DownSwinging.com

On Sunday, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen’s expressed his frustration about his players being hit by pitches. In the previous day’s 8-5 victory over the Indians, White Sox players Paul Konerko, Scott Podsednik, and Gordon Beckham were all hit by Indian pitchers. While Guillen said that he didn’t believe any were intentional, he is still upset about his players being plunked a total of 45 times this year (coincidentally, the Indians lead the league with their players getting hit 65 times). Guillen went on to say “If I see someone hit my player, and I know they hit him on purpose it’s two guys going down. I don’t care if I get suspended, I rather have me suspended for two games than have my players on the DL for 30 days.”

If you read all of what Ozzie says, it is pretty clear that he is just trying to protect his players. Guillen has been known to say crazy things before and the MLB is now investigating his comments. I think Ozzie will be suspended for a couple of games for threatening to hit other players, but I think the MLB should not suspend him. I understand that the MLB does not want to encourage the intentional beaning of batters, but it is a part of the game. It often leads to fights, which is unfortunate, but the MLB should let the players police themselves. Personally, I like to see a good fight. It shows the emotion that I like to see in players.

This condemning of rough play is not happening only in baseball though. Both football and basketball are doing the same thing. In football, you can barely touch the quarterback without drawing a penalty, and almost any hard hit will garner you a fine. In the recent NBA playoffs, any physical play was given a flagrant foul which often lead to suspensions. Never again will something like the McHale-Rambis takedown happen again without a huge suspension. The main reason the leagues are doing this is to protect their players from injury, but they also are trying to avoid any major conflicts, like the Artest melee. While these are good reasons, sports fans want to see their players play with passion and the leagues are discouraging that.