Williams pumps up 'The Club' with a little feud talk
MINNEAPOLIS - It's all starting to make sense now.
The ongoing feud between the White Sox' two alpha dogs - general manager Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen - warmed up a bit Thursday, just three days before "The Club" debuts on MLB Network.
The reality show featuring Williams, Guillen and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf figures to be entertaining, and Williams pumped up the show when he appeared on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" Thursday afternoon.
Williams was asked about reports he almost exchanged punches with Guillen in early June.
"Come on, we are about to come to blows?" Williams said. "That's not realistic. Ozzie would never fight with me. He knows better than that."
Williams toned it down after that while continuing to deny he has a problem with Guillen.
"There were some peripheral things that neither Ozzie nor I were really the culprit of and it was put on our laps, but it was never a distraction to us," Williams said. "We never lost sight of the goal of getting the team better and on track.
"At the end of the day, we are also likely to end up at the bar together and tip a few and discuss how we can get better.
"It was overplayed and misplayed in a lot of ways. But if the distraction helped keep the attention off of the players who were not having a good start, I think Ozzie, if he was sitting right here, would say he would do it all over again."
Guillen watched Williams' appearance on PTI.
"I think it was good," Guillen said. "The one thing about it, I never fight with anyone because I don't know how to fight. I'm not a fighter. It's the one thing about all this stuff, I think the team stayed away from the problem from the beginning.
"We have enough professional guys. I have a few guys here who have played for a long time. Whoever is here for the first year, they find out who I am. My job is to make sure those guys play the right way."
At the end of his TV interview, Williams put in a plug for "The Club."
"It has been interesting having the cameras all around us," the Sox' GM said. "They haven't been as intrusive as I thought they would be. I was against it at first. Most importantly, it will give baseball fans a chance to see some of the behind-the-scenes discussions and some of the personal relationships that go on and some of the struggles and joys associated with the job as well.
"It will be an interesting show. It's certainly worth tuning in."
After Guillen finished up with the media before Thursday night's game against the Twins, he headed over to the batting cage and talked with Williams.