White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen and Sean Penn Mix It Up

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Sean Penn are duking it out over Penn's praise for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Guillen, a native of Venezuela, recently suggested via Twitter that maybe Penn should move there.

Way to go, Ozzie. Penn has long insisted that Hugo Chavez is misunderstood, not a dictator, and should be taken seriously by the U.S. government. Apparently, Penn considers himself somewhat of "an expert on what the Venezuelan people want." Guillen scoffed at this and said, "Sean Penn, if you love Venezuela, please move to Venezuela for a year. But rent a house in Guarenas or Guatire to see how long you last, clown."

The Atlantic Wire reports that Penn believes that his new 'best friend's' reputation is manufactured by the U.S. and amounts to "defamation, not only to President Chavez, but also to the majority of Venezuelan people, poor people who have elected him president time and time again."

It's curious that a Hollywood star, born in Santa Monica, California would chastise his own country for refusing to embrace the likes of Hugo Chavez, and Guillen isn't taking it lying down. He says Penn hasn't got a clue about what it is like in Venezuela, and calls him crazy. Certainly Guillen would have a better grasp of life in Venezuela.

Penn's humanitarian efforts are praiseworthy, to be sure, but do they give cause to support his overly-generous opinion of his buddy, Hugo? Ozzie Guillen sure doesn't think so. In the ongoing verbal jousting between Ozzie Guillen and Sean Penn, the score is Guillen one and Penn... zero