A few days ago, a bat was flying around the court during a San Antonio Spurs game. Manu Ginobili swatted the poor thing out of the air with his hand, SLAMMING it to the ground.

First, I find it hard to believe that everyone instantly believes that ALL bats have rabies, which could be the only possible excuse for recklessly killing an innocent animal, but assuming Ginobili acted out of misinformed instinct, my real problem was how Mike Wilbon on "Pardon the Interruption" was laughing and praising the killing of the animal, going so far as to say that he doesn't care what "those Peta people" think.

So I wrote Mr. Wilbon:

"Dear Mr. Wilbon,

I enjoy watching your contributions on PTI, but I wanted to respectfully ask that you refrain from taking cheap shots at animal rights organizations like Peta. It serves no purpose but to expose your own ignorance concerning the horrific manner in which animals are treated worldwide. I would be very interested to know if you've ever bothered to watch any of the videos Peta has produced to educate the public. As a good reporter, it would seem important to actually have some facts on the subject matter.

I will (for the time being) continue to support PTI, but should you continue to marginalize animals or those that protect them, I will take my support elsewhere."

It offends me greatly that Peta is often caricaturized by ignorant media types who somehow don't get the fact that they are saving millions of animals per year from being skinned alive or tortured before slaughter, etc.

There is a radicalism in this country, but it is not by Peta. It is by those of us who allow these things to become "normal practices" within out society.