Who let this dog in?
I’m a football fan, no bones about it I love me some football. I have routed for the Giants my whole life. I can remember as a kid growing up in Queens New York telling everyone I liked the Giants even though everyone around me were Jets fans. Now it wasn’t that I didn’t like the Jets, I was an underdog guy and at the time the Giants were the underdogs. So hence I’m a big blue guy, who blows veins out of the front of his forehead when they play poorly.
Back in the day football heroes were just that, football heroes. I’m sure there were a few idiots; there always seem to be a few. But when athlete after athlete gets chance after chance simply because they work some magic with a ball and someone gets rich off that magic, I have a real problem with that. We could talk about Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe, Darryl Strawberry, Barry Bonds, Dexter Manly all day long. We could about how they hurt their careers with their addictions. But at the end of the day they were really only hurting themselves. Sure, you could make the case that they were affecting their families, but other than emotions nobody died and they all for the most part rehabbed.
If to err is human and forgiving divine, then I guess Michael Vick is the 2010 poster child for that. Before I get into the meat and bones of what I’m trying to say let me say this. The guy is a tremendous athlete. The things he can do on a football field put excitement into the game. There is no denying it. But now that an otherwise spectacular season is in the books people seem to be rallying to his side. Well, not so quick.
I am a forgive and forget kind of guy when it comes to certain things. If Barry Bonds wants to shoot himself full of game enhancing substances, that’s his decision, it’s going to hurt one person and that’s Barry Bonds. If an athlete has a substance abuse problem again, a conscience decision that they can make. And the fact that their respective sports keep allowing them to play even though they’ve broken a hard fast rule, well again – not really hurting anyone. But if you and I broke the same set of company rules, I don’t think we would be welcomed back with open arms.
Me however I don’t understand the whole “we forgive Michael Vick craze” (unless you’re a Philly Fan). Need I remind everyone of what he did? He funded the something called “The Bad Newz Kennels” – a dog fighting ring. Dogs that did not perform up to expectations would be killed by repeatedly picked up and slammed to the concrete until lifeless, they would be electrocuted, hung, drown and that only a few of the ways. Hundreds if not thousands of animals met their death as a result of Michael Vick, and I for one am not so quick to forgive. But the NFL saw dollars signs and the pressure mounted and the Philadelphia Eagles scooped him up.
So Vick just finished a stellar season. One that launched the Eagles into the playoffs and beat my Giants twice. I’ve been accused of sour grapes because of my stance on Vick, but I can assure you nothing could be further from the truth. I’m just bothered by this news cycle society we live in. This society that allows a player like Michael Vick to serve time, apologize and ask for the ball back – then get it! Again, I make the argument – if that were you and me do I don’t think we’d be afforded the same luxury.
What upsets me the most is the inhumane treatment of defenseless animals. I get that we in a culture that allows you to go to prison get out and apparently you’re rehabilitated. But I don’t buy it. Do I think that Michael Vick is going to charge back into dog fighting – NO. In fact he’s even said that he would like to own a dog. And what could be worse than being a dog in an animal shelter? Being adopted by Michael Vick – What the hell is up with that?
