach Jags in the thorough interview process conducted by the Bucs, or was there a philosophical difference? It doesn’t matter. This doesn’t happen to well-run organizations. What’s even funnier is that Tampa Bay replaced him with a guy who was on staff with Gruden, Morris, and the Bucs last year, and he interviewed for the very same job Jagodzinski was given. Huh? Why wasn't he hired the first time around? Did he become smarter or more qualified between his February interview and the start of the season in September?

After releasing last year’s starting QB Jeff Garcia, the Bucs brought in veteran free agent Byron Leftwich to compete with back-up QB Luke McCown for the top job. They also drafted Josh Freeman with their valuable first-round pick, paid him millions in signing bonuses, and tabbed him as their “future of the franchise player." Succession planning was that either Leftwich or McCown would keep the seat warm until Freeman is ready.

Pay close attention now. McCown was traded to Jacksonville right at the end of the pre-season and Leftwich was given the starting job. With little talent among his supporting cast, and Leftwich having even less pocket mobility to go along with his slow passing delivery, he was benched after three games. Your guess is that first-round pick Josh Freeman will get the ball, right? No. The Bucs named another Josh (Johnson), who was a rookie on the practice squad a year ago, as their starting QB. With Leftwich, McCown and Freeman around all of the pre-season Johnson got very little work in the practices. How could he when he was the fourth-string QB? And, he got minimal playing time in late fourth-quarter mop-up duty.

Further demonstrating their business acumen, the Bucs are still paying off both Gruden and their former general manager Bruce Allen. They added to that debit list the fallen Jagodzinski, who never made it to his first regular season game. The latest decision with financial repercussions was cutting place-kicker Mike Nugent. Nugent had been signed away from the Jets in the off-season to come in and compete with veteran Matt Bryant and, hopefully, provide a stronger, longer leg when it came to kickoffs and field goals. Nugent won the job by default because Bryant never got to kick in the pre-season, as he nursed a muscle pull in his kicking leg. Nugent, in the Bucs’s eyes, was ineffective enough in four games to warrant dismissal, yet still be paid his $2 million salary. It’s not hard to see the calculator totals lighting up.

The Bucs are 0-5. Do you wonder why? If this real-life drama continues, don't be surprised if the Glazer family, owners of the team, begin entertaining offers from reality TV show producers.

Please Tell Me--Why Go Wild Over the Wildcat?

Is it because we have grown tired of talking about and cheering for the exciting and effective one-back, shotgun formation, spread offense? Or is it because we don't know any better and something new to us just has to be the buzz?

I am talking, actually don't want to be talking about, the Wildcat offense--the latest gadget/innovation that has risen to popularity amongst fans and sports pundits faster than you can say West Coast Offense. There is some uncertainty as to who really gets credit for its modern day origin (or re-birth). When current Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams was tearing it up collegiately at Memphis a few years ago he said they started it. At about the same time when Darren McFadden was brutalizing SEC defenses at Arkansas, before heading onto the Raiders, they brought a lot of attention to their version, the Wild Hog. In the NFL, supposedly the Dolphins want to claim the innovation title by having used Ronnie Brown in this attack.

So what's this all about? Folks, it's really much ado about nothing. I'll tell you why.

Way back, pre-WWII days, when football was a much simpler game and played without face-masks there was an offense where the ball was snapped directly to the running back. Heck, even in 1967, when I was a chubby 12 year old playing tackle football for my team, the Geneva Packers, our QB got hurt and couldn't take a direct snap from the center, who happened to be me. Our coach decided we would just snap it directly to the backs and off they went. I certainly didn't think that was a big deal. Was I a party to pioneering the Wildcat offense in 1967? Maybe. Who knew?

Decades later, in an effort to help the quarterback read his receivers and the defensive pass coverage better, along with pre-aligning him for a drop-back pass, the Shotgun formation permeated the game. Today it is a part of every offensive playbook on the college and pro level, and most high schools use it to some degree.

So WHY ARE people going wild over the Wildcat? It is primarily a run formation where someone besides the QB lines up in the shotgun formation and takes the snap from center and runs the ball. Big deal. Some offenses try to deceive the opponents by lining the QB up as a wide receiver and use the WR or RB as the QB to execute this "wild, exotic formation".

Bottom line, the Wildcat formation is nothing more than a shotgun formation that has someone besides the QB getting the ball and running it. Yes, that's it--there is no more. When Houston Nutt was head coach at Arkansas he found that McFadden could also pass the ball pretty well. So, run and pass he did. That was something different. That was something effective as well as exciting. That was something that kept defensive coaches up at night wondering how to defend it.

We are only two weeks into the college football season and one week into the NFL season. Yet, in pre-game shows, during the game broadcasts themselves, and throughout the week, chatter surrounding the game is bound to bring up some reference to the Wildcat. Please, find something worthwhile to talk about.

Growing up, I remember young kids would get a little scared at some of the Sci-Fi movies and they would be comforted by an adult or older sibling saying, "Don't worry, it's just a movie." For opposing defenses, unless the offense proves they can, and will, pass the ball effectively out of the Wildcat formation, I send similar words of comfort your way--"Don't worry, it's just another run play."

NOW WAIT JUST A PIGSKIN PICKIN' MINUTE

As we head into the second week of the college football season there are some games that pose interesting match-ups and cause for concern for the betting line favorites.

Wake Forest is a field goal favorite at home against Stanford. I believe Stanford is a certainly a program on the rise. The only thing keeping me from jumping in with both feet for this one is the fact that as a team on the rise, they have to be early risers for this game! The Demon Deacons showed their smarts by scheduling this as a Noon (EDT) kickoff, translating to a 9 a.m. kickoff for the west coast-based Cardinal. If the Cardinal can get up and get moving on such an early schedule I still like them to upset the Deacs.

The Iowa Hawkeyes and are almost a touchdown favorite as they travel to face their in-state rival Iowa State Cyclones. Coach Kirk Ferentz is firmly implanted for the foreseeable near future as Iowa’s coach, but had he not recently signed a new contract this game would be exerting great pressure on him and his team. The Cyclones have won 4 of the last 7 in the series, but they are coming off of a dreadful 2-10 season last year. Iowa stumbled around last week and had to block two consecutive field goal attempts on the game’s last plays to avoid the biggest of upsets against Division I-AA Northern Iowa. In a lot of pre-season picks they are a sleeper for the Big Ten title race. My thoughts are this is a must for Iowa to show what they have in preparation for Arizona and Penn State in the upcoming weeks and I look for them to do so.

Notre Dame travels to the Big House in Ann Arbor as a field goal favorite. Even though Michigan’s win over Western Michigan last week deflected some of the negative press surrounding Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez, only wins over big-time programs will earn him the good graces of M Go Blue loyalists. My hunch is that ND’s defense will come after the young Michigan quarterbacks early and try to unnerve them—kind of like Mike Tyson throwing a bunch of bombs against a heavyweight opponent right from the opening bell, as opposed to the proverbial “feeling each other out” first round. ND’s offense can throw it deep and accurately, as well as run it efficiently enough to be respectable. Golden Domers should leave Ann Arbor happy.

Army is a slim one point favorite at home vs. Duke. On the surface, this game certainly doesn’t draw any national attention. But, if the Black Knights of the Hudson can defeat Duke in this battle of have-nots, they will move to 2-0 and be well on their way to a winning season. Optimism is running high at West Point, not because of the new option attack being employed—although that plays a role—but, (don’t tell anyone) due to their super-soft schedule. Army opened with a terrible Eastern Michigan, they have a mediocre Duke team this week, and have such other traditionally below average teams like Iowa State, Tulane, Temple, VMI and North Texas further down the road. Legendary West Point gridiron figures that have passed on must be turning in their graves looking at this cream-puff schedule. Let’s go with Duke in a big upset!

JUST FOR FUN--In the blowout city games of the weekend, who will score more points and have a bigger spread in their victory...Texas at Wyoming, Alabama hosting Florida International, Florida hosting Troy, or Boise State welcoming Miami of Ohio? The Longhorns and Tide are favored by 34, the Gators by 36, and Boise State by 37!

Think of it; we are talking about a five (5) touchdown difference here.

College Football Season Openers Not What They Used To Be

It's really kind of sad that the start of the college football just ain't what it used to be. With the NCAA adding a 12th game to the schedules back in 2006 athletic administrators were scrambling to fill that extra date, and with little time to do so. Thanks to that, the much-anticipated season kickoff just doesn't measure up to expectations.

Division I schools need every win they can get to keep their post-season hopes alive. Why would they want to schedule a potential loss when there is little reward for doing so? A win is a win, right?

When the scheduling race kicked in there was a tremendous "supply & demand" issue. D-I schools needed a game, and a win, and smaller schools were happy to deliver--at a price. Division I-AA (aka Football Championship Series) and smaller D-I schools (whose conference champ does not get an automatic slot in the post-season Bowl Championship Series) pocket a minimum of $400,000 for filling those dates. That's why we see names roll across the scoreboard that seem pretty foreign to a lot of football fans.

A sampling from I-AA would be the likes of Charleston Southern, Wofford, Liberty, and a whole bunch of directional schools. Just some of the D-I schools supplementing their budgets with the scheduling bonanza are Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe and more directional schools. These are not household names, but with the pressure on coaches and administrators to deliver a winner, schools like these will continue to dot the early pre-conference schedule for the major schools.

Seeing these "match-ups" (using the term loosely) makes me remember when there were many less bowl games and the bowls were tied to conference champions and a handful of at-large teams with great records. If you didn't win the Big Ten or Pac-8 you didn't go to the Rose Bowl or just about any other bowl. If you didn't win the old Southwest Conference and go to the Cotton Bowl chances were you would be staying home for the holidays. The same goes for the Big 8 and the Orange Bowl.

Unfortunately, at the risk of not getting to a bowl, or not reaching an upper tier/bigger name bowl that will provide for larger pay day and more exposure for their programs, or possibly even playing for the national title, the early season weekends with a full slate of great inter-sectional games has passed. This past weekend there were a handful of head to head early conference clashes and a couple of border or intra-state rivalry games that sparked some interest. But, aside from that all we had was Oklahoma St.-Georgia, Oklahoma-BYU, Alabama-Va Tech, and LSU-Washington with Florida State-Miami yet to come, as of this writing.

Let's take a look at some high profile football programs' schedules over the years--this year and then 5, 10, 20 & 30 years ago. Penn St. has only been in a conference since 1993, so they drop out as the years go further back. See for yourself how the scheduling philosophy, based upon degree of difficulty, has changed (or not) for these teams.

2009

FLORIDA--Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida International, Florida St.

MICHIGAN--W. Michigan, Notre Dame, E. Michigan, Delaware State

PENN ST.--Akron, Syracuse, Temple, E. Illinois

TEXAS--Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, Central Florida

LSU--Washington, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, Tulane

USC--San Jose St., Ohio State, Notre Dame

2004

FLORIDA--E. Michigan, Middle Tennessee, Florida St.

MICHIGAN--Miami (OH), Notre Dame, San Diego St.

PENN ST.--Akron, Boston College, Central Florida

TEXAS--North Texas, Rice, Arkansas

LSU--Oregon St., Arkansas State, Troy

USC--Virginia Tech, Colorado St., BYU, Notre Dame

1999

FLORIDA--Western Michigan, Central Florida, Florida St.

MICHIGAN--Notre Dame, Rice, Syracuse

PENN ST.--Arizona, Akron, Pitt, Miami

TEXAS--N.C. State, Stanford, Rutgers, Rice

LSU--San Jose St., North Texas, Houston

USC--Hawaii, San Diego St., Notre Dame, Louisiana Tech

1989

FLORIDA--Louisiana Tech, Memphis, New Mexico, Florida St.

MICHIGAN--Notre Dame, UCLA, Maryland

TEXAS--Colorado, SMU, Penn St.

LSU--Texas A&M, Florida St., Ohio U.

USC--Illinois, Utah St., Ohio St., Notre Dame

1979

FLORIDA--Houston, Ga Tech, Tulsa, Miami

MICHIGAN--Notre Dame, Kansas, California

TEXAS--Iowa St., Missouri, Rice

LSU--Colorado, Rice, USC

USC--Texas Tech, Minnesota, LSU, Notre Dame

How Lucky White Sox Fans Are To Have Ozzie Guillen

In our present world of sports journalism coaches and athletes are prepped on how to avoid making controversial or inflammatory public statements. They calculate their choice of words like a skilled liar on the witness stand. But, shining through all of that dull, lifeless, gray blah-blah-blah is a beacon of light.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment let me present Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. Whether you follow major league baseball closely or not, you have to love the entertainment Guillen provides. He’s certainly not like Casey Stengel, who for decades was the lovable “Old Professor” of baseball, known for his cock-eyed views on life as well as his quotes. Casey often left listeners with their heads tilted and brows wrinkled in their effort to comprehend what he had just said.

You may know that Guillen concluded his playing career in 2000 after having played 12 of his 16-years as a shortstop for the White Sox. In 2004 he got his shot to manage in the majors by being named skipper of his beloved Pale Hose. Just one year later Guillen became the first Latin-born manager to lead his team to a World Series title.

A native of Venezuela, Guillen has a passion for the game, his Latin blood runs hot, and he is not afraid to speak his mind. That’s what makes Guillen both entertaining and refreshing at the same time.

Unlike Stengel, there is nothing left to interpretation with Guillen. It’s all pretty plain and clear. For example, in early August, after Guillen’s team had three of their batters hit by opposing pitchers in one game, he went on a rant. He put the rest of the American League on notice. You hit one of his guys, you’ll pay. Not only will it be an eye for an eye, but it might be a two for one proposition! Guillen went so far as to say that he doesn’t care if the league fines him for ordering his pitchers to retaliate for his players being hit. He was essentially taunting future opposing teams, as well as the league office. When I saw the video clip of this it reminded me of one scene in the silly comedy movie classic, “STRIPES”--when Francis “Psycho” Soyer repeatedly threatened Bill Murray, John Candy, and the other military goofs in the barracks, “If you touch me or my stuff…I’ll kill ya.” As for Guillen, if you throw at him or his team, you’re going down!

Last weekend the Yankees swept the ChiSox in a 3-game set at Yankee Stadium and each of the games provided opportunity for Guillen to sound off. When the Sox were limited to just one hit and committed three errors in a 3-0 loss to the Bronx Bombers Guillen offered this summary:

"I'm embarrassed,'' Guillen said. ''And everybody in that room should be embarrassed. If they're not embarrassed, they got the wrong job or they're stealing money from baseball. I feel like I'm stealing the money from [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf]. And that's a shame. When you got more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror and start second-guessing yourself.

''I was looking at the Little League game this morning, and they were playing better than we did. It was more fun ... this is not major-league baseball. Sorry.''

''If we had a B Game against us, we might tie,'' Guillen said. ''Nobody is going to win. I feel that way, and I hope my players and coaches feel the same way.”

After another loss to the Yankees, where Chicago suffered from poor base-running, Guillen said, ''We had an opportunity to score some runs, we're not scoring runs. I never in my life, I don't remember someone getting thrown out at the plate 3-2 [count] with two outs. If you're a manager, you wonder what's going to be next. But when you see that [stuff], you're shaking your head like wow.

''We got picked off at third base once to lose a game, we got picked off at second base then we got thrown out on 3-2 with two out at the plate by 20 feet. Well, I don't give a [darn] who is managing this ballclub, they better check their [butt]. What are we going to do next? What should we do?''

The most gut-wrenching loss was when New York’s Robinson Cano delivered a devastating blow to Guillen’s club with a game-winning 3-run homer with two outs in the 10^th inning. The Sox skipper brought in lefty Randy Williams to pitch the 10^th. Williams was able to get both of the first two hitters, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, out but back-to-back walks brought up Cano. Guillen lamented, ''What did he do, walked the next two on eight pitches, got behind Cano, game's over,'' Guillen said. ''That's the way we roll right now.''

The White Sox are fading from the Central Division pennant race, trailing the Detroit Tigers. They do have six remaining games going head to head with the Tigers, but Guillen is far from positive in his attitude of making the most of those six opportunities to catch Detroit. “What, they think we are going to sweep Detroit? They are full of (crap),” Guillen said in a Chicago Sun-Times story. “Don’t think Detroit is going to come in and say ‘Here it is.’ They are playing well, better than we do. It’s not going to be easy. If we continue to play like that, I don’t care how many games we play against Detroit, we can play 20 games against them, it’s not going to help.”

These are mere snippets of what goes on regularly for those who follow the Chicago South Siders. How lucky the people of Chicago are to be treated to this after each and every of the 162 games on the schedule.

In recent years it has become very unbecoming for coaches and players to air their dirty laundry in public, to throw someone else under the bus, or to throw gasoline on a small campfire. But, for those of us who enjoy a good rant, who appreciate people that wear emotions on their sleeve, for those of us who need a refreshing change from all the political correctness and “play nice together in the sand box” public people, Ozzie Guillen gives us all of that and more.