It will be interesting to see if Major League Baseball has any reaction to the video circulating on the Internet of New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez appearing as a celebrity participant with Hall of Famer Juan Marichal at a cockfight in the Dominican Republic.

Obviously, the comparison to NFL star Michael Vick's involvement with dogfighting is bound to be made.

Some might argue that cockfighting is legal and popular in the Dominican Republic and, indeed, the event was held not furtively but in an arena that exists for that very purpose.

However, in the United States, where Martinez makes his living, cockfighting is illegal, and lots of folks hold it to be inhumane.

But maybe baseball already has too much on its plate dealing with performance-enhancing drugs. Or maybe MLB feels it should defer to the law and customs of another country. Or maybe there just won't be much of a public outcry because when you get right down to it, chickens elicit less sympathy than pooches.