Going to bat for Manu

THE PETA MINDS have truly lost it.

I am sure that comment will garner an overwhelming response from animal lovers everywhere ready to crucify me, so let me get this disclosure out of the way:

This commentary in no way reflects the views of the Philadelphia Daily News, but the views of an animal lover with two Rottweilers and a hamster named Lily.

After reading the animal-cruelty organization's statement regarding Spurs forward Manu Ginobili, who swatted a bat out of midair at a recent Spurs game vs. the Kings, I question whether PETA really thinks the majority would perceive his actions as cruel. Honestly, I think the group is just looking to fan the smoldering flames of the Mike Vick debacle.

(By the way, if you haven't seen Manu's swat, it's all over Web sites like YouTube.)

Here's an excerpt of PETA's statement from its Web site: "Here's our take on it: 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."

Bludgeon? I didn't see Manu repeatedly stomp the bat, kick it or even bite its head off. I saw him merely swat a nuisance out of the air, retrieve it with his bare hands and pass it off to an usher. Which, of course, led to him needing more than five separate rabies vaccinations.

The unsettling part for me is that PETA has a hyperlink connected to the words "no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own." If you click on it, you are transferred to a bunch of old ramblings about Vick.

Call me crass, but to put those two athletes in the same category is truly a big batch of guano.

Everyone's a winner

- Kerith Gabriel

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