BP YOU!

I love it when I get my first big laugh of the day before 8 a.m.

What a hoot. USA today reports that in protest over the Gulf Coast oil spill,the minor league baseball team, the Brevard County, Florida Manatees, has dropped the term "batting practice" because the initials of the term are BP.

Team members of the Milwaukee Brewers Class A affiliate, say they will now take "hitting rehearsal" instead of "batting practice" because of their outrage over the oil spill that may affect Florida's beaches this summer.

With no disrespect to the Manatees, it must be said. This is ludicrous! Is this the best idea they can come up with to show their outrage over the spill? What about a portion of ticket sales being earmarked for beach clean up? There just has to be a better idea.

For those who like the gesture, perhaps they should push for all phrases that have the letters B & P in them to be dropped from our language until the spill is cleaned up. No more "big person" or "blueberry pie" or "big papa." (of course those who use this term are going to be subject to being a blog feature on their own). Perhaps Americans should stay out of "Bairdford, Pennsylvania, unless the city changes it's name.

I'm sorry Manatees. While this has been wonderful publicity for your team, it seems that your attempt at political correctness is really more about generating the fan dollars that this kind of attention can bring. I will say though, the "hitting rehearsal" term does add a certain amount of drama to the process of practicing hitting baseballs, so perhaps I'll grab my opera glasses and make a roadtrip.

One final thought. In a related story, President Obama is now receiving heavy criticism on Fox News for getting mad about the oil spill, and using an expletive while discussing the issue with a reporter. While I just hate to show an understanding attitude toward the president I don't think it's fair for reporters to demand he get mad, and then criticize him for doing so. I do understand that using an expletive is not exactly presidential, and I agree that he should avoid doing that in the future. But he was mad, darn it.

Perhaps the next time he gets that mad, he could reverse the Manatee's decision not to use any terms starting with BP. Perhaps the hot new cuss word in America should be just that: He could say: "You're a big BP!" "BP you!" "That BP!" Who knows,in America, it may just work.