Guillen: Mariotti a "(bleeping) fag"

I was with a friend and her two teenage boys, and every sentence those kids spoke to each other used the word fag or homo. "Shut up fag'...'That's mine, you homo...'  My friend made a joke of it to me, like 'that's just how kids talk.'  And she's right, but it doesn't make it right. I couldn't believe she wouldn't tell them to find a different insult.

Those words just seem to slide into the vocabulary without meaning what they actually mean.  If you're a kid in the backseat of the car, it's wrong....and if you're the manager of a major league baseball team talking openly to reporters about another member of the media, it's not only wrong, it's just fucking stupid.  If I was the owner, I'd suspend him just for embarrassing the organization.

 

Todd Jones just issued a prepared statement saying he doesn't want Mariotti being around him, rubbing it in his face.

 

If I was Mariotti, this is what I would want to happen to Guillen.

Nothing.

Maybe a private apology. I don't even think he'd want that since he wasn't there for the rant.

 

Here's my favorite paragraph of the column:

And a question for those who cover MLB, is Guillen a Latino Billy Martin? That's the sense I get from this column and some other stuff I've read.

 

Are you kidding?

He just got column material for the next month out of this.

Mariotti should be sending Guillen a thank-you card.

 

Rocker's actual quote (one of many): "I would retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the [Number] 7 train to the ballpark, looking like you're [riding through] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to some <b>queer with AIDS</b> right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing."

Not sure if queer would be considered a slur or not to be honest.

However, my favorite Rocker quote of all, which shows you how clueless this guy truly was:

“I know Hank [ Aaron ] and Jackie [ Robinson ] took a good deal of crap, but I guarantee it wasn't for six years. I just keep thinking: How much am I supposed to take?”

All that aside...Guillen should be given a seat for a few days, if no other reason than to stop some of his silly tirades.

 

21 is right. Calling someone a fag or homo in that context is a typical insult -- kinda like calling them a sissy. It doesn't mean you actually think they are gay.

But it is still wrong. It demeans all gays and makes just being gay an insult. It's like calling someone a nigger and rationalizing it by saying there are "white niggers" too.

That's why when I hear fag or homo or gay from my kids, I tell them we don't use those words as insults. It's not right to talk to people that way and we have friends who are gay and using words that way wrongs them.

But it is pervasive.

 

exactly. it's like calling someone a jew. context is what's important. if someone talking about me (i'm jewish) said "that fucking jew" that might be technically true but the way you're using it is insulting. if someone said 'he's not taking x-mas off because he's a jew' that wouldn't bother me. if ozzie said 'oh, i saw that fag with his boyfriend the other day. i stopped and we had a couple of beers at a bar. it was fun. those fags are the funnies guys i've ever met.' that's insensitive but the intent is not to insult and he might get the benefit of the doubt.

 

This'll all be worked out the next time Guillen's team finishes under .500.

When their teams are winning, managers and coaches like Guillen are "fiery."

When their teams are losing, they are "malcontents."

 

leo, I might be reading this the wrong way. But what I get from it is that your penalty for Guillen would be less if you knew he went to the Gay Games, Madonna concerts and WNBA games.

Either he's wrong, or he's not wrong.

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On another note, doesn't this seem tantalizingly similar to the argument over the N word?

"Oh, it's OK if I call him a shit-eater ... eaters of shit are some of my best friends..."

 

Judy Garland posters in his office .... drives the Plymouth PT Cruiser ....