Ozzie Goes Off, Villanueva Goes Adios

Ahhh, what a great time for sports: it’s the height of summer, baseball season’s finally starting to get interesting (let’s be honest, the first couple months mean nada), and you can sense NBA free agency about to kick into Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift overdrive (basketball free agency no doubt the most compelling and significant signing period of all the major sports). Coincidentally, two Latinos (one, a guy I root for, and the other an ATF – All-Time Favorite) made news in both baseball and basketball.

Ozzie Guillen Goes Off!
Man, I love Ozzie Guillen. No one in sports gives better sound bytes, answers questions more honestly, or straight owns anyone who steps to him like OG. Recently, Cubs manager, Lou Piniella, made the mistake of pointing out how attendance at U.S. Cellular Field (otherwise known as “The Home of the White Sox”) spikes every time the Cubbies visit. Oh no he didn’t! Really, Lou, you want to mess with a guy notorious for ripping people new ones in highly publicized war of the words (just ask Magglio Ordonez)? Of course, Guillen responded to Piniella’s observation in classic Ozzie Guillen style.

When answering a question about the low attendance, the White Sox manager said, “Because our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans. They know we’re sh*$.”

Guillen followed up his first little nugget of wisdom by saying Cubs fans will go see any game at Wrigley Field because, “Wrigley Field is just a bar.”

Sports figures with personality rock; they add drama, keep things interesting, and, most importantly, make the entire experience more entertaining. Yeah, Ozzie might go a little too far sometimes, but the dude (and his fire and passion) adds to baseball much more than he ever takes away.

Oh, by the way, the White Sox won the weekend series 2-1 over the Cubs.

Villanueva Single and Looking to Mingle (Specifically with the City of Cleveland)
Today, the Milwaukee Bucks declined to give an offer to star power forward Charlie Villanueva, making the Dominican baller an unrestricted free agent. Of course C-Vill, already famous for his tweeting exploits, used the 140-character messaging system to address his release.

“My journey in Milwaukee has come to [an] end,” Villanueva said via Twitter. And in a classy move, he went on to tweet-thank fans and the Bucks ownership for “three great years.”

Well, now that our boy’s on the market, Vill used Twitter to kick some game to a potential rebound, the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Cleveland fans are showing me mad love on twitter, appreciate the love.”

Did the NBA just witness its first free agent booty call? My advice to the Cavs, sign Villanueva and pair him up with Shaq and King James. Seriously, the former UConn star adds another scoring threat down low (taking some of the pressure of an aging O’Neal) and any guy who tweets on a regular basis needs to hang out with LeBron James as much as possible.

In fact, I’m going to start following C-Vill’s Twitter account now just to be ready.