Wow – the Michael Vick topic has definitely gotten heated this morning. Let me first admit that I was sluggin’ down some serious haterade about the whole ordeal in the beginning, but as time went on, and Vick started moving forward, went through jail, and got back to his life…things changed.
Michael Vick made a mistake – there’s no question there – a BIG mistake, however, he went through the justice system, paid his debt to society, and yet, he still can’t catch a break from some people.
Michael Vick has been granted a second chance at his career by Roger Goodell. He’s been put on a conditional reinstatement, of which he will miss 2 preseason games, has already missed a lot of training camp, and will miss 6 games of the regular season. This is on top of losing every asset he’s acquired, and having to completely start his life over. The one thing he has going for him…he’s one hell of a football player.
I’ve gotten involved in a few of the conversations this morning, and honestly, no one has created a compelling argument on WHY he shouldn’t be allowed to play football. Let me give you some “reasons” I’ve been told and my answers to them:
“He’s a role model” – agreed, football players are role models, but I’m fairly certain I didn’t hear Manny Ramirez ever say “I did steroids because of Jose Canseco” – or hear a plea in court by someone arrested for DUI and Manslaughter say, “I got drunk, I drove, and killed a man because of Daute Stallworth”. Give me a break – children look up to a lot of people, including sport players, and shockingly, their parents, but children can still distinguish right from wrong.
“He shouldn’t be allowed to go back to football” – why? What if he was a plumber? Could he get back in to plumbing? Michael Vick is a highly skilled and trained professional football player. If you committed a crime outside of work, should you be let back to work in the trade of which you are skilled at? Should you even be allowed to work at all? Some people seem to think that he needs to just be unemployed for the rest of his life because he’s a professional football player and that profession happens to come with a “spotlight & money”. He shouldn’t have to apologize for the skill he’s trained in – he didn’t shoot some one on 3rd & 9 in the fourth quarter for gods sake.
“the Eagles signing him is a bad PR move” – really? Kind of like when Paris Hilton’s sex tape came out – bad move – right? WRONG! I’m pretty sure that all Eagles games will now have the Howard Stern affect – more people that hate Vick will watch simply because they “hate” him. Guaranteed…
Unfortunately, someone in the spotlight like Michael Vick will be put under far greater scrutiny than “John Smith” the data entry clerk from a call center. He did something wrong, he admitted he did something wrong, he paid his dues to society under the judicial system’s rule, and he’s having to start his whole life over, yet everyone thinks he “hasn’t paid enough”.
When will it be enough? At what point do you stop beating him down and let him prove he’s changed? People will lift up career criminals that are fighting with an addiction to heroin, and keep “giving them a chance”, yet a football player has to be put under further scrutiny and beat down even further because some people over at PETA are a little pissed off?
Boo hoo…bring on football season…
Well its about damn time! Today the Arizona Cardinals and Kurt Warner agreed to a $23 million 2 year deal with $19 million in guaranteed cash to Kurt. He gets $15 million up front and $4 million base salary for 2009/2010 seasons.