Former Atlanta Falcon pro-bowl quarterback Michael Vick did not make a mistake. He made terrible choices! He organized and operated a heinous interstate dog-fighting ring. He brought public shame upon his family’s name, and disappointed his teammates and millions of fans. And for his sins he has paid a price. He served a two-year federal prison term and lost over 100 million dollars in income.
There remain those, however, who believe the 29 year-old quarterback should be punished further in the form of NFL suspension. For instance, this week on MSNBC’s the “Ed Show” PETA spokesman Michael McGraw suggested that Michael Vick needed to show “more remorse” before he is allowed to “sign a multimillion dollar contract.” McGraw even went as far to suggest that the quarterback needed a “neurological brain scan” in order to evaluate his current psychological state.
With all due respect to PETA and their noble and valiant efforts, there has to be a point where we must examine what kind of society we understand ourselves to be. The issue here is whether Michael Vick, after having served his deemed debt to society, should be allowed to use his physical ability and intelligence to earn a living as a professional athlete. This is the bottom line and ethical issue at stake.
First, many of us need to reconsider how we think about professional sports. It is an occupation not a privilege. Too many persons, like PETA’s McGraw, focus more on the potential money Michael Vick may earn as an NFL quarterback than the actual job itself. Would there be this sort of outrage if Vick was returning to work as a carpenter? A janitor? A groundskeeper at Lambeau field? I think not.
And while it is tempting to dismiss professional athletes as overpaid ingrates playing a child’s game, how many of us have to endure what amounts to 70 car accidents each Sunday? Not that I am trying to defend the exorbitant salaries of professional sports (how about we sign some preschool teachers to million dollar contracts!). But as long as this is the going rate of the profession, Michael Vick should be allowed the opportunity to earn it.
Second, nothing about this career choice would contribute to Vick’s recidivism or place animals in harms way. His playing football is not the same as allowing a convicted pedophile to work with children. It's not even like allowing an extorting preacher back in the pulpit or those who facilitated the current financial crisis to orchestrate economic recovery. To the contrary, having such a high profile perpetrator in the public eye will only benefit PETA and the Humane Society in raising awareness for their cause.
Finally, we need to put Michael Vick’s crime in a broader conversation of crime and just punishment. Many have pointed out the ironic nature of professional athletes (and everyday citizens) who have committed domestic violence, driven under the influence and participated in the illegal exchange of drugs yet show up to work everyday. What is more, Vick has served two years for his unspeakable acts against pitbulls. This is 209 more days than Private Lynndie England, the infamous Abu Girhab prison guard and some would argue Donald Rumsfeld scapegoat, served for torturing human beings. And when one factors in the ongoing financial hit Vick will continue to take (the one time highest paid player in the NFL will most likely will be signed at league minimum), what more should we fairly expect?
As a society we should not place a yoke around this young man’s neck that we don’t expect others to bear. To deny an ex-convict the right to earn a living and integrate back into society discredits our entire system of justice in America. Must a professional team sign Vick? No. Do fans have to attend games, cheer for him and buy his apparel? Of course not. But should he be allowed to try to earn a living at the sport that he was once considered among the best in the league? Absolutely! Besides, I am confident there are plenty of 300 lb defensive ends in the NFL who are dog lovers, too!
Despite of several humors about Michael Vick NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has had Michael Vick reinstated anyway, at least conditionally. He is eligible to be signed by any team willing, and to take place in two preseason games. He won't be allowed to play in a full NFL game until the 6th week of the NFL season. Prior to his arrest for participating in dog fighting, Vick was an excellent quarterback, gifted at passing but known for his elusive running, compiling rushing stats that rival some running backs. No amount of cheap loans and quick cash will erase the offences, but the NFL will still have Michael Vick reinstated
They're public figures. So a more apt comparison would be, say, one of the many politicians who've been forced out of office due to crimes that were *significantly* less harmful than this one.
But professional athletes aren't elected officials or hired to be "public servants."
Animal Fighting is a way of life in Louisiana. It is one of many repellent facets of our culture. However, I have sympathy for Mr. Vick. I hope he can redeem his career. I probably will not watch him play, but I stopped watching professional football a decade or more ago.
I have no sympathy for Vick. He should have stayed in jail longer, as should all involved with animal fighting.
I do not like the man and I do not like football (any longer). Foorball destroys the health of many who play the game. It is the source of great injury to many players. I am not certain that the football is much better than animal fighting.
"Michael Vick did not make a mistake. He made terrible choices!" Yes he did. He made those choices. Now, while it is true in the legal and popular sense that he was punished, the idea that 'millions"of fans were disappointed, is a stretch, and the reality is those choices included: getting the idea of dog fights as a plausability, procuring the dogs, housing the dogs, feeding and raising the dogs, training the dogs (and procuring all the other animals who fed the appetite for destruction), and setting up the fights themselves. Lot's of opportunites to stop at any level, but that wasn't to be.
As for the 'sins' he has paid the price for, that would be for the sports fan to decide. For the rest of us, it goes without saying that people who mistreat animals have some SERIOUS mental issues in terms of the sanctity of life and possibly, an issue with the VALUE of life in all creatures.
He lost over 100 million dollars! The world has missed so much because he couldn't throw the ball to someone. Or more likely fumbled it while handing off. The NFL and it's millons of fans have lost countless afternoons and millions of dollars on bets that were lost by the incarceration of a dog killer. But he's paid the price. Tell your children that they can abuse and murder animals (and if this raises no red flags, people) and they too, can be sports heroes. Or take performance enhancing drugs, or even closer to home, bet on the outcome.
Let's face it. The NFL is a monopoly. You're either in or out, but it's up to them. I expect some team will pick up Vick, but I also think that there will be an uproar. It wasn't like he was fighting chickens. "Millions" of NFL fans have dogs, and they consider them a part of their family. And if they don't yet, wait until someone kidnaps their dog to be used as bait for the amusement of a select few. Imagine telling your child that 'Rusty' went away so that some rich, monster decided that your loyal friend would be better served as a practice chew toy so your sports hero could enjoy the good life, because that's how he and his sycophants roll.
AS for Reinstatement: Like I stated earlier, the NFL is a monopoly. It's a slave system. Not unlike what Michael Vick did to dogs, the NFL will do to players. You play ball or you don't. Where are you going to go? You can work at McDonalds, or you can work at the burger place down the street (UFL)?. We'll tell you when and where. So Mr. Vick lost 100 million dollars (while the author pokes at PETA, thinking this is a dollar issue, he's the one who brings it up in the first papargarph). How many zeros does your paycheck need for YOU to be reinstated? There are MILLIONS of people who have no job, and not because of any 'sin' of their own. Only the sin's of people in high places who tell us that they can make things better for us. And we trusted them, and they screwed us. And we voted them out. And they still scream that they can do better.
Do you have a chance for reintsatement if you lost your job? Probably not.
Vick will work again. But does it have to be at some 'sin' defying sum? He paid his debt. That does NOT mean that he has to get his old job back. You probably won't.
"And while it is tempting to dismiss professional athletes as overpaid ingrates playing a child’s game......" It's not only tempting, it's the truth. Only an adult absorbed in the world of sports as a profession would think otherwise (and constantly bring up the subject of money). Sports and play, are social constructs to help us adapt and grow as human beings. Not stopping points in our evolution, where we kiss the golden asses of people we wish we could be. And hope they come back to tittilate us, despite their lack of growth and mistakes, I mean 'choices'.
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