If Barry Bonds had just been wearing his Giants uniform during the trial...

Somebody please cry me a river...

My view on political correctness is well documented on Tony C Today (see here, here, here, definitely here, here, here, here and oh yes, here). I think you get the point. While some of those post are worded with an elegance most assuredly plagiarized from a more astute intellect along the lines of...say...Mitch Albom, others are straight in your face from the gut of yours truly. 

(Okay for the record, that last line was hyperbole...I never, ever plagiarize. Borrow from time to time from David Johndrow maybe but never plagiarize.)

Political correctness, or the fear thereof,  has paralyzed our politicians, stifled our academia, and rained paranoia on our pulpits. Freedom of speech in our country is being held hostage by the tender feelings of a gender-confused, minority-born man named April who may or may not believe in a Supreme Being but is completely convinced his dog named Oprah communicates the plans of an imminent alien invasion with him telepathically...but only on Tuesday.

I'm sick of it. Just plain sick of it.

Yes just a few short weeks ago, someone was offended by my playful jab at both my own culture and a certain demographic of people not necessarily from the South..not that there's anything wrong with being from the North. God loves yanke...people from the North too. I understand He's a really, really big God. Please understand blasting me as a hypocrite on your Facebook page only helps increase my blog traffic...and I thank you. I'm not, however, going to be handcuffed and walk on eggshells for the sake of global self-esteem. I have opinions. I'm going to state them. Change the channel if you don't like it. There. Now I feel I've disclaimed enough to say what I came here to say today...

I hate the San Francisco Giants!

Wow. How liberating. So when I settled in this past Monday night to watch my beloved Dodgers begin  taking the second season series from the evil Giants, I was both confused and stunned to witness the two teams gathered at the pitcher's mound holding hands and singing Kumbaya. What gives?!

Truly, I mean no disrespect to Bryan Stow, the Giants fan severely beaten in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium by a couple of common criminals, but this incident was a result of crime...not real hostilities between true fans of the Dodgers and Giants.

When I say I hate the Giants, that's not an actual indictment of malice for any individual player, coach or fan of the team. Cheering against a rival team is as much a part of being a sports fan as cheering for your own team. Not to mention in this age of free agency, someone might be the player beating you with the long-ball one season and batting clean-up for your team the next. Hating the Giants is just not a pointed, personal animosity...it's just not!

I detest what happened to Bryan Stow and hope they find the thugs and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Having said that...let's please not overreact and start broad-stroke paint brushing white wash on the matter. Sports need rivalry, even resentment, to be what we've come to know and love. What we don't need is a kinder, more gentle MLB.  Going to AT&T Park to hear Giant fans yell and hold up signs that say Be Well LA is preposterous and, quite frankly, very disturbing to me. Nothing gets my adrenaline pumping like the roar of Beat LA chanting, while Andre Either drills one into McCovey Cove to put the Boys in Blue up by two in the top of the ninth. That's why we watch. That's why we buy ridiculously priced tickets, sodas and hot dogs. It's not for the Matt Kemp bobblehead doll...trust me.

Giant fans hate the Dodgers too. It's one of sport's greatest rivalries moving from the uptight East coast to the tranquilized West. In over 128 years of baseball between the two teams, the series stands at 1089-1074-12...in favor of the stinking Giants for now. Both teams have won 18 pennants and 6 World Series each.  Dodgers vs Giants is all that's great about the game of baseball.

So it's okay if we get back to a few of these each season and completely away from the pre-game hand holding...regardless of the circumstances. Fighting from time to time belongs in the game. Because most major league players make the game look effortless, fights reassure fans that players do have a competitive fire burning and the $80 ticket, $15 to park and $28 in ballpark food is well worth the price of admission...if you're lucking enough to be there when a fight breaks out.

Besides. It's not like any players ever really get hurt during fights...come on...they're baseball players!  

To make a donation to a fund set up for a recovering Bryan Stow just click here. Get well and God bless brother!