Last Night's Winner: Manny Ramirez And His Unnecessary Translator

In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like Manny Ramirez, who in his first presser with the White Sox pretended not to speak English and required the translation services of third base coach Joey Cora.

Manny Ramirez met the Chicago media (but in Cleveland, ha) for the first time yesterday, and it was classic Manny Being Manny: speaking through a translator for no reason other than because he could.

My favorite part of this press conference comes right at the beginning. One of the reporters asks Manny to describe his first meeting with Ozzie Guillen. Now, this is a good question. Ozzie and Manny are great, vivid personalities, and there's probably a funny story in there. Or maybe Ozzie just does a lot of cussing. In any case, Manny via Cora says, "Something...," and then Manny via Manny interrupts and launches into an Ozzie anecdote. Why, it's almost as if he understands the question!

The video cuts out, but I was told by someone who watched it in real-time that Manny broke kayfabe eventually and ended the press conference in English. Manny Ramirez is great. He is great, and the Chicago media are going to hate him.

Manny Ramirez refuses to speak English at press conference [WGN]