Last August a Newsday reporter noted that white Sox manager Ozzie Guillen better watch what he says about homosexuals following an incident in the Sox dugout when Ozzie introduced a friend of his to media gathered there and said, “‘Hey, everybody, this guy’s a homosexual!’ Guillen shouted. ‘He’s a child molester!'”
Unattractive homosexuality/molestation comments aside, Guillen seems more comfortable with gayness than most in Major League Baseball — at least he seems more comfortable about actions that might be perceived as stepping over that gay line.
The Chicago Trib‘s Dawn Turner Trice says she believes that the key to the White Sox’s winning season is the fact that Guillen makes a point to kiss nearly every player on the team, and doesn’t stop there:
I noticed the kissing for the first time Saturday night, but I kept it to myself because before the pennant race, I hadn’t been watching baseball games from beginning to end. I thought maybe kissing was the new thing from the new metrosexual male athlete.
But after consulting with several colleagues, I now understand that this kissing phenomenon is much more specific to the South Side team’s metroSOXual manager.
On Sunday night, Guillen hugged and kissed his son, which isn’t unusual. But then he also hugged and kissed Contreras. A few minutes later in the clubhouse, he hugged and kissed Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf after Reinsdorf was given the American League Championship trophy. (Sources tell me that Guillen hugged and kissed Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia after one playoff win, but I didn’t witness that.)
Trice adds, “Any man who can kiss another man on the cheek in a fairly macho sport, and create an atmosphere where players don’t mind a smooch every now and then after they’ve excelled, has won my heart and admiration entirely.”
I wholeheartedly agree. The more kissing in that dugout the better. You never know what might help a team win the World Series.
The White Sox Like to Suck Face [deadspin]
Guillen is the man [chicago tribune]
