Dog killer, thug, liar. Future NFL QB?
Michael Vick, a worthless thug and confessed/convicted dog killer, is finished “paying his debt to society” and had been conditionally reinstated to play in the NFL again.
Well, if any team is stupid enough to sign him, that is. Right now, most teams are balking at the opportunity to have thousands of people protest their every public appearance and risk alienating thousands of more fans and ticket buyers.
Vick’s Crimes
Let’s that Michael Vick, one of the NFL’s biggest stars, spent 2 years in prison for his role in financing, promoting, and gambling on dog fights from a home he owns. Additionally, 3 of Vick’s ‘boyz rolled on him and claimed that Vick took part in the brutal and inhumane execution of at least 8 dogs. It’s also reported that Vick was aware of and instructed his ‘boyz to go out into the community in search of bait dogs.
Vick’s not sorry for what he did. In fact, I believe that deep down he doesn’t really believe that there is anything wrong with what he did. He’s just sorry he got caught.
Cultural Divide
A guy I went to HS with, who is also a former 4 year player for the University of Texas football team, started this conversation on FaceBook about Vick’s conditional reinstatement (all but one of the responses are from black friends) admits that he didn’t even know that dog fighting was illegal until the Vick case.
All I could think when I read that was, “Really? You’ve got to be kidding or lying.”:
Let's have a coversation about Michael Vick...
Never mind that there appears to be a slight difference in acceptance and graduation standards for big-time Division I football players than there are for the rest of the student body…
But this thread underscores a giant cultural divide.
Should Vick be Allowed to Play in the NFL Again?
This has been the hot topic since Vick was reinstated. There are two schools of thought here:
- He’s paid his debt to society, and now should be allowed to go out and earn the best living that he can.
- Yes, he should be allowed to earn a living, just not in the NFL.
I’m pretty firmly in camp number 2. I agree with this comment from the Dallas Morning News:
If crooked CEOs or Wall Street renegades go to prison, they are not given a second chance to rejoin their prior enterprise and prove that they have grown from the experience. Likewise, the NFL is not a reform school. Vick blew it, and the NFL tarnishes it own name by offering him another shot at participation. Vick’s off-the-field behavior should have disqualified him from the NFL for life.
I don’t believe that there should be any rules or laws that prohibit Vick from playing. But that doesn’t mean that the NFL has to risk their product by bringing him back. And let there be no doubt about it, there will be a hit to any team that signs Vick. There will be protests. There will be distractions. There will be people giving up their season tickets.
I know if my Houston Texans happen to sign this thug, I won’t re-new my season tickets next year (or ever again).
You can’t make an example out of Vick. If he can’t play in the NFL than neither should any one of the other murderers that are currently active and making millions because of the game. And those folks killed HUMANS. He killed some dogs, did some hard time, and paid his debt to society. Whether he is sorry or not doesn’t really matter. He did what he had to do. There are plenty of felons that are playing in professional sports making money hand over fist while their counterparts in the “real” world can’t get a decent job because of the big “F” on their record.
This whole thing screams of double standards. Only in this case, it was animals killed rather than human beings. I would think that one human life would get more of a response than 8, or 80 dogs.
I would be more for a league wide sweep of felons. If you have a felony, you can’t play.
If you did that, Ravens fans would throw a shit fit.
The NFL should, as a governing body that has already set a precedence, should allow Michael Vick back into the league. (Unless they are going to do a full sweep of felons, they won’t, so….) The Teams of the NFL must be held under the gun of the public. “If you hire Mike Vick, you get NONE OF MY MONEY.”
Like the real world, it is not the industry that you are in that keeps you out of the work force for a felony, but the businesses that you apply for employment. And, there are industries, and companies that fight for the special expertise that comes with committing a crime. Cyber-defence companies fight for ex-hackers as they finish their time. Vegas Security firms look for “cheaters” to fight cheating. But theses are businesses that hire these people, not the computer defense industry or Gambling industry. Like wise, Madoff, will not be hired by another Wall Street firm, but his knowledge may be used elsewhere, if he ever gets out of prison.
- Did Goodell do right? Yeah, according to consistency, he did. – Since Vick is “Allowed” back into the league, should he be hired by a team? That is up to the individual team.
- It is up to us, the fans, and the “money” behind the NFL and the teams to let them know how we feel about it.
Common belief is that there is major concern by most teams about the public fallout if they were to hire Vick. Good, there should be concern. Michael Vick almost destroyed the Atlanta Falcons, and hurt the pride of a great city. Every NFL team should look at what he did to that Team, that community, and that economy prior to signing Michael Vick, and realize that this is what happens when you hire a PUNK. Then look at The Falcons today and Matt Ryan, and what happens when you hire a quality individual and team player.
But then again, there is always the Cowboys and the Raiders….. Al Davis and Jerry Jones probably have wood at the the thought of pissing off as many people as this could do in one swipe. So, who knows.
I agree with the sentiment, but the DMN is way off-base in using Wall Street, of all places, as the example the NFL should live up to. Just this week we heard sentencing on an insider trading scheme that involved Gerald Brodsky, who had ALREADY BEEN CONVICTED OF SECURITIES FRAUD IN 1993. If you google his name you can find an announcement published by a risk analysis firm about how happy they are to have hired him!
Athletes aren’t the only guys who get a slap on the wrist…
Zome on people, quit acting like children who had their lunch money stolen and want revenge. The facts are out there; Vick screwed up, got caught and payed the price. Just because it is your opinion that he has to continue paying for the rest of his life is not relevant to the facts. He has already faced the consequences as the law dictates, and in our society that means it should be over. The Wall Street comparison is ridiculous. The Wall Street people were convicted of crimes that are directly related to their jobs, therefore violating the basic trust factor that they need to have just to operate in their field. How in the world does Dogfighting effect the way Vick can read a defense, or violate the trust his receivers, Linemean and coaches have in him to be able to play football. Grow up and Leave the man alone. And no I am not black, but I am from the South, and BTW, Holy Shit they were only Dogs!!! Phillipines eat them every day!!
Anon, btw, holy shit they were not eating them. He was profiting from having dogs maim, mutilate and kill each other. Have you ever seen how these dogs are trained, housed, treated?? They are innocent animals that deserve protection not abuse.
name one active raven with a felony conviction. john, you know as much about pro-football as you know about politics!
Paid his debt to society my bum. A man goes to prison for selling weed gets out and can’t get a job due to his record; this menace to society scum thug wanna be tortures, starves, electricutes, hangs innocent animals and we pay him millions I DON’T THINK SO, NOT MY MONEY. HE WILL ROT IN HELL ALONG WITH ANYONE WHO HIRES HIM. I own 2 Pitties and NO THEY are not natural fighters but JUST LIKE HUMANS PUT TWO HUMANS IN A CAGE, STARVE THEM FOR A MONTH THEN THROW IN A CHEESEBURBER SEE IF THEY FIGHT. I HOPE HE GETS TAKEN OUT BY A PLAYER WHO SWEEPS HIS KNEE DURING THE GAME.