Good News, Mets Fans: Pedro Martinez Filmed at Cockfight

I'm sure it'll simply be dismissed as a cultural thing, right?

One big difference before anyone gets crazy and draws the inevitable Michael Vick comparison: It's legal in the Dominican Republic.

Still, Pedro has never been accused of being the brightest bulb, and this can't help the PR effort for the Mets coming off the Johan Santana trade.

It looks like the Mets’ era of good feeling over the Johan Santana deal may be over. This morning, the pitcher that sports fans are talking about is not Johan Santana, but Pedro Martinez. And it’s not due to pitching, but him being videotaped with Hall of Famer Juan Marichal at a cockfight in the Dominican Republic.

According to the Associated Press, the video, which was posted on YouTube and then taken down: “showed Martinez and Marichal laugh before releasing the roosters. The two took part as honorary ‘soltadores,’ the word used to describe the person who puts the animal to fight. The animal released by Martinez appears to be killed on the video.”

My first reaction when hearing about the video (I have not yet seen it due to it being taken down from YouTube) was that Pedro Martinez could be in hot water. After the cautionary tale of Michael Vick, you would think that Pedro would know better (that is, if this video was shot this winter.)

However, unlike dogfighting in Virginia, cockfighting is legal in the Dominican Republic. Heck, the event Martinez attended was held in a sports arena called the Coliseo de Gallos, or Rooster Coliseum!

Also, one would think that fans won’t have as visceral a reaction to chickens being killed as they would to dogs being killed. That being said, Martinez is still probably going to hear it bigtime from animal rights activists.

As for Pedro himself, unlike most Yankee fans, I actually, for the most part, like the guy. He’s smart, well-spoken, charismatic, and funny. That being said, Martinez probably should have realized that participating in such an unseemly, bloody event as a cockfight is going to have repercussions for his image in the states.