EXTRA: Beisbol over for season, but returns to all of us next week

Another baseball season has come to an end, with the Caguas Creoles (champions of the Roberto Clemente League in Puerto Rico) bringing some joy to the hurricane-devastated Caribbean island by beating the Dominican League champ Cibao Eagles (of Santiago, D.R.) 8-4 Thursday night in the championship game of this year’s Caribbean Series.

Not that it will be too long before the crack of the bat entertains those fans who yearn for the smell of a leather glove or have been fulfilling their baseball fix with viewings of Ken Burns’ nearly quarter-century-old “Baseball” documentary – spring training camps open next week. Both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs begin their preparations for the 2018 season Wednesday in Arizona.

SO I GET a weekend to get over the fact that the Culiacan Tomato Growers, the Pacific League of Mexico champs, got their behinds handed to them during the past week and weren’t even close to qualifying for the game determining the unofficial champions of Latin American beisbol.

Before shifting to a mindset of wondering whether the White Sox will continue with their talk of a ball club rebuild that could put dreams of a 2019 or 2020 World Series appearance in our dreams. (A Sox/Cubs World Series for '20, anyone?)

For those who can’t get through this weekend without some baseball-related talk, consider this video snippet of long-time Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster (and Miller Lite pitchman) Bob Uecker on the Tonight Show – telling us of the “wonders” of spring training.

And you’ll definitely have to admire his sports jacket – the notion that anyone could think of wearing such tacky garb on national television astounds the mind.

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Ditka tops Guillen in ranks of former Chicago sports guys turned goofs?

There are those people who like to rag on one-time Chicago White Sox shortstop and manager Ozzie Guillen as some sort of irresponsible goof – somebody who despite his significant athletic accomplishments for Chicago ball clubs is just too much of a goof to have around.

How does not seeing racial oppression ...

But after learning of one-time Chicago Bears tight end and head coach Mike Ditka’s latest railing on national television, I can’t help but think that Ozzie is nowhere near as absurd.

FOR THE RECORD, Ditka (who led the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl victory ever back in 1986) was on the Westwood One pregame show prior to the Monday Night Football game featuring the Bears against the Minnesota Vikings felt compelled to ignore the questions about the Bears’ ongoing struggles to find a competent quarterback.

Instead, he wanted to rant about the fact that many professional football players feel compelled to SUPPORT the protests taking place in recent weeks during the National Anthem rituals that take place prior to pro football games.

Those protests started last year with one player trying to express his concern about harassment of individuals based on race. When President Donald Trump felt compelled to get involved in this issue with his nonsense talk about “firing” football players, those players started showing solidarity with their colleague.

Ditka made a point of saying he’d “bench” anybody who dared do such things on any team he coaches. But the part that gets the national attention was Ditka’s claim that, “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of,” adding later, “I don’t see all the social injustice that some of these people see.”

... compare to 'respect' for Fidel Castro?

IT’S NOT SURPRISING to learn that a professional athlete lives his life in a cocoon that isolates himself from the daily realities of our existence. I also don’t doubt these guys think their physical skills in playing a ballgame at a high level somehow makes them worthy of living life in such isolation.

He may be the guy who doesn’t read the papers, except for the sports section so he can know which sportswriter to complain about for writing something he chooses not to agree with.

But it would be an exaggeration to say we haven’t had oppression in the past 50 years – although at least now the law is such that the people who try to pull off the most extreme instances can be prosecuted, rather than thinking the law is on their side.

These two youngsters likely never realized ...

Or maybe Ditka is just one of those types who thinks that certain people are supposed to accept the fact that they’re entitled to receive a certain level of harassment from society as a large?

I THINK THIS puts Ditka in a comparable category with Guillen, who led the White Sox to a World Series title back in 2005 – a moment that for some Chicago sports fans is more significant than that Bears Super Bowl title.

Remember all the loudmouth incidents when Ozzie played for, and managed, Chicago. Like Ditka, Guillen later got a one-year stint managing/coaching elsewhere (Miami for Ozzie, New Orleans for Ditka) and now is to the point where his only sporting value is as an occasional commentator for broadcasts.

Sports fans in Miami still haven’t forgiven Ozzie for his saying all those years ago that he actually had a certain level of respect for Fidel Castro – which I’m sure they feel is as absurd as Ditka trying to claim that no one has been oppressed in this nation. Personally, I always thought of Fidel as more of a third-rate, petty tyrant than a true world threat.

Just because many of the individuals who are oppressed belong to groups whom Ditka and people like him would prefer not to have to acknowledge. Which is the truly offensive part of all this cheap talk.

 

... the highs, and lows, they would reach

PERSONALLY, I’M MORE offended by Ditka, merely because his rant is so ridiculously simplistic – as in it’s difficult to believe anybody could think of life as being so basic. I couldn’t help but notice a report that one-time star quarterback Joe Namath responded to Ditka by saying “da coach” ought to look up the meaning of the word “oppression” to realize it has occurred.

It makes me wonder if Ditka is now material for Saturday Night Live – the show where he once was idolized in those “Super Fans” sketches. Would those same fans now ponder whether Ditka has gone goofy in his old age?

Just like some are pondering whether Guillen has lost it in his middle age, to the point where the most recent report I saw about Ozzie was speculating whether he’d be considered for the Detroit Tigers managing job that is now open.

He’s not in line for it, no more than any team would seriously want Ditka hanging around their sidelines during game time. A sad ending for two of the most intriguing ballplayers-turned-coaches to be a part of the Chicago sports scene in our lifetimes.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: One major Ditka/Guillen difference -- Ditka is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, whereas few people took seriously Guillen for the Baseball Hall of Fame the one year he was actually on the ballot. Which most likely is evidence that the baseball version in Cooperstown, N.Y., deserves more credibility than the football version in Canton, Ohio.

EXTRA: Castro step-down a let-down

EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary was originally published Feb. 19, 2008 by The South Chicagoan, a sister weblog to this site that focuses on issues of concern to the growing Latin American population in this country. The fact that long-time Cuba dictator Fidel Castro finally departed this realm of existence Friday at age 90 and is likely to have his remains cremated later Saturday makes it semi-relevant again, particularly since a part of me wishes I were in Havana now to report the reaction.

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Fidel Castro, from back in the days when we'd let him openly enter this country. Photograph from Library of Congress collection

Every news reporter who is worth anything has a “dream story,” a realistic event that would be of historic proportions that they would like to be present at, so as to take a crack at writing news copy for posterity.

For me, any chance I ever had at covering my “dream” died early Tuesday when Fidel Castro officially stepped down as leader of the communist government in Cuba – bringing to an end a 49-year reign that had frustrated the will of so many U.S. presidents.

MY DREAM WOULD have been to be in Havana at the moment that the Cuban people learned that Fidel was no longer in control. I would have settled for being anyplace where people would have a special interest in the passing of Castro.

But now that Fidel Castro is officially no longer in charge for the record on the Caribbean island nation, I have to admit the reality turned out to be so far removed from any dream story I could have wanted.

Castro played his resignation to make it sound as uneventful as possible. The departure last year of Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general occurred with more political drama than the departure of Fidel.

Making the announcement on the website of the Cuban government newspaper “Granma” in the early hours of the day ensured that most Cuban people knew little of the event, since Internet access in Cuba is so heavily restricted.

BUT THE SIMPLE fact is that Castro still looms over the government. His brother, Raul, who has been Fidel’s number two man since the days of the revolution against the Batista regime, is now officially in charge.

Raul Castro is not the dominant personality that his older brother, Fidel, is. A Raul Castro-led revolution back in the late 1950s likely would have ended with some hard-core, long-forgotten Communists rotting away in a Cuban prison, instead of being swayed by the cult of personality that is Fidel Castro.

That personality is going to ensure that the Castro ideals will remain in place. Nothing of significance has changed.

In fact, all this really means is that Fidel Castro is finally conceding he’s not a young man and his intestinal problems are so severe that he can’t even pretend to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of Cuba’s financially-strapped government.

HE WILL GET to spend his final years of life (although I understand that genetics indicate Castro could still have several more years to live – there are a few centenarians in his family tree) living in as much luxury as Cuba can offer.

He won’t be living out the wildest fantasy of many a hard-core exile in the U.S. Cuban community that uses Miami as its spiritual capital – those people wanted him overthrown, put on trial and dangling from the end of a rope (just like Saddam Hussein).

Castro, when he finally dies, will get the ceremonial funeral and will be forever remembered as a hero to official Cuba, while exiles will have to suffer with the knowledge that there’s no way they can spin history – Castro’s revolution won control.

They lost.

THAT IS PROBABLY why the initial reaction out of Miami was subdued.

Aside from a few Cuban flags dangling from Florida palm trees, there isn’t much in the way of celebration. Cuban exiles realize significant change has not occurred.

It was even good to hear President Bush NOT gloat. Castro has had control of his country since the days of President Dwight Eisenhower, and eight other men oversaw the U.S. government and had to “deal” with Fidel.

Bush the younger will be the president who will get credit, so to speak, of presiding over the downfall of Fidel in the same way his father gets credit for "bringing down" the Soviet Union. He will be the Leader of the Free World who will have to set policies that try to sway the Cuban people to think of the United States as a potential ally (instead of the source of all their country’s financial problems, as the Castro government spins it).

AN EASING OF the trade embargo that has hurt the Cuban economy while also cutting off U.S. businesses from what could be a desirable market for U.S.-manufactured and –produced goods would be a step in the right direction.

It might be the incentive that gets Castro the younger (Fidel’s kid brother is 76 Now 84) to seriously think about improvements to his country – instead of early signs that say he views Cuba as a potential China (easing the economic restraints of Communism while maintaining the rigid social controls of a totalitarian state).

How should we remember Fidel Castro?

The Cuban government is pushing the notion that the revolution against the Batista government resulted in free public education and health care for all the Cuban people.

THAT IS TRUE, to a point. The reality is that the quality of health care in Cuba is so poor and so scarce. Many Cubans can’t get needed health care – because it’s not available to anybody, not because of its cost.

And as far as education is concerned, yes, minimal literacy is higher in Cuba than in many other poor nations. There are statistics that can be twisted to make it appear to be better than impoverished neighborhoods in the United States.

But in today’s world, bare literacy is not going to get anyone ahead in life. Advanced education is needed, and for many Cubans, that is a dream often discouraged by a government that still wants to talk about the nobility of the “workers of the world” over all else.

And when it comes to Castro’s human rights record, it stinks just as much as many other third-rate dictators around the world. The sad fact of the Castro regime is that it overthrew one totalitarian dictatorship run by Fulgencio Batista and replaced it with one run by “los Hermanos Castro” (not the Mexican singing group).

BUT I HAVE a hard time singling out Castro as some sort of tyrannical demon (as the Cuban exile community of Miami is quick to do), because I know full well there are many other government “leaders” who run their countries with as much of a strong-arm demeanor as Fidel.

But since they are willing to denounce the label of Communism, the United States has been willing to look the other way. Heck, if Castro hadn’t declared himself to be a Communist after one year in power, the U.S. would never have dreamed of embargoing the Cuban economy. We’d be willing to make excuses for Castro’s overcrowded jails.

The past 49 years of U.S. policy toward Cuba have not accomplished much of anything. The United States did NOT drive Fidel Castro from power. He got to leave on his own terms, and name his successor.

PEOPLE WHO ARE insistent on having history record the Castro regime as illegitimate are going to have to accept failure, and move on for the best.

It’s not that I ever expect a sudden rush of exiles seeking to return to Cuba – so many decades in the United States have caused them to change permanently, and in the process become an important part of the larger Latino community in this country.

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Would Illinois governor, or right-wing Latin American dictator, be the prototype for a Trump presidency

Should we wind up having to endure the presidency of a Donald Trump as a result of the November elections, it’s not quite clear what his governing style would turn out to be.

What comes out of a Donald Trump piñata -- little pink slips saying "You're Fired"

He’d be Bruce Rauner times 50 (as in he’d have say over all the states, rather than just Illinois). Or like one of those third-rate dictator types that have imposed their will on too many Latin American nations (maybe that's why he's obsessed with Mexico) throughout the years.

IT SEEMS THAT Trump thinks that stupid persona he created for the television program “The Apprentice” is somehow legitimate – that he’d have the authority to bark out orders and scream and screech “You’re Fired” at everyone who displeased him.

Just like we in Illinois have a governor now who thinks he can behave as some sort of benevolent dictator whose instructions are to be followed explicitly by the peons who actually have the nerve to think their election by the people to represent them in Congress gives them any say in the process.

In Illinois, we have seen how ridiculous this very notion is. Nothing gets done here. We’re at a standstill. Do we really need a national version of this happening as well?

Would Trump use Congress like Rauner acts to Madigan?

This vision of Trump as a buffoonish president only got reinforced for me Tuesday when I read the Washington Post’s report (complete with “Bob Woodward” byline) that told us how His Trumpishness thinks he can force the government of Mexico to pick up the cost of building that barricade along the U.S./Mexico border.

THE ONE THAT will turn out to be just as unsuccessful in keeping the outside world at bay as that one-time Berlin Wall was in keeping the Soviet sector of the German capital free from the “evil influence” of capitalism!

It seems that Trump is eyeballing all that money earned by Mexican citizens or people of Mexican ethnic ancestry in this country, then wired back to their relatives in Mexico.

There is a significant number of Mexicans who actually rely upon that money, and it does provide a measurable boost to the Mexican economy. Trump thinks he can mess around with the ability of people to wire money to Mexico, which will then cause the government to give in and make a one-time payment of some $10 billion to build a wall along the 1,900 or so miles of desert that separate the two nations.

Of course, federal laws concerning those payments do provide certain provisions for the government to mess with them, but only under certain specific and unique circumstances where national security or health is impacted.

IT IS OF questionable legal grounds that we’re even close to fulfilling any of those conditions! Unless you’re of the midget mentality that wants to believe Mexico’s very existence on Planet Earth somehow represents a security threat.

But as Trump perceives things, he makes his threat on Day One, on Day Two, “Mexico would immediately protest,” but then would be forced to acquiesce because it would have no choice. After all, no one says “No” to Donald Trump.

What kind of uniform would Trump adopt?

Which is such a laughable notion, particularly since Mexico this week installed a new U.S. ambassador with experience to handle a political lightweight like Trump with his laughable hair-do. Or if a “President Trump” were to adopt a military persona like one-time Chile dictator Augusto Pinochet!

It makes me wonder how big a meltdown he would experience the first time the Congress tells Trump to “stuff it” on one of his goofy proposals. Does he really think he can tell Congress, “You’re Fired!” and impose his will on us unilaterally?

IF ANYTHING, I probably owe the Illinois governor an apology for bringing his name into the equation. Both are corporate types who think they can bark orders and think other officials are insolent for not meekly complying with them.

But I don’t think Rauner at his worst would concoct this nonsensical a scheme – which really seems more intended to reinforce his backing among the segment of the Wisconsin electorate with xenophobic and nativist sentiments. They did, after all, cast their votes on Tuesday.

And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was expected to win, even though he was publicly caught on video refusing to wear one of those cheese head hats – which may be the one thing he has done during this campaign that made any sense.

It would be more ridiculous than trying to put a sombrero on the head of Trump – the man who on Tuesday reminded us that Mexico, “has taken advantage” of the United States for years through “gangs, drug traffickers and cartels” responsible for “the extraordinary daily cost of this criminal activity.” Even though the demand for this criminal activity comes from the United States itself.

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How warped is Trump on immigration? Even goofiest of rumors seem true

It doesn’t shock me in the least whenever Republican presidential dreamer Donald Trump opens his mouth about immigration-related issues.

Only $79, and you can smash it to your heart's content

He has a strategy in mind; he wants to get the support of that segment of our society that is determined to think of immigration as a problem to be eradicated – particularly as it relates to Latin American nations.

IT WILL GAIN him some supporters. Although as far as I’m concerned, it also means he is worthy of any abuse that comes along with it. He made a choice about the kind of people he wants to vote for him.

So it also means he deserves the hostility and suspicion of the people he seems determined to single out for attacks just to try to get himself the votes of some people whose own motivations are questionable.

How else to explain the Trump rally on Friday in Alabama that devolved into racist rants from the followers when Trump once again brought up a pet issue of the xenophobic segment of our society – removing citizenship from certain people who aren’t exactly like them.

The problem with the remarks that Trump has made about Mexico and U.S. relations with the Mexican government is that they are so ridiculous and over-the-top that they make all the other rumors seem so viable.

IT BECOMES HARD to tell just what is absurd, and what is truthful. Because the truth of what comes out of Trump’s mouth is so absurd, in and of itself.

Take the story that emanated out of a Latin American-oriented website about how Trump said he wants to revoke the century-old orders that gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. As I initially read on the WarAgainstAllPuertoRicans.com website.

Because, as Trump  supposedly put it, they don’t fit the image of what the “American race” ought to be. As stupid as such a thought is, it isn’t any more ridiculous than what Trump has legitimately said about Mexico.

Or the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which was one of the amendments implemented right after the Civil War to address the status of former slaves). Trump on Friday in Alabama called the amendment “stupid.”

I’LL BE THE first to admit that I can’t find back-up accounts of Trump actually discussing Puerto Rico and citizenship. In short, I can’t find an actual news account of what was said. Yet it is so in character that it comes across as believable.

Just as a story on the Mideastbeast.com website came across as truthful – even though it isn’t.

In that report, Trump supposedly said he was prepared to settle the dispute over Jerusalem and the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the Arabs who live in the area claimed by Israel by relocating those Arabs to Puerto Rico.

It was meant to be parody, but a Muslim cleric in Jerusalem on Friday took it literally, and went about denouncing the idea – claiming that, “Palestine is not the same as Puerto Rico, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is not a mere building made of stone.”

IN LIGHT OF everything else he says when Latin American issues come up, it would only make sense that Trump probably thinks Puerto Rico and its people aren’t worth much.

Trump probably thinks that Puerto Rico is nothing more than the place where he once developed a luxury golf course (with appropriate hotels) that has since gone bankrupt. How could it be anything worthwhile if it didn’t add to the Trump financial bottom line?

On the surface, the idea of revoking Puerto Rico citizenship (which would cause so many more problems than resolve the few the ideologues think exist) and turning the island commonwealth into an Islamic land are too ridiculous to take seriously.

Then again, so are Trump’s real comments about Mexican people in this country being “rapists and drug runners.” Whose only real purpose is to appeal to the segment of our society that respectable people realize are THE problem we ought to address.

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Dominican pride on display in upstate New York; Martinez becomes immortal the baseball way -- with bronze plaque

(NOT IN) COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – It wasn’t just the suit coat he wore Sunday that caught the public eye toward new Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez.

Although with light blue and shoulder patches depicting the coat of arms of the Dominican Republic, it was clear that Martinez – the one-time star of the Boston Red Sox who gave the White Sox fits during way too many games – was determined to make a statement.

FOR IT WAS clear that Sunday at the Baseball Hall of Fame was meant to be an ethnic pride statement – which came timed particularly appropriately following the recent dismissal of an ESPN broadcaster for his comments.

Personally, I was upset to hear Colin Cowherd think that there is something less-than-literate or complex about baseball. Although his evidence of the simplicity of baseball – the fact that so many people of Dominican ethnic origins play the game – ticked off Martinez.

Who earlier said Cowherd wasn’t worthy of insulting a Hall of Famer like himself. And on Sunday made sure to let everybody know that he was Dominican and that there probably ought to be more Dominicans in the Hall of Fame.

For as it stands, there are only two people born in the Dominican Republic who got into professional baseball and made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.

THOSE WERE ONE-TIME San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, and now Martinez – whose own career began with the Giants’ long-time arch-rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As Martinez said several times, it has been 32 years since Marichal got into the Hall of Fame (after being rejected for a few years because of a violent outburst involving Dodgers catcher John Roseboro). For all we know, it may be another 32 years before another Dominican gets into the Hall.

Even though there are so many Dominicans (about 10 percent currently) playing Major League Baseball, there are those who express their resentment and want to diminish their role.

Martinez even made his visual gift for all the Dominicans (including several government officials) who made the trip to upstate New York to see the ceremonies) by having Marichal join him in waving about the Dominican flag.

AT RED, WHITE and blue, it is all-to-similar to the U.S of A. colors that would have made him appear to be a patriot. Although listening to his induction speech, Martinez also threw in enough plugs for this country giving him a chance to move ahead in life.

Which ought to appease any of the nativists of our society who otherwise would want to claim he should be favoring this nation instead of any other.

As one who enjoys seeing the growing numbers of Latin American ballplayers because they maintain the standards of the U.S. major leagues as the world’s elite, it makes me wonder if Martinez has a point when it comes to that “32 year” wait.

Because there are times it seems when certain fanaticos de beisbol are determined to downplay the role of Latin American peloteros. I remember when one-time Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa was considered a Hall of Fame shoo-in.

SOMETHING ABOUT THAT six-season peak where he exceeded New York Yankees great Babe Ruth in his prime, and he managed to top the 600-home run standard that should have made the 2013 Hall of Fame class an elite combo of Sosa, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Who knows if Sosa will ever overcome the taint of the “S” word and get Hall of Fame status? Or will just slink into the minutia of baseball trivia as one of the many Dominicans who came to this country to play baseball since Ossie Virgil became a part of the New York Giants back in 1956. Including Martinez’ brother, Ramon, whom scouts initially thought would be the better of the two, and to whom Pedro offered plenty of praise on Sunday.

Martinez also says he hopes we can view his playing career, “as a sign of hope for a Third World country, for Latinos” and somebody sports fans can be proud of. Maybe even Canadians – for whom he gave a plug for baseball to someday return to Montreal.

Creating yet another team that can knock the stuffing out of Chicago ball clubs on any given day.

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Spring came Monday in form of beisbol, no matter what groundhog said

The nation’s groundhog saw its shadow Monday in Punxsutawney, Pa., while I saw all the snow and slush piled up outside my front door. It’s obvious that winter isn’t quite over with.

Yet I couldn’t help but feel a bit of springtime joy on Groundhog Day, even though the activity I saw took place in Puerto Rico.

FOR THAT IS where the first games were held Monday for the Caribbean Series – the annual championship tourney of Latin American baseball. For the record, the Culiacan Tomateros of Mexico beat the Pinar de Rio Vegueros of Cuba 2-1 to kick off the baseball tournament.

While many of you were recovering from Super Bowl Party hang-over (I didn’t even bother to watch the game Sunday night), I am bracing for a week of baseball fun. The idea that somewhere on Monday it was 80 degrees and sunny, with a touch of humidity in the air and baseball was being played was enough to brighten my day.

Particularly when I saw that first game (which started at 11 a.m., Chicago time) in which the Tomatogrowers came from behind to win their game, with pitcher Terance Marin getting credit for the win against the team named for a locally-produced brand of cigars.

For those not obsessed with the most intense of minor league minutia, Marin is a California native who has pitched the past several seasons for assorted Chicago White Sox minor league affiliates, and who chose to play ball this past winter in Mexico and wound up playing for the team that won the Pacific League championship.

IT WOULD BE nice to think that if he is able to make the big club in Chicago this year, this bit of championship tourney experience might make him fit to boost the White Sox chances of making it to the playoffs this year and succeeding.

That is part of what makes me get a kick out of the Caribbean Series each year – the ballplayers are amongst the best out of Latin American nations and also some U.S. kids who try to boost their own experience and chances at playing in the U.S. major leagues with a stint in winter ball.

Just like Eric Farris, who made an outfield misplay Monday that cost his Mexico ball club a run, but then helped to set up the run that tied up the game a couple of innings later. Farris, for those who don’t know, once played for the Milwaukee Brewers, but has spent the past few seasons playing for Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates.

It is a chance to get a preview of what could come in future U.S. major league seasons, while also getting a chance to see competitive baseball being played at a time when we otherwise would think we’re in the dreariness of winter.

THE SIGHT OF pitchers trying to overpower and outsmart hitters helped me manage to forget just how ugly a day we experienced on Sunday, and how the residue of that day is piled up nearly two feet deep right outside my front window!

And I also got a kick out of the one Mexico baseball fan sitting behind the dugout who chose to dye his beard in the red, white and green tri-colors of the Mexican flag.

Not as hideous as those White Sox fans who paint their face in blackface (with white “Sox” script logos on their cheeks), but it does show a certain equal sense of sincere support for their favorite team.

So if you want to know what I plan to be doing this week, it will be trying to find spare time to catch as much of the Caribbean Series as I can (two games a day on ESPN Deportes -- channel 609 on my set, I don't know about yours -- with a championship game on Sunday). It will be intriguing to see how teams from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico (this year’s tournament host) do against the Mexico and Cuba squads.

CONSIDERING THAT FUTURE Cuba participation in this tourney will be impacted by the chance of U.S./Cuba relations restoration, this isn’t just fluff and games. There could be some cultural overtones to all of this.

And at the very least, it will help me cope better from the fact that my feet (as I write this commentary) are still damp from the walk I had to take Monday afternoon out in the slop of winter snowfall!

Just another two months before we can have Opening Day in Chicago proper.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This year's tourney is being played at the Estadio Hiram Bithorn, the largest baseball stadium in Puerto Rico. It was named for the ball player who was the first Puerto Rican ever to play in the U.S. major leagues -- Bithorn pitched in 1942, 1943 and 1946 for the Chicago Cubs (interrupted by a 1944-45 stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II). In 1943, he pitched seven shut-out games, which remains a record of sorts for Puerto Rican pitchers.

What do we think about Obama’s efforts to force-feed immigration reform to infant-minded in our nation?

Watching the debate taking place these days concerning immigration reform brings to my mind the image of a whining, screaming baby, with Barack Obama reduced to the level of someone making “choo choo” train noises with a spoon to get the stubborn infant to eat their baby food.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of those people who are engaging in the loudest rants. But I can’t take too seriously their complaints that their food is “yucky” and “gross.”

BECAUSE THAT’S ABOUT the level of discourse the opposition to serious reform of the nation’s immigration policy has taken.

Perhaps that is why assorted polls don’t show overwhelming backing for the ideologue types who wish they could seriously impeach Obama, then convict and remove the president from office for daring to refuse to view the roughly 11 million undocumented residents of this nation as a scourge in need of eradication!

There is the poll conducted by Hart Research, which found some 67 percent of those questioned were supportive of Obama using his executive order powers to implement limited reforms without first getting Congressional approval.

Yes, much of that two-thirds support comes from those who identify themselves as Democrats, but 57 percent of those who call themselves independent and 41 percent of Republicans were backing Obama’s actions.

FOR WHAT IT’S worth, 47 percent of GOPers who don’t identify with the Tea Party activist movement think the president got it right. It’s mostly those hard-core ideological critics who are the whiners (64 percent in opposition) on this issue.

That particular poll was done for the Americans United for Change group, which may have its own agenda in wishing to show strong support for Obama’s response to the fact that Republicans in Congress have used all their efforts to thwart any reform efforts on the issue.

But others also show support for the action itself.

Take the poll done by CNN/ORC that showed 50 percent of those questioned thought Obama’s actions were “about right,” compared to 22 percent who thought Obama’s actions weren’t wide-ranging enough (some six million undocumented individuals will not be impacted).

ONLY 25 PERCENT were interested in condemning Obama for his actions; not that far off from the 28 percent who were critical of the president in the Hart Research poll.

Although the CNN/ORC poll also asked for what people thought of Obama’s tactic to get this issue past the Congressional opposition – which will intensify once Republican interests concerned with catering to the ideologue opposition.

Forty-one percent of the public were supportive, compared to 57 percent opposed – although only 16 percent said they were “angered” by the act. Most of the so-called opposition described their level of displeasure as being closer to apathetic than anything else.

In fact, some 60 percent of those questioned said they do not want a legal challenge in the courts by Republican interests to the immigration policy change. And 76 percent wish Congress would get off its collective duff and pass some sort of binding policy change.

IT ALSO IS interesting to see the poll by Latino Decisions that shows 95 percent of Latinos who identify as Democrat and 76 of Latinos who call themselves Republican view Obama’s actions favorably.

Yet Obama seems so fearful of triggering ethnically-motivated opposition that his strategy for touting his plan is to emphasize all the non-Latinos who also will be impacted.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week how Obama doesn’t want this to be perceived as a Latino benefit – even though the bulk of those who will be impacted have Latin American ethnic origins in their family trees.

I understand the concept of compromise in government as much as anyone else. But the point of immigration reform is to bring people out of society’s shadows – not to tell some people that they have to stay tucked away in the closet because of where they originate!

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Chicago, particularly Cubs organization, will be a part of the Caribbean Series

Round about the time that many of us in Chicago were coping with 20-plus inches of snow that fell overnight by watching bad day-time television, there was evidence of more civilized activity.

I’m referring, of course, to the Caribbean Series – the annual early-February tournament played by the champions of the professional baseball leagues in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Pacific League that plays during the winter months in Mexico.

IT BEGAN WEDNESDAY at 2 p.m. our time when the Dominican and Mexican champions played each other, and will come to an end on Monday with one of those four countries being proclaimed the champions of Latin American beisbol for the year 2011.

Part of the reason I get a kick out of following the tournament each year is that it is a sign that winter’s end is approaching – a more reliable one than the fact that Punxsutawney Phil on Wednesday proclaimed that winter is at an end.

That must sound like a sick joke to those of us who are shoveling our way through thick, well-packed snow (personally, I had to help my brother Wednesday morning when his car got stuck in the snow about a half-block from where we live).

But the sight of championship baseball being played in the Caribbean (this year’s tournament is being held in Mayaguez, P.R.) means that spring training for U.S. professional baseball is only a couple of weeks away (at least for the pitchers and catchers who report early). Springtime is on the way.

BUT THE PROFESSIONAL baseball leagues in Latin America that take advantage of equator weather to play ball during our winter months also give the various youthful ballplayers who are trying to make it with major league teams in this country a chance to gain some more experience.

So yes, there will be a Chicago presence on the rosters of all four teams partaking in the tourney – although it won’t be the big stars.

The Chicago White Sox will have an outfielder, Alejandro de Aza, who played in 19 games for the Sox (a .300 batting average, but only 2 runs batted in), in addition to the bulk of 2010 for the Charlotte Knights, on the roster for the Toros del Este, who were the Dominican League champions and who will represent their home country.

The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, will NOT have a chance to create any kind of curse on any one ballclub playing in the Caribbean Series, since they have four members of their organization playing – one on each of the four teams.

EVERY CARIBBEAN CHAMPION will have a touch of “Cub-ness” going against them when they play ball in coming days.

The Dominican champions also have Welington Castillo, a catcher, who played the bulk of 2010 for the Iowa Cubs, but actually got into 7 ballgames for the Chicago Cubs – with 1 home run in 20 at bats.

Among the other teams, each has a member of the Cubs organization, although not a ballplayer who has ever worn an actual Cubs uniform at the major league levbel.

In Mexico, the champion Obregon Yaquis will carry pitcher Marco Carillo – who during 2010 played for Cubs affiliates in Daytona Beach, Fla., Knoxville, Tenn., and Des Moines, Iowa – on their roster, while the Venezuela League champion Anzoategui Caribes will have pitcher Eduardo Figueroa.

NOT TO BE confused with the Ed Figueroa who pitched for the New York Yankees during the 1970s (and was the first Puerto Rican native to win 20 games in a single season), this Eduardo accumulated a won/loss record of 2-3 with a 3.63 earned run average while playing in 2010 for Cubs affiliates in the Arizona League and the Boise Hawks of the Northwest League.

Then, there is the Puerto Rican champion Caguas Criollos (considered by some to be the favorites to win this year’s tourney because of the home-field advantage). Luis “Lou” Montanez was originally signed by the Cubs in 2000, but played in 2010 for Baltimore Orioles affiliates in Bowie, Md., and Norfolk, Va. (and also played in 26 games for the Orioles themselves, hitting .140 with 3 runs batted in).

He was released by Baltimore in November, and the Cubs have signed him – making it likely he will play the 2011 season for a Cubs minor league affiliate.

So for those of you who feel the need to have a “local” angle in order to watch a ballgame (personally, I’ll find the Caribbean Series action on Sunday to be more interesting than the Super Bowl), enjoy one.

CHECK OUT SOME of those more obscure cable television channels you don’t usually watch; the games are televised.

Because, let’s face it, a little taste of beisbol and the sight of sunshine and people enjoying themselves will be a nice diversion from the not-quite-record-setting winter slop we got hit with this week.

It’s either that, or we ponder the fact that Farrah Fawcett’s iconic red bathing suit will now be on display at the Smithsonian Institute as an authentic cultural artifact.

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They ought to keep quiet

There are those people who want to criticize Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen for going off on a rant the other day about how ballplayers from Latin American nations don’t get as much help adjusting to this country as do ballplayers from Asian nations – particularly Japan.

Personally, I thought Guillen’s comments made Sunday stated the obvious, although they oversimplified the details (which was probably necessary to get television news broadcasts to understand them). The only part of this that really mystifies me is the reaction of the Chicago White Sox ballclub itself.

ONE DAY AFTER Guillen spoke out, the team felt the need to issue a public statement saying their manager is wrong on the issue. Major League Baseball itself is reluctant to take any stance with regards to Guillen, likely because they know it will blow up in their face because the historic record of the way ballclubs use Latin American talent has its flaws.

Or maybe they just feel that the team’s official statement is sufficient reprimand enough. Because I must admit to being shocked that the team felt the need to do anything. This would have been the one case where it would have been best to keep quiet and wait for the issue to fade away – likely when Guillen loses his temper later this week after the bullpen blows another ballgame.

Coming right out and saying, “the White Sox do not agree with the assumptions Ozzie made in his comments” only ensures this has the potential to become a lasting issue.

Now don’t go looking for the statement issued by the White Sox. The team did issue a press release that got turned into stories in various newspapers (and their related websites). Yet the ballclub didn’t feel the need to include that release on the portion of their website devoted to the team press releases.

THE WEBSITE SKIPS from the Saturday release headlined “White Sox send Teahan on rehab assignment” to Tuesday’s “Threets placed on 15-day disabled list.”

In fact, the only mention of the whole affair I could find at the website whitesox.com was on a weblog included on the site written by one-time Chicago Tribune sportswriter Scott Merkin. The piece summarizes Guillen’s comments, which were inspired by questions about the language skills of Cuban exile ballplayer Dayan Viciedo.

It also says that the White Sox provide cultural assimilation classes for their young minor league prospects, which include some English language training, along with skills such as how to manage a bank account. Which for a 16-year-old from another country could be useful.

Many people are focusing their attention on the part where Guillen said he thinks Japanese ballplayers coming to Major League Baseball get more support and understanding for the cultural adjustment they must make to survive in this country – even if it is just for the seasons they play in the United States so they can return to Japan in the off-season and in their after-baseball lives.

YET IT SEEMS the White Sox, in their statement, are more concerned about the fact that their manager came out and said that ballclubs take little interest in telling their foreign-born players about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

The team’s statement talks about how there are Spanish-language presentations related to the risks of drug use (not just illegal ones) for those players who English “training” hasn’t fully taken in their minds.

Because the big flaw with baseball’s image these days is the way in which those substances taken by ballplayers who thought they were improving their health by becoming bigger and stronger (rather than risking the long-term fate of their bodies). Baseball has gotten the rap of having turned its head the other way when the “steroid” issue comes up – particularly back in that season of 1998 that fans once wanted to think of as magical for all the home runs that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit.

Yet no one thinks of either of those ballplayers as a candidate for membership in the Hall of Fame, even though a few years ago the question would have been how close to a “unanimous” vote McGwire and Sosa would have received.

I SUSPECT THAT Guillen, in saying that he’s the only person in baseball who tells Latin American athletes to not use drugs, is scaring baseball by making it seem they’re not taking the steroid issue seriously. Which would be my guess as to why the team felt the need to take their manager down a notch or two and issue a public statement.

The lasting question is “How will Ozzie take this?” This is a guy who threw a tantrum when the White Sox traded him away as a player, was grateful to be brought back as manager in 2004 and has said he would consider himself loyal to the organization so long as current team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was in charge.

I don’t expect this one incident to be the blow that makes Ozzie want to skip town for the first ballclub that comes along (there are those who speculate he could be happy managing the Florida Marlins in Miami, where he also has a home and was a coach back for the 2003 team that beat the Chicago Cubs for the National League pennant that season).

But when that day comes that Guillen does move along (all managers eventually get fired, no matter how successful), I can’t help but wonder if this statement will be one of many reasons Ozzie will feel glad to move on?

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Ozzie has a point

There’s no doubt that Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is blunt-spoken to the point where he’s going to offend some people.

Yet much of the bashing he’s getting now reeks of people who don’t want to have to acknowledge a problem. In short, they don’t want to be called out on their own trash talk.

THAT IS HOW I can’t help but think in regards to Guillen, who on Sunday made remarks in the presence of reporter-types about how professional baseball clubs don’t offer anywhere near the level of support systems to Latin American athletes that they do to ballplayers from Japan and other Asian nations.

The Latin American athlete has become such an overwhelming presence in professional baseball in this country that it can’t be ignored – even though some fans seem to have attitudes that wish they could ignore this fact of life, instead of just accepting it as the reason why the professional leagues in the United States play a higher level of ball than those leagues in other nations.

Those people who have spent the past few hours posting anonymous comments on various Internet sites calling Guillen a “racist” and a “fool” ought to think seriously about where they are coming from.

The Chicago Argus’ sister weblog, the South Chicagoan, has more about Ozzie’s latest verbal outburst.

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“Mutts like me” means Obama a realist

I never had a pet as a kid, nor did I ever feel a desire to have one. So all of this talk about the new “first dog” was lost on me until President-elect Barack Obama went out of his way to give a blunt description of what kind of pet daughters Sasha and Malia will get.

“A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me,” the future president said last week of his preference for a new family pet to move to the White House with the family Obama.

SOME ACTIVISTS HAVE expressed concern about Obama’s use of the term “mutt” to describe himself. Yet I must admit to being pleased to hear it, because it struck me as a realistic description of the people of this country.

Not just Obama, who is of a biracial background. But all of us.

For the simple fact is that just about everybody in this country is of some mixture of ethnicities. The reality reflected in the 2000 Census is that many of us (about 6.5 million people in all) are a mixture of races as well.

Even for those of us who think of ourselves as a single race have to honestly admit to a mixture of ethnicities in our own families. My grandmother used to talk of how our family origins included Italian and German ethnicity – even though our grandfather would say she was exaggerating, and that we were really full-blooded Mexican, which in reality is such a mixture of races and ethnicities that there was once an intellectual movement claiming Mexicans to be the “cosmic race” that included everybody. Future Christmas card photographs of the Family Obama will include the "first dog" who could very well be a mascot for the United States in the 21st Century. Illustration provided by www.VermontersforObama.org.

THE UNITED STATES has become the same. What was once considered miscegenation and a criminal act in certain states is now just the everyday reality of the 21st Century, and it may be this country’s greatest advantage.

Whenever I have written about ethnicity in this country, I have usually tried to find a way to include a phrase that refers to people of the United States as “mutts.” In part because it offends those who get hung up on racial categorization and exclusion of others.

But also, because I think it simply reflects the reality that people of this country now are usually the combination of past generations of people who didn’t stick strictly within their so-called ethnic origins group when having a life.

I personally have always thought that this mixture is a good part of what makes the United States unique and superior to many other countries – which get bogged down with having a native ethnic group that it gets in the way of their national progress.

IT’S LIKE THE United States is a mixture of the best of many different ethnicities and races, helping to create a stronger and more vibrant society. It was always one area where I thought Latin American countries were more honest than the United States, in that they openly acknowledge the fact that all the races mixed to create the current concept of Latinos – rather than trying to pretend like some in the United States do at times that some homogenous racial perspective is being maintained.

So for those people who are offended that Obama would think of himself as a mutt, did it ever occur to you that he actually thinks his biracial background gives him a certain advantage over others by allowing him to comprehend differing racial perspectives – even if some people in our society are determined to refuse to accept that fact?

We ought to start thinking of the fact that the United States is a nation of “mutts,” and that such a reality is one of our advantages. We are a country that can adapt to accept virtually anyone. It’s what allows the United States to become the desired destination for the elite of the human race.

And for those people whose thought process is such that they want to restrict who can be in this country legally, they need to get a grasp on reality. If we ever did get the kind of nation those nativists desire, we’d be well on our way to becoming a Third World country.

SO NOW I will be looking to see just what kind of dog the Obama family gets.

While I understand a priority for the Obama family is to get a pet who will not aggravate daughter Malia’s allergies, I would hope they manage to find a friendly-tempered dog.

Do we really need four more years of a dog like Barney, the Bush family’s Scottish terrier who bit the finger of a Reuters wire service reporter-type who tried last week to pet it?

For with Obama’s use of the label “mutt,” it could very well turn out that whatever dog the Obama family picks will wind up being the perfect representative for what our nation has become in this century.

THE “FIRST MUTT” would become a mascot, of sorts, for the United States of America.

And in calling him a mascot, he’d be a more dignified representative of the U.S.A. than any of the real-life mascots (or honored symbols, as fans of Chief Illiniwek used to insist he was) that exist in our world.

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