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Chicago Southside. 'Nuff said.
Oct. 25, 2005, 12:13AM
Biggio's wife slapped at White Sox's ballpark
Guillen issues apology to Astro, condemns fan
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen issued a public apology on behalf of his organization to Astros second baseman Craig Biggio, whose wife was slapped by a fan in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field.
"I feel like it's our fault, and I talked to (Biggio) about it, and he knows we're sorry," Guillen said. "He knows it was something we couldn't control. It wasn't like a fight. (The fan) hit the lady and left."
The incident occurred on Sunday night during Game 2 of the 101st World Series at Chicago's ballpark, where several members of the Astros' traveling party were harassed.
"He slapped her and ran," Biggio said of the fan who struck his wife, Patty. "She ran after him. My brother-in-law ended up putting him against the wall. That's pretty sorry."
Asked if Patty had been hurt, Biggio said his New Jersey-raised wife held her own.
"You don't slap a New Jersey girl and get away with it," he said. "That happens sometimes. It's terrible. It's over."
Added Guillen: "I wish she would have grabbed something and broken his head. If that happened to my family, it would have been a big problem. ... People should just go to the game and not bother people next to you, or you're not a White Sox fan or a baseball fan. Just enjoy the game. Drink if you want to drink; just respect the people next to you."
No criminal complaint was made against the fan, according to Chicago police.
Chicago defended
Biggio, manager Phil Garner, general manager Tim Purpura, catcher Brad Ausmus and several of the Astros were adamant that a few cowardly acts weren't indicative of the White Sox or Chicago fan base.
"The word was that the guy had been gouging her a little bit, pulling her hair and just doing some stupid things, things that are just not necessary," Garner said. "Have your fun. This (World Series) is a great thing for them and a great thing for us. Cheer and be as loud as you want to be and whatever else, but don't do that.
"I can't imagine Patty Biggio ever saying anything that would incite anything, either. I just can't imagine that. Even if she had, there's no excuse."
Despite the incident, Garner said he heard the Astros' traveling party had mostly positive experiences with the fans.
Nonetheless, Guillen did not hide his disgust at the treatment Patty Biggio received.
"On behalf of the White Sox organization, I just don't think we could control that," Guillen said. "But I think the family is a big part of my life. I think especially the kids. And when that happened in the ballpark, you feel you need to be supportive.
"When you're a man and you hit a lady, no matter whose wife it is or whose sister it is, you respect them. But it's something that's tough to control. It happened so quick."
More harassment
Although Patty Biggio was the only Astros wife who was slapped Sunday, she wasn't the only member of the traveling party who was harassed. Ausmus said his wife, Liz, endured some vulgar taunts and a few vulgar hand gestures throughout the night.
"Some of the treatment that the Astros families received at U.S. Cellular Field was a huge black eye for the city of Chicago," Ausmus said. "Now, I understand that's not indicative of all the people in the Chicago area, because I have friends and relatives there.
"I know the people of Chicago are overwhelmingly good people. But if I was from Chicago, I'd be embarrassed by the way the Astros' families were treated by the White Sox fans. My wife didn't get hit or anything, but people flipped her off and were screaming at her."
The attendance at U.S. Cellular Field was announced as 41,432 for Game 2, and the crowd was obviously overwhelmingly in support of the White Sox. With that in mind, Ausmus said there was little the Astros' family members could do in response. "You don't want to get caught in a situation where you're inflaming the masses," Ausmus said. "So I think as an Astros fan at a visiting park, you pretty much have to swallow it."
'Bring him to me'
Maybe so, but Guillen insinuated that he would have definitely defended anybody in the Astros' traveling party.
"I know the security in Chicago is doing a great job," Guillen said. "And when something happens so quick, you can't blame anybody. And the guy that did it, he should be brought to Biggio, and he's the one that can hopefully get him back.
"I told the police, 'Don't put him in jail. Bring him to me in the dugout.' But hopefully, that won't happen again."
Shortstop Adam Everett heard a little bit about the incident, but he knew more than enough to form his opinion.
"That's real weak," he said. "That's bad. I don't care where you're at, to hit a woman is not good."
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Chicago Southside. 'Nuff said.
Chicago. Almost as trashy as NO.
Wait a minute...One wacko does not condemn an entire city...Turn him over to the populace of Chicago & the guy would get his ass kicked for slapping the lady...
Well I wouldn't go that far. Chicago's not even as trashy as Philadelphia, let alone New Orleans.
Isolated incident by a wacko. I am an Astros fan but do not label all white sox fans in this category! Go Stros!!!!!!
Props to Guillen for his words.
Win it for Patty.
Actually, win it because you want to hook up with two chicks for a 3some. I don't care, just ing win.
That is messed up. There always has to be idiot fans and looks like they caught some.
Good for Ozzie to step up and call out his own fans for acting like jackasses.
But I wonder why Reinsdorf and Ken Williams aren't quoted -- could be that nobody had a chance to talk to them yet, but you'd think the owner and GM (moreso than the manager) would be quick to offer denouncements and to support the Astros' travelling party.
Hopefully no drunk bas s at Minutemaid reciprocate.
Karma's a and this will come back to the White Sox. Bigg's wife should have put a curse on the White Sox org.
Actually, things are looking up in the Windy City. Came across the following in this week's issue...
http://www.economist.com/World/na/di...ory_id=5061571
Murder, baseball and Chicago
They had it coming
Oct 20th 2005 | CHICAGO
The Economist
A city surprisingly at peace with itself
Back on track -Reuters
THE people of Chicago have much to be excited about this month. The White Sox, one of the city's baseball teams (often overshadowed by the still more hapless Chicago Cubs), have earned a berth in the World Series. Meanwhile—and perhaps for unrelated reasons—Chicagoans are getting less keen on killing each other.
In fact they are avoiding this traditional pastime so dramatically that Chicago is having an effect on the national federal crime statistics. The new figures, released this week, show there were 151 fewer homicides in Chicago in 2004—a drop of 25%. That compares with 391 fewer murders in the whole country (a national drop of 2%).
What has happened to Al Capone's kinda town? The local police claim credit for a more active approach to gang violence. More than 40% of the city's murders are officially classified as gang-related, but police reckon the real figure is probably 65%. In the spring of 2003, spurred on by some fairly grisly shootings of young children, the police department focused its resources on “preventing gang killings rather than responding to them”.
The new measures included: installing cameras in the worst areas; mapping out gang territories; assigning officers to collect information from prison snitches (gang leaders often continue to run their businesses from behind bars); keeping track of parolees; and, most important, co-ordinating all available gang intelligence to anticipate where trouble was likely to happen, such as retaliatory shootings. The police have also seized 10,000 or more guns off the streets every year for ten years in a row. As a result of all these things, gang-related homicides fell by a third last year.
The Chicago White Sox last appeared in the World Series in 1959. They lost. The appearance before that, in 1919, was more embarrassing: a group of players took bribes to throw the game. Even if Chicago's baseball excitement proves ephemeral, one hopes the murder progress is permanent.
True. When Sheffield had that incident with the Fenway fans and the beer, Red Sox upper management released a statement the next day. They revoked the fan's season tickets.
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