The New York Times has a story today about the uncertainty surrounding Michael Vick's returning to the NFL. For those of you who don't recall, Vick was convicted in December of 2007 for running a dog fighting ring based at a property he owned in rural Virginia. The dog fights that Vick sponsored and trained animals for were either fights to the death or "surrender" of one dog, in the case of the latter animals were "euthanized" by such humane measures as shooting, hanging, and drowning.
My first reaction to the possibility of once again being a highly paid athlete, hero, and role model for kids was outrage. Then I stopped to wonder why I was so outraged. After all, professional athletes and entertainers get caught doing all sorts of horrible things and many return to their former careers after a stint in the pokey. Why should it be any different for Michael Vick?
I think that there are two reasons.
First, Vick wasn't caught in a single "oops", but rather was convicted of maintaining a side business whose purpose was to abuse dogs for the fun and profit of his friends in colleagues. This isn't the equivalent of being caught with a hooker, it is getting caught running a whore house. Second, what Vick was doing was in his mind a sport. For a person to engage in this sort of activity in this sort of thing and believe it to be a sport while at the same time earning a living as a professional athlete is perverted.
This man should never see the inside of a professional football stadium again.
Monday, July 20, 2009
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I disagree. Not because the nature of his crimes falls outside of the bounds of acceptable behavior. There is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is punishment. Michael Vick, unlike many of the NFL's elite who are charged with crimes (Ray Lewis, Donte Stallworth, et.al.) went to prison. A real prison, not a country club. He served the sentence for which he was convicted under federal and state law.
So, I think he should be reinstated.
Now, do I think any team should take a chance on him? No. He was a great athlete with decent quarterback skills. A layoff like he's had will do nothing to improve his skills and his athletic ability could only wain.
Add on the outrage and media circus that will follow signing him, and not many franchises could afford to take the chance of having him on the team.
Even if reinstated, he may not get another chance to play. That would be a fitting punishment.
It would not be, however, an autodidactic ruling where Roger Goodell gets to decide the relative morality of differing criminal punishments. I don't need the Commissioner of Football policing society when society has taken care of itself.
Let's give Mike a chance to redeem himself. He might do great things like Teddy Kennedy did.
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