Hello Gabbers, and welcome to Sexy Action Sports Saturday with your old pal IHM.

  Before I get into sports this week, I have to get a few things off my chest regarding this whole Chick-Fil-A fiasco. First, let me preface the entire thing by saying I have never eaten at Chick-Fil-A… not because I disagree with their political views on anything… because there aren’t any fucking Chick-Fil-A’s in my area. Personally, I don’t give a flying fuck what the president of the company thinks about gay marriage. To be completely honest, I don’t give a flying fuck about gay marriage… I’m not gay, I’m already married… I’m not worried about it. I don’t have any issue with people deciding to boycott the restaurant because they want to show solidarity for their belief that gays should be allowed to marry. As I said, I personally couldn’t care less, but if your conviction on the issue is that strong, then by all means, find another fast food place to clog your arteries at!

  The major issue I have in this entire thing is the people who have taken this issue too fucking far. First off, there was the guy in Tuscon, Arizona, a CEO of a fairly large company who decided he was so crazy over gay marriage that he had to head to the local Chick-Fil-A and accost the 19-year old girl working the drive-thru. Yeah, because she has a LOT to do with her millionaire boss and his fucking views on gay marriage. Look, she makes $7 an hour to take orders from every fat fucking slob that rolls through the place… having worked in fast food before, I can tell you, they take enough shit without some jackass showing up and preaching gay rights to them. Get off your fucking high horse, asshole, and go find the guy responsible for this entire situation, the company president, if you want to go yell at somebody.

  Then, of course, you had that dumb gash Roseanne say “Anyone that eats at Shit-Fil-A deserves to get cancer”. Are you kidding me, you fat pile of shit? Because somebody eats a fucking chicken sandwich they deserve to get cancer? Because somebody doesn’t disagree so strongly with the president of a company’s view on gay marriage to stop eating something they enjoy, they deserve to get cancer? Fuck you. Are we really so gung-ho about gay marriage in this country that we accost 19-year old fast food workers and wish cancer upon others? There are some majorly fucked up priorities out there, and this is sure as hell one of them.

   The next thing I have to say about this is when the hell did it become okay to be so fucking intolerant? I’m not talking about the president of Chick-Fil-A, either. I’m talking about the absolute intolerance spewed towards conservative Christian people. Look, YOU might think their views are “backwards”… but guess what, they have the fucking right to their own beliefs. The fact that they don’t agree with you doesn’t make them any better or any worse than you are. It’s not like the president of Chick-Fil-A said he wants to murder every gay nationwide… he just doesn’t believe they should be able to marry… he believes in his interpretation of the biblical “definition of marriage”. If you disagree with him, that’s GREAT. The bottom line here is that I am really getting tired of watching every person that has the “audacity” to believe in anything even remotely conservative and Christian be bashed, slandered and berated by a bunch of douchebags who are every bit as closed-minded, “backwards”, and intolerant as they are… they just happen to live on the other side of the fence.

  Now that that’s all out of my system… let’s talk some sports!

  Big moves at the trade deadline last Tuesday, with the Phillies cleaning house a bit and scrapping the season. They traded both Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence out west to the Dodgers and Giants, respectively. Has anybody improved any more than LA at the trade deadline in recent memory? They snagged Hanley Ramirez, Victorino, Joe Blanton, Brandon League and Randy Choate for next to nothing at the deadline, giving Kemp, Ethier and Loney a little help in the lineup, and bolstering the rotation and bullpen. Good to see Magic and the boys aren’t too cash-strapped after the purchase to start spending on making the Dodgers contenders.

   It seems like every year, Major League Baseball has the best trade deadline in all of sports. The NHL/NBA, rarely to big names move anywhere… but every year, at least one big name player changes uniforms this time of year in baseball. This year, you had Greinke, Victorino, Pence, and Hanley Ramirez, all All-Star caliber talents, change teams. Hell, I’d mention the NFL trade deadline… but nothing ever happens there that makes a difference.

   I’ve heard all the talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates this year and the playoff push they’re putting together, but how about a little love for the Reds team they’re battling for the NL Central right now? Hell, Johnny Cueto has snuck into the Cy Young conversation by picking up his 14^th win on the season, and Joey Votto is once again in the NL MVP discussion. Honestly, there are a lot of teams in contention right now that nobody would have expected, the most surprising being the Oakland A’s and their AL Wild Card lead. But, true to usual Oakland A form, they have a solid young rotation and a young stud outfielder they’ve built around. Hopefully for the sake of the fans down the coast in San Jose, where they are moving, Billy Beane doesn’t trade all this talent away before they get there.

   Hey, the Paterno family has demanded an appeal from the NCAA on the sanctions levied against Penn State… and obviously the vacated wins for Joe Paterno from 1998-2011. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Can’t they just shut the hell up, accept the punishment (like Penn State already did), and move on with their lives? Honestly, I WISH Penn State would appeal the sanctions… that way the NCAA can give them the death penalty punishment they deserve… PLUS the sanctions they already have in five years when they recover a bit. But, for the first time in a LONG TIME, I can honestly say, Penn State is smarter than that!

  Word out of Cleveland is that Jimmy Haslem, new owner of the Browns, paid over a billion dollars to purchase the team. Wow… and that’s the only thing I can actually say about it.

  That’s all I’ve got for this week, folks. Thanks as always for reading and for any comments you leave on the way out. Have a great weekend Gabitants.