Yesterday Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager and general loudmouth, made some comments suggesting that Latin American players are not afforded the same 'luxuries' as Japanese players. His major sticking point appeared to be that Japanese players are given a translator, whilst Latin players aren't.
First of all, isn't it kind of odd for someone to single out a particular minority when complaining about the perceived treatment of his or her minority? What did Hideo Nomo or Dice K ever do to Ozzie?
Secondly, if Guillen had thought about it he might have realised, there is a massive, enormous difference between being a Japanese player in a Major League clubhouse, than being a Latin American player in same.
Every single MLB team has a good portion of Spanish speaking players. Most teams probably have at least half it's squad able to speak Spanish.
Can you say the same about Japanese?
It is a very tricky language, a tough one to even get the basics of by all accounts. Guillen's poorly thought out rant clearly misses this obvious fact.
A Japanese player would be completely lost in an MLB clubhouse without language assistance. A Latin American player? He has players, coaches and general staff to help with any language barrier.
You would like to tell Guillen to put a sock in it, but, we all know he never will.
First of all, isn't it kind of odd for someone to single out a particular minority when complaining about the perceived treatment of his or her minority? What did Hideo Nomo or Dice K ever do to Ozzie?
Secondly, if Guillen had thought about it he might have realised, there is a massive, enormous difference between being a Japanese player in a Major League clubhouse, than being a Latin American player in same.
Every single MLB team has a good portion of Spanish speaking players. Most teams probably have at least half it's squad able to speak Spanish.
Can you say the same about Japanese?
It is a very tricky language, a tough one to even get the basics of by all accounts. Guillen's poorly thought out rant clearly misses this obvious fact.
A Japanese player would be completely lost in an MLB clubhouse without language assistance. A Latin American player? He has players, coaches and general staff to help with any language barrier.
You would like to tell Guillen to put a sock in it, but, we all know he never will.
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