Vick and Redemption

As I am sure you have all heard Michael Vick, the former quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, will be sentenced next Monday for his role in federal dog fighting charges. The prosecutors are asking for 12-18 months in prison...FEDERAL prison. In case you forgot, Leavenworth is a federal prison, and you do not want to go there. Anyway, there are a few things about this case I would like to say. First of all, though the dog fighting charges are center stage, it is actually the gambling issue that is the real problem. Whether anyone will admit it or not, gambling can be very harmful to professional sports. The last thing commissioner Goodell and owner Arthur Blank want is for the word "gambling" to be associated in any way with football. The question that is being posed is if Vick was betting on dog fighting who is to say that he wasn't betting on football?

As the fervor mounts surrounding the countdown to Monday there are already tons of advocates out there already proclaiming how Vick should not be banned from the NFL. They say that he should be let back in when he gets out of jail because he has admitted his faults, and will have served time in prison. Question: can anyone recall how Vick admitted his wrongdoing? In case you don't know, he only admitted it AFTER his friends turned on him by copping pleas (some friends), and even then he only admitted it by accepting his own plea bargaign! How is that being forthright and honest? How is that accepting responsiblity? Lest anyone forget, he has, up until this week, been lying through his teeth about his involvement in the whole thing. That, my friends, is not contrition. While he may turn out to be truly sorry, he should not turn out like Clinton and apologize only after the fact. If Vick would just own up to his disgusting actions and his blatant lies, accepting full responsibility, then I believe everyone would be willing to give the guy another shot.

Vick's advocates come in all shapes and sizes. Their boundaries are not limited by race, sex, or age, which I think is a very good thing. However, there have been some people who have turned this into a racial issue, which is just utterly sad. Those folks claim that the Feds are attacking Vick over dog fighting because it is prevelant in black culture. Well, how about a history lesson. The first recorded events involving dog fighting are found in Roman culture, and they were known to be very popular in medieval Europe. Having said that, does it not seem pretty stupid to act like this is a black versus white thing? If anything it makes some white folk look pretty sad for starting it in the first place! Do people really think that there was a conspiracy coming from on high to get Michael Vick? The people that put forth such notions are the very people that are keeping this country stuck in a quagmire of fractured race relations. They do not want to see harmony. They want to see pity and preferential treatment. What a shame. All people are worth more than a handout, and to not give them a chance to succeed without someone doing it for them is to rob a human being a successful life.

The NAACP are saying that Vick should be let back on the field. Here is their reasoning behind that: "We further ask the NFL, Falcons and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country." He should be let back in because he can play football? For some reason I doubt that Vick goes out there solely to entertain, and it would seem that the people who are so desperate for entertainment that they would excuse his actions are pretty disgusting. Michael Vick is an extremely talented human being. He has all the tools in the world to excel at his sport, and he has a HUGE stage to show that he is willing to make a positive difference in the world. For the NAACP to make the entertainment arguement they are only doing Vick a major disservice.

That being said, here is what I truly think: Vick deserves a second chance. He did something horrible and inhumane. He deserves to be punished for his crimes. He needs to spend some time at an animal shelter caring for dogs, and it may do him well to work for a vet for a while. I totally believe in the potential within Michael Vick. I do believe him when he says that he knows that he needs to change the company he keeps, and I am sure that since his "friends" have bailed on him he will speed up that process. This thing does not have to be a racial issue, or even a animal rights issue. It is so much more than that. The focus here is a human being gone astray that now, even though way down in the pit, has a chance to really make something of himself. Michael Vick, if he wants to, can really be an example of redemption. And honestly, I think he can do it. I think he WANTS to do it. I hope he does it. He is too young to throw it all away now.

P.S.: PETA, shutup. When you protest the murder of innocent human beings as much as you protest the killing of animals we will listen to you. Until then, shutup.
And Stephon Marbury, you shutup as well. Defending dog fighting only hurts Michael Vick, and it makes you look even more ignorant than you already are (if that's possible). You want to help Vick? Then help him finish college, help him find friends who will build him up and not mooch off of him until it's time to bail. If you can't do that, shutup.