Ozzie vs. Kenny Too Scripted To Be True.....

This spring training alone has been more about the fascination of Ozzie Guillen's personal life rather than the actual ball team on the field.  Twittergate and yesterday's story about starting up a Ozzie Guillen personal website (which the White Sox will not allow him to do) have caused some in the media to believe that there is a rift among Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen.   
 
Kenny Williams throughout his tenure as Chicago White Sox General Manager has been a "close to the vest" kind of personality.  Normally the workings of most general managers are leaked into the media somehow/someway and everyone seems to have an inside source.  Kenny Williams has pulled off deals that NO ONE had prior knowledge of and the inner workings of the White Sox have always been kept under tight seal about 99% of the time.  
 
All a sudden the MLB Network signs a deal to make a reality show surrounding the Chicago White Sox specifically the big three of Williams, Guillen, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf.  "The Club" (which debuts on July 4th) will give baseball fans a little insight into exactly what Williams has kept so close to the vest during his entire career as GM.  Not everyone has been on board with it, including Kenny Williams himself and pitching coach Don Cooper who talked about "The Club" on The Mully And Hanley Morning Show on WSCR 670AM Thursday:
 

"I'm not all that comfortable with it.  It's kinda like foreigners being in our meetings and things like that."  
 
"The thing I just try to keep thinking about its for the fans, you know the people want to see some stuff like that.  You just have to kind of grin and bare it I guess."

 
I think I would feel the same way if I were Kenny or Coop because it is something that is different and changes how you would go about things with your organization.  However, Ozzie Guillen who IS the face of the organization is all about the spotlight.  Granting access to the MLB Network is just another way for Ozzie Guillen to scream:
 
"I'm ready for my close up Mr. Demille"
 
With every reality show comes a plot and a script, so how could MLB Network come up with an attractive episode when everything is unscripted?  From Survivor to Jersey Shore, there has to be some sense of controversy to keep interest in the show.  If Snooki gets punched out in a bar, you need the build up to how they got to the bar and you need all the drama which follows the incident with some cliffhanger at the end to keep you hooked till next week's episode.
 
So imagine you are in a production meeting at the MLB Network, and you have to find a controversial angle for this loosy goosy unscripted franchise.  Here is an idea....let's get Ozzie to use Twitter.  Enter controversy!
 
Twittergate and the this whole web page fiasco are so scripted I just cannot believe it to be true.  In fact if you do follow twitter.com/ozzieguillen, notice one of his first tweets is to Amy Jo Martin of TheDigitalRoyalty.com (a social media company based on strategic and tactical social media training).  If his Twitter account is being setup by media professionals rather than his kids, do you really believe this was Ozzie's idea?   
 
This whole charade is nothing more than an idea or two in a production meeting on how much of a soap opera they can turn this team into before the first episode debuts.   
 
Who really wants to watch Kenny and Ozzie debating who the 8th hitter in the lineup could be when you could get tension between the two over a Tweet?  Do you really want to watch Ozzie run a split squad game with Jared Mitchell and some other scrubs from AA Birmingham or peek into the soap opera that is Ozzie versus Kenny over a possible OzzieGuillen.com?
 
It's fun to hear Ozzie swear and go on a little tirade once in a while, but that gets you so many viewers.  When you mix a little controversy and tension into a must win season for a ball club with only one playoff appearance since their first World Series title in over 80+ years.....THAT'S MUST SEE TV!!
 
The more and more the MLB Network makes "The Club" more about Kenny vs. Ozzie, the more viewers you will attract instantly making this the best male soap opera since the "Monday Night Wars."
 
So if you are buying into the fact that Twittergate and OzzieGuillen.com are in fact real ideas from "The Wizard Of Oz", you are believing nothing more than a well written script with some dynamic personalities.  Do not be foolish by reading too much into what is going on at Sox camp because they are simply puppets of a MLB production for a channel that desperately needs viewers and subscribers.
 
-RoCk
 
Rock Mamola is the Associate Producer of The Mully And Hanley Morning Show and co-host of The Joe O And Rock Show on WSCR 670AM The Score
 
You can follow The Mully And Hanley Morning Show at twitter.com/mullyhanley
 
You can follow The Joe O And Rock Show at twitter.com/joeoandrockshow