Ozzie wants to be Ozzie

"I'm getting back to being Ozzie. I'm going to have fun and smile with the players, but if I have to scream at someone, I'm going to do it. I don't [care] if I'm going to be on every TV and people hate me for that. I get paid to win. Last year, I backed off a little bit. I thought players were getting tired of 'There goes Ozzie again.' But if they get tired, good, that's the way I'm going to handle stuff. You want to be a good guy? Be a good guy off the field. I expect my players this year to be mean. You want to take someone under your wing? Take them to the restaurant or something. You see something you don't like, then get on [them]. Don't let me be the bad guy. We need players helping each other, and we have those guys here. It's not an important spring for me. It's important for the team because we don't want to suffer the way we did last year."

"Last year was my fault because I laid back a little too much. I have to be back to being Ozzie -- smile with players, have fun, just get back to what I was. I don't give a [expletive] if everyone hates me. I'm paid to win. ... I just want them to feel -- I'm not going to say the heat -- I'm going to say feel the game, from the beginning. In the past, we had success and we just let it go. I'm not doing this because [of] how bad we played last year. I'm doing this because this is how I like it, even as a player. Mentally and physically, we haven't been ready for the games. We just went about our business and got our work in. ... It's not fun when you have to watch something you don't want to see. We're going to get beat, we're going to have real bad games in spring training. But if I see quality at-bats, quality outings ... I'm not going to come in here and talk to you guys and say, 'Well, he gave up 14 runs, but he got his 55 pitches in. If you don't do your job, I'm going to let you know. You put every inch of what you have to get ready. Hopefully, we can compete and play the game the way we're supposed to play."

"But if we win this year, I will be cocky. I was taking things low-key, and this is my job. But if we win this year, I might run naked down Michigan Avenue like people expect me to do. I suffered a lot last year. My family says that when I win, 'Take advantage, because when you lose, you are going to take the blame.'"

"It was a big mistake for me to be different. It wasn't me. It wasn't about winning or losing, I just didn't feel I did the right thing. I was low-key, I didn't stress stuff right away. A couple of times I said, 'We'll be OK.' [Expletive] OK, and I went off in Texas. You can only take so much. I never blamed the players. I blamed myself, the coaching staff and Kenny Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf. But it got to the point like, you know what? Look yourself in the mirror. It was too little, too late. ... I don't give a [expletive] what people think about me. I win 200 games in two years, and nobody ever mentions that. Well, if you're not going to give me credit when the team wins ... that made me think, 'Wow, what kind of life are we living?' My team wins 200 games, I didn't have a losing season, and they treat me that way. Then if you're a nice guy, they are going to treat you the same way. [Expletive] it, be an asshole then. I would rather be an asshole winning than be a nice guy [expletive] losing. Give me an asshole who can win, don't give me a nice guy who can [expletive] lose. ... They're right. You cover this ballclub last year, you say, 'Wow, what a nice team to cover.' No, it's not fun to cover a team like that. Well, it's not fun to [expletive] manage a team like that, either. We stunk last year. .. You know what's funny? When you're on the hot seat and you tell your boss how horse [crap] you are. And you tell your boss, 'Hey, man, I should do this different. It's my fault, I let this team go too far.' I let stuff go too far. And then when I put my foot down, it was like, whoa, it's the end of the world. People were saying, 'Aw, that's just Ozzie being Ozzie.' Bull [crap]. I hate the phrase. That's exactly the way I am. ... I go to other cities and I have [reporters] coming over just to see what Stupid is going to say. You don't think I don't know that? I know that. We go to someplace like Anaheim or Seattle or even in Chicago, they want to know what he is going to say. Hey, at least you're there. If you want to know something about me, [expletive] ask me. Do you know how many times I've gotten in trouble with Kenny because I'm honest with people? But, meanwhile, Kenny has to understand I have to face [the media] every day. ... If my [stuff] sells papers every day and we win, well, I want to be on the front page every day. As long as I don't rape anybody, as long a I pay my taxes, I don't beat my wife ... if I am going to be on the front page of the newspaper because of [expletive] baseball, I will take that. If more people treat baseball the way I treat baseball, this [expletive] game will be better."