The Great Stretch Debate

I'm about to go hit the gym in a few minutes. But before I do that, I decided I needed to find out a bit more information about stretching.

Huh? what?

Well, believe you me, I did not know that there was this whole universal debate going on about the benefits of stretching. I found out about this a couple weeks ago when one of my coworkers was complaining her muscles were sore after her softball game the night before. I asked her...'Well..did you stretch??'. She said..'no, i hate stretching, its just a waste of time anyways'.
I told her 'well, if you don't stretch, then you get sore the next day, and plus your muscles are more subject to tears. No wonder you're in pain....duh" (Mind you, I had no data to back this mockery up..). She just looked at me and said 'well, no need to judge!' Ummm. Ok?

Then another coworker overheard us and offered up his opinion 'I also think stretching is a waste of time. There's no evidence to prove that it works anyways. In fact, I think its stupid!'.
Well, now I was the one feeling judged!

I was more than a bit baffled, because I always thought it was a crime not to stretch after a workout. But now, two of my coworkers had admitted to the illegal activity of not-stretching. Was I missing something?

I forgot all about this discussion until this morning. I was watching some Olympic re-caps before heading to the gym, and one of the announcers alluded to the infamous stretching controversy once more.

Thats it. I had to google. And this is just a snippet of what I found out there.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/flexibility/a/aa022102a.htm

http://www.coolrunning.com.au/general/2000e023.shtml

http://agjhealthfitness.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-stretching-necessary.html

Huh. So much debate out there over stretching. And I had just taken it for face value that it was something Thou Shalt Do. I guess there is no evidence proving that it is absolutely necessary.
But, there are definitely benefits too!
I don't care what my coworkers, or any of these websites say. I mean, even my cat Chutney stretches, and he obviously doesn't sit around googling and reading articles. So there!