BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

BatMANU vs PETA

Sanitizing after knocking down a bat, Manu Ginobili, was taken to task by PETA.

PETA’s take on Manu Ginobili knocking down a bat: To bludgeon a 4-ounce animal to death, it takes either a small man or a totally unthinking one—with no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own. This is a time when athletes in particular need to be on their best behavior around any animal and show that they have brains and a heart, not just reactionary brawn.
Bats always try to avoid contact with humans, and there are plenty of easy ways to keep bats out of a basketball arena (or your home). We hope that the next time someone's life is on the line, Manu Ginobili will take just a few seconds to think before he acts.

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-peta-slams-nba-s-manu-ginobili-for-swatting-bat-during-game

My reply: Amanda, you need to consult your thesaurus because Ginobili didn’t bludgeon the bat. That word is better suited to having one’s face crushed by a mace, a hammer, a gun butt, or something out of some medieval movie.

Maybe the more appropriate term would be “swatted” and that obviously was the intention.

This is a time when athletes need to be in their best behavior? Even a person walks a dog, domesticated or not, when he/she chances upon another human along the way, they normally tried to avoid – just in case the animal pounces them.

There are plenty of ways to keep bats out of a basketball arena. Great. Memo to all arena owners and operators across the globe, please include these instructions in the game tickets that customers purchase. Make it mandatory for them to read instructions on how to keep bats away from an arena more so deal with them when they interrupt sporting matches. Failure to comply will mean a visit by Bruce Wayne’s alter ego.

I love animals and have a pet myself, but I hope the next time PETA chooses to reply to such an incident, they will take a few seconds to think before they write.

 

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