Ozzie Guillen will be at PNC Park tomorrow night, managing his world champion Chicago White Sox against your favorite laughable losers instead of serving a suspension for his use of an unconscionable term to describe a Chicago sports columnist last week.

This is justice?

It's unfathomable Guillen wasn't suspended after he called Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times and ESPN's "Around the Horn" show a derogatory term that describes someone's sexual orientation in response to a critical column by Mariotti, who's from Washington County. It's OK that Guillen continued the attack on Mariotti the next day by referring to him as "a piece of [excrement]" -- vile as that sounds -- in a half-hearted apology to those he offended. Critics certainly are fair targets for criticism themselves. But Guillen stepped way over the line when he used the f-word.

It almost was as appalling as the 1999 bigoted rant in Sports Illustrated by former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, who insulted minorities, homosexuals and foreigners. Rocker was suspended for the first 28 days of the 2000 season and fined $20,000 by commissioner Bud Selig, appropriate penalties that, unfortunately, were reduced to 14 days and $500 by baseball's forgiving arbitrator, Shyam Das.

Certainly, Guillen deserved more than a fine and a directive from Selig to attend sensitivity training, especially after he thumbed his nose at Selig's authority by saying he had no plans to attend the classes.

You might guess that Rocker, still a blockhead all these years later, would rush to Guillen's defense. "This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. As for that sensitivity training, Rocker called it "a farce" and said the lame penalty is a way for Selig -- "a scared little man" -- to get people off his back.

Well, at least Rocker got the part right about Selig.

Baseball's light touch with Guillen is a disgrace.

This isn't a free-speech issue. No one is suggesting Guillen be jailed for his remarks. This also isn't a P.C. deal. It's merely about good business. Those in baseball can't be allowed to insult the paying customers of any race, religion, ethnic group or sexual orientation. Gay rights activists everywhere have expressed their outrage with Guillen and pointed out correctly that this isn't the first time he has been accused of making anti-gay remarks.

Guillen has found himself in a jackpot so much and embarrassed the White Sox so often that the team's general manager, Kenny Williams, took the extraordinary step over the weekend of saying publicly that Guillen would be fired if he continued down this same path of self-destruction. Good for him. Now, let's see if team officials have the strength to carry through with that threat if necessary.

The Guillen-Mariotti feud capped a bizarre couple of weeks for baseball and those who write and talk about it. Earlier in the month, the Kansas City Royals foolishly revoked game credentials for two local radio reporters for asking tough questions at a news conference. Am I missing something? Shouldn't the Royals be thankful anyone still cares enough to attend their news conferences? They are on their way to losing 100 games for the fourth time in five years.

It's not easy being criticized. No one likes it, no matter how much money one makes for his or her work in the public eye. It's safe to say the Pirates probably have wished they could revoke all of our media credentials. We're always beating them up because, well, they deserve it, a joke of a franchise that is headed toward its 14th consecutive losing season. But, again, if you're in pro sports, it comes down to business. The print and electronic media in this town spend countless thousands to cover the Pirates and provide what amounts to free advertising for them every day. Sure, good publicity is the best. But bad publicity beats no publicity. Beats it by a mile, actually.

Royals management and Guillen could learn something from former Steelers coach Chuck Noll and the way he dealt with criticism. Noll never tried to defend himself, never tried to fight back. He wouldn't waste his time.

"The critics are always right," Noll said often. "The only way you shut them up is by winning."

I know what you're thinking.

Guillen has won big. His team didn't just win the World Series last season. It took a nine-game winning streak into its game against the Houston Astros last night and had a 49-25 record, second-best in baseball.

But Guillen is only criticized because of his erratic, often irrational behavior.

He'll never get the respect he deserves as a truly great manager until he stops acting like a boor.

And, for that matter, stops caring what pieces of excrement like us think.