Medias Blancas

South Florida is being discussed as a possible destination for what is currently Tropical Storm Isaac. http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Tropical-Depression-9-Forms-in-Atlantic-166865816.html

The question is whether or not the Cuban exile community and its environs will let it die. This issue may have diminished from 790 the Ticket and 'QAM, but is Radio Mambí still talking about this?

Most people outside of South Florida do not understand the passion of the Cuban exile community.

790 the Ticket just reported that Guillen has been suspended 5 games.

where's Neil Rogers when I need him... Uncle Neil's comments over this would have been priceless. I remember vacationing in South Florida at the height of the Elian Gonzalez saga, and Neil brought his A game.

Castrogate has reached epic proportions. * Ozzie Guillen is front page news in today's Miami Herald. The newspaper has page to page coverage of the scandal. * Local news is starting out with news updates about Castrogate * WIOD (the biggest radio station in S. Florida) has stopped short of calling for Ozzie to be fired. They have given him a lot of heat. * Spanish radio stations are calling for Ozzie to be fired, and people have been calling Radio Marti (710AM) which is the biggest Spanish talk radio station in Miami, for 3 hours nonstop. Hundreds of callers are asking for Ozzie to resign, saying they will boycott the Marlins, and some even suggesting Ozzie better watch his back. *Several Miami-Dade Commissioners are calling for Ozzie to resign or be fired. * Miami mayor asked the Marlins to make amends to the community (whatever that means.) None of this surprises me, and I'm in the Chicago area.

Unfortunately I won't be able to listen to the telecast. Any idea where I may be able to hear it in its entirety?? Do you think 790the ticket? The Ticket said they're airing it live. I presume QAM might as well.

This is not the first time Ozzie expressed admiration for Fidel Castro, it turns out. In today's Chicago Sun-Times, sports columnist Rick Telander recalls a 2008 interview for Men's Journal magazine in which Guillen, then of course with the White Sox, told him that Fidel Castro is the toughest man he knows. When asked why, Ozzie said this: “He’s a bull---- dictator and everybody’s against him, and he still survives, has power. Still has a country behind him,’’ Ozzie replied. “Everywhere he goes, they roll out the red carpet. I don’t admire his philosophy; I admire him.’’ The full colulmn is here. This received no attention at the time, September 2008, in which the White Sox were competing for the AL Central title which they eventually won in a playoff. In Chicago, most people don't care what Ozzie thinks about Castro. Chicago has a huge community of Latinos, most of whom are of Mexican descent and don't have the passion for this issue that South Florida's Cuban community does. Hence, Ozzie took no heat for it. But now... I say there is a 50/50 chance that Guillen does not survive this.

I don't think Loria gives a ****. Given how quickly the Marlins put out that statement, are you sure about that?

Given how rash Loria can be, could he bow to pressure from the exiles and fire Guillen?

It looks like this is a dominant topic on South Florida sports talk radio this morning. I am sure it's even bigger on exile radio this morning.

Sorry to say it isn't going away. Cubans in SO FL according to channel 7 are very upset, calling for his firing, boycotting the Marlins, and planning a protest rally from Versailles restaurant to the Park on Tuesday in morning. The group that is boycotting the Marlins and doing the protest rally has 63 likes on their facebook page. I don't think they are entirely representative of the Cuban community in Miami. I would venture to guess that this particular group is fringe compared to other exile groups. Right?

Of all the things Ozzie Guillen has said and done in Chicago, none of them have generated the furor his Castro comments did in South Florida. With several radio stadions dedicated to anti-Castro programming 24/7, I am sure this will not die any time soon. It'll be interesting to see how his sons, Ozzie Jr. and Oney, react to this on Twitter. Oney especially is vicious on Twitter.

Here in Chicago, I can tell you in South Florida for sure that Marlins baseball will never be boring or irrelevant as long as Ozzie is managing.

Here is the latest from the Sun-Times:

He's alive. I saw him at La Carreta this weekend. Did he tip the waitress?

It appears that the media has started another "Fidel Watch" because Fidel Castro has not been seen or heard from for months. Link

I didn't have the sound up all the way, but did Buster Olney just report that McKeon is back?

FIrst, we lose Uncle Neil and now we lose the Mad Dog. RIP Mad Dog

RIP, Neilgod.

Whenever I was in South Florida, I would make it a point to listen to Neil Rogers' show on WQAM. The local radio legend is now suffering from vascular dementia and has been placed in hospice care. LinkLink

Accordng to the Chicago Sun-Times, Zambrano is still blaming Derrek Lee. What a malcontent. Link

What Z did was stupid, but that Cubs team just really needs to be imploded and both GM and manager parted with. Jim Hendry has brought in second-rate free agents to stock their roster year after year, resulting in a $100 million payroll and a limited few marquee players who are showing they are over the hill now. Worse, they mismanaged pretty much every young talent they've had, or even traded them for more second-rate guys who were usually gone a year later. So they've built nothing but a perennial group of mediocre veterans, which is not a blueprint for success. I used to be a Cubs fan owing to my dad's Chicago heritage, but there was only so much I could take of that awful organizational philosphy. I was always a Marlin's fan first, but I pretty cut the Cubs lose entirely when I saw them spending big money on mediocrity year after year, while the Marlins were at least building a core of young players who were exciting and fun to watch. But with the resources that a team from Chicago has, it's laughable that they come away from every offseason having pinned their playoff hopes on guys like Milton Bradley and Kosuke Fukodome. The Zambrano incident aside, the Cubs have really become an afterthought in Chicago. With the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks and "Hoping to sign LeBron" Bulls making news in the offseason, coupled with the White Sox surge that has them nipping at Minnesota and Detroit's heels, the Cubs' countinued foundering makes them less and less important.

I was at U.S. Cellular Field for the game today, and I saw the commotion in the dugout from my seats. Zambrano was the last one off the field after the first inning ended (the White Sox put a 4-spot on him highlighted by Carlos Quentin's 3-run blast), and he was ranting like a high school football coach. Then, when he went at Derrek Lee, Piniella had to take him to the Cubs clubhouse. In a video that has I have not yet seen, Zambrano reportedly went on a profanity-laced tirade at some local TV crews as he left the ballpark. The link below does not contain the video I referenced but just shows Zambrano sitting on his car. This incident with Zambrano has come to dominate all the sports talk radio tonight, losing the White Sox' ten-game winning streak in the shadows. Link

I would say that most White Sox fans like Hawk, but there are definitely some who have issues with him. I think one thing that annoys fans most about Hawk is when the game is out of hand and Hawk starts talking about his playing days. For example..."You know, Stoney, there was one time Yaz and I..." Others get on Hawk because he is not to quick to criticize the White Sox when they play poorly. This is the opposite of the approach Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall took when broadcasting Sox games in the late '70s. Harry and Jimmy, who were the most entertaining announcing tandem ever, pulled no punches when they did games. I do think Hawk and Steve Stone (one of baseball's best minds) have great chemistry on the air.