In Defense of Pedro Martinez

This news blurb was in the daily e-mail I get with news from the Dominican Republic and pertaining to all things Dominican:

"Dominican baseball legends Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal have caused a stir this week after a video was released showing them at a cockfight at the Coliseo Gallisto de Santo Domingo. The video, which was posted on YouTube last Friday, shows Marichal and Martinez as 'soltadores' moments before the fight between the two cocks began. In a statement released by the New York Mets, Martinez defended his participation in the match saying that the video was more than two years old. "I understand that people are upset, but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic. I was invited by my idol, Juan Marichal, to attend the event as a spectator, not as a participant." The video was quickly removed from YouTube, but has made its way around the internet. PETA and the United States Humane Society have both called for sanctions against Martinez. Illegal in the US, cockfighting is legal and extremely popular in the DR."


Cockfights are, indeed, an important part of Dominican culture, and a national pastime, second only to baseball/beisbol. They are also extremely fun, featuring copious amounts of beer, betting, and laughter. And a little blood never hurt anyone (except probably the rooster). The truth is, Dominicans involved in cockfighting take very good care of their roosters and train them like Olympic athletes. The day of the fight, if your rooster dies, you can have it for dinner. If your rooster wins, you will have money to go OUT for dinner.

The suggestion that Pedro Martinez should be sanctioned is absurd. PETA and The Humane Society should be sanctioned for being so intolerant of Dominicans. I'm proud of Pedro Martinez for not kowtowing to crazy PETA activists and for not pretending that when Dominicans go home to the DR, all they do is eat beans and go to the beach. Dominicans go to cockfights and Pedro Martinez owes no apologies for that.

ps. Roosters are annoying anyway.