Poor Jay Mariotti.  He must be just wigging out right now, his stumpy fingers pounding on his keyboard, spewing out whatever kind of poison he deems necessary to prevent what he must consider an insane act:  Ozzie Guillen is about to get an extension as manager of the Chicago White Sox.

If I ran the farm, I would wait until mid-season next year to pick-up his option for 2009 and extend him another year.  I'd do that to make sure that the team had righted the ship.  Is Ozzie 100% responsible for what happened on the field this year? No.  But he is accountable for a lot of it.  And it would be fair just to make sure that next year this team moves forward instead of backsliding like it has the last two years.

If you take this horrific, abnormal year out of the equation, Guillen has done a good job as Sox manager.  He's won a lot of games (including the 2005 championship) and, up until this year, had the Sox in contention.  Firing him is the not the answer to the problem.  The answers are more speed, more defense, a shortstop who doesn't swing at everything, some timely hitting and a reliable and stable bullpen that does not include Mike Meyers or Mike MacUseless. 

I'm sure that some of the Sox players are tuning Ozzie and his tirades out thinking "I just have to hang on until the new guy gets here."  But as is the case in other businesses, the suits see things differently and an extension for Ozzie would basically mean his way or the highway. Maybe that's why the Sox brass wants to send a message to the players: "This is your leader for the foreseeable future and if you don't like it, don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you."

Honestly, I'd love to hear from anyone who has a retread or some guy in the minors who he thinks is a better choice to lead the White Sox.  I can't think of one guy out there that I would want to run the Sox and that includes the Genius.  Kids, the Genius is burnt out and almost ready to do a Jim Leyland, ala 1997.  Besides, he's still the most overrated manager in baseball history.

Get ready.  It's more Ozzieball coming soon at a ballpark near you.

Lightning Round

• Don't look now, but here comes the tsunami.  Two wins in a row.  Now to go 20-2 the rest of the way to get back to .500.  Y You go Pink Floyd. Unfortunately, long time Sox killer Kenny Rogers is on the mound for the Tigers. The good news is, the Royals lost.  The bad news is, the Sox are still three games behind.  Passing the Royals hasn't meant this much to Sox fans since 1977.
  
• Jermaine Dye may be hurt (again).  This really is in the category of if a ballplayer pulls a quad muscle  forest and no one gives a damn because they are 21 games out, does it make a sound?
  
• Finally some movement in the NL Central.  The Cubs find a good Penny who beats them.  The Brewers, led by rookie Ryan Braun (who should just get the rookie of the year trophy right now) beat the Astros and the Genius figures out a way to beat the Pirates.  So, it's the Cubs by ½ over Milwaukee and by 1 over St. Louis. 
  
• I've already covered Carlos Zambrano's apology.  Don't you wish you could give him some sodium penithol before he went out there and he would tell you the truth. "Well, I meant what I said on Monday, I am angry with the fans, but John, Jim and Lou threatened to suspend me for the rest of the year unless I said I was sorry.  Those fans that boo me, they pay money and we need money because we don't know who the hell is going to own us next season and we may not have  money.  Besides, when Jim said 'If you don't say you are sorry and do exactly what we tell you to do, I am going to trade your sorry ass to Tampa Bay,' that was the wakeup call I needed."
• Here's the new coaches poll.  Hey, what happened to Michigan, they were number 7 last week.  They what? Oh my.
• 
  Bobby Bowden is not happy with his dad gum offense.  As you know, he fired his dad gum son and replaced him with dad gum Jimbo Fisher who cost him a lot of dad gum money.  Lucky for Fisher, they aren't paying him by the dad gum point.
• In news to no one, Darth Visor may have oversold the abilities of his his team this year.
  
• The more Tiki Barber opens his tater trap, the more you realize what a clubhouse cancer he was.  Not to mention a pussy disgruntled player.
• Here's another reason of my 10 reasons for Kenny Williams to do anything and everything to acquire Carl Crawford: The guy is on the worst team in baseball and still has passion for the game.
• J.J. Yeley will be transfered over to the subsidiary Gibbs team,  Hall of Fame racing  to replace Tony Raines in the 96 car.  HOF is owned in part by Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, although Aikman can't remember he owns it.
• Dale Junior isn't the only DEI employee headed to Hendrick Motor Sports.
  
• J eremy Roenick 2007 San Jose Sharks=Willie Mays 1973  Mets.
•  It wasn't long ago the Nashville Predators were inking players like Paul Karyia and Peter Forsberg.  Now, a good day is Josh Langfeld. Wait, who?
• Good thing Mike Davis isn't at Indiana anymore.  1/3 of his team would have been kicked out due to "zero tolerance."  At UAB, their policy is called "Unlimited patience."
• In an effort to make Monday Night Football even more annoying, the four letter network is going to have a six minute version of PTI on at half time.  When does Tony Kornholer officially become over exposed?
• It looks like the missiles of September may be making a journey to Iran, Iran so far away.
• Upon further review by the guy in the next stall, it may not be mashed potato time for Larry Craig yet.
  
• Looks like the food network has said Arrivederci to super chef Mario Batali.
  
• The liberal media are decrying how a lot of FCC policy making eludes the public.  Here's a hint: No one cares.  The only people that care about FCC policy are broadcasters and wacko fringe groups with social agendas.  The rest of the public are end users and accepts whatever happens.  You've never seen how sausage is made, but you eat it.
• You know, I'm getting real tired of gay people telling me what I have to accept and what I don't.  Here's an 81 year-old man in questionable health doing a 24 hour telethon and he slips a little.  The man has raised millions to fight MD.  What have you done? You are not a race of people, you are a lifestyle.  Please, get over yourselves.
  
• Um, Matt, before you start whining, check and see if the red light is off.