As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of professional football. I'm not really into college football (which is due to a combination of not going to a school with a big football program and the overall quality of play) but the NFL has always been a love of mine. This being said, I want to to weigh in on the biggest subplot of the NFL offseason.
I should start by saying that I am a big fan of Michael Vick the football player. I always think excitement and innovation are good things especially in the copycat NFL, and watching Vick was thrilling. The first year I moved to Atlanta I eagerly awaited watching Vick every Sunday. My roommate and I were pretty big fans of other teams from our hometown cities, but we were often more excited about seeing what Vick and the Falcons would do on Sunday. He may have not had the best individual statistics (at least when it comes to the traditional statistics that evaluate quarterbacks) but no one can argue that he won (he was 38-28-1 as a starter, including a memorable postseason win against Green Bay and Brett Favre) and was exciting to watch.
Vick's fall is so well known by everyone in our society including those who have no idea how 'downs' work so I won't chronicle it here. He did something pretty horrible, and now has paid for his crimes. He spent multiple years in prison and has become completely crippled financially. Whether or not the prosecution set out to make a name for themselves by making an example of Vick is unclear, but he definitely got hammered. This is not to make any kind of moral judgement but to say that Vick was punished to the full extent of the law. Even PETA can't argue with this. They may want larger sentences for these crimes, but that's not the case and Mr. Vick was not awarded any special treatment.
He deserved a second chance. As is often said, our country was built on second chances awarded to those who couldn't make it on their first attempt at life. As Americans, we love redemption stories. There are few heroes in literature that are more romantic than the ones who fall from grace, only to pick themselves up and to make it on their second chance. I know there are many dog or animal lovers who think Vick is the scum of the Earth, but really the way he is treated is completely ridiculous.
There are possible murderers (Ray Lewis, Marvin Harrison), drug dealers (Jamal Lewis), and people who commit manslaughter with DUIs (Leonard Little and now Donte Stallworth) in the NFL. All of these players (except Stallworth) are currently playing in the league. True, the old regime at the NFL front office wasn't as strict as the current one, but I don't hear these same people who champion animal rights standing up for the humans that Little and Stallworth killed. Leonard Little killed a human being while driving drunk, and even got caught with a DUI a couple years after serving a minor sentence! Even the most adamant animal rights activist have to agree that the life of a human being is worth very much more than the life of an animal. I'm sorry it's true, and anyone who claims to think otherwise is just lying to themselves. Stallworth is currently being held from playing the NFL after serving less than a month in prison. I'm pleased commissioner Goodell is being this tough on him, 30 days is a paltry amount to pay for the extinction of a human life.
Again all these criminals (some convicted, some not) are playing in the league and I don't hear a peep about people protesting their presence. Vick has been profusely apologetic and is even doing some work with anti dog fighting groups away from the spotlight. What do people want him to do? Playing football is the only thing in which he is trained, and Vick should be able to try to make a living for himself. A common counter argument is the the 'role model' one. Anyone who thinks that all professional athletes are role models are deluding themselves, just ask Charles Barkley. There may be some athletes who we can look up as role models (Lance Armstrong, Kurt Warner (if you're religious), and Dikembe Mutombo come to mind) but sports are just an occupation, and like other occupations they come with lots of seedy characters. Michael Vick doesn't have to be a role model, but he can be a valuable lesson to see what can happen if you make bad decisions.
I am ecstatic that Vick has been picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles (putting my rooting interests aside). It'll be interesting to see how he is used on the football field, but he joins a team with a bunch of strong characters that will help him get re-acclimated to civilian life in the NFL. It's hard for almost any of us to understand what Vick has been through. No one I know grew up in the poverty or culture in which Vick grew up, and thus we can't understand why he did what he did. Things that are acceptable to one culture might be completely ghastly to another and it would be foolish to cast stones at someone without realizing this. It's true that Vick allowed himself to be surrounded by people of questionable character, but he also felt that he had to support many of these people because of his success. Saying all this, I really hope that he learned his lessons and will lead a different life. I will be rooting for Vick to rebuild his life and to have a successful career in the NFL.
This is somewhat similar to your question about Orson Scott Card - "Can we enjoy the abilities of an individual, divorced from from what we know of their personal life?" In Michael Vick's case, he committed a crime and paid his debt to society. I guess it is our duty to accept this and move on...as difficult as that may be given the nature of his offense. I guess I'm saying that I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I read the blog by the President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This is part of what he said about Michael Vick on May 22, 2009:
ReplyDelete"We are confronted with a new challenge now that Vick has served nearly two years of time in a federal penitentiary and seen his personal assets liquidated. He’s served his sentence, and now he’s made a personal appeal to The HSUS to involve him in anti-dogfighting and anti-cruelty efforts. Will we continue to flog Michael Vick indefinitely, or will we take advantage of his expressed desire to do better, to be an agent of change for animals?
I knew it would be controversial, but I decided it was the right thing to engage with Michael and give him a chance to participate in our anti-dogfighting efforts. We at The HSUS are about change, even the hard cases. Sitting with Michael at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, I saw a man who, if he had the resolve, could do powerful and persuasive outreach to at-risk youth and steer them away from dogfighting. He told me he saw dogfighting when we he was a boy, and from there, he came to accept the activity and to get involved. Nobody was there to step in and pull him out of that morass, and he obviously didn’t have the strength to get away from it himself.
Only time will tell if he lives up to his word to me, that he’s sincere about actively helping to suppress dog fighting. But if he fails in this next test in his life, he will have squandered an opportunity to help himself and to help others.
I think he deserves a second chance, I just wish it was any other team than the one I root for. The Eagles don't need a circus, which is exactly what it will be all year and maybe beyond.
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