We're more like Mike than we admit
This week's column.
Sartorially speaking, Michael Vick looked just mah-velous when he strutted into a Richmond, Va., courtroom and pleaded guilty to charges he'd previously denied that he was connected to a dogfighting ring and that he had personally abused some of the animals. From the tailored suit to the earring to the spit-shined shoes, rarely has someone dressed so well for a dressing-down.
"GQ, I'm ready for my close-up."
Everywhere else, of course, the disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback isn't so fashionable. A Gallup poll finds little sympathy among pro football fans for Vick, whose sense of judgment does not match his considerable talent on the field.
Many favor a lifetime ban of Vick for his role in dogfighting for cash and kicks. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said Vick shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL again. Only 22 percent said they would want their favorite team to attempt to acquire him if and when he returns, and 35 percent said he should serve a "long" prison sentence.
Their outrage is understandable. Vick not only abused dogs directly and indirectly, but he has admitted to executing dogs who failed to perform well enough in the ring by hanging and electrocution.
That said, there seems to be no small inconsistency in the outrage directed at Vick versus other sports and entertainment figures who have skirted the law in potentially even more thoughtless and tragic ways.
For instance, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa was arrested in Florida for drunken driving during spring training and nary was heard a disparaging word.
In March, police said they found La Russa asleep inside his running SUV at a traffic light. La Russa registered a blood alcohol content of 0.093 percent. The legal driving limit in Florida is 0.08 percent.
No harm, no foul. La Russa was booked on a misdemeanor count and was released after posting $500 cash bond. When La Russa walked onto the field before the Cardinals' next spring training game, many fans gave him a standing ovation.
A month later, a Cardinals player died in a car crash while driving drunk. Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher, crashed his SUV into the back of a tow truck. The episode registered a slight tremor on the moral Richter Scale, with brief ruminations on the prominence of alcohol use and abuse in Major League Baseball. Then it was play ball.
As for the sport of Being Famous, if not Always Very Talented, there are the Lindsay Lohans and Nicole Richies of the world, whose reckless abuse of drugs and alcohol while driving has roused curiosity and even sympathy, but little outrage for the danger they posed to others. Richie, who drove her Mercedes SUV in the wrong direction on a California freeway, served 82 minutes in jail following her second DUI arrest.
We know what could have happened in those instances. It did in the case of former WXII anchor Tolly Carr, whose drinking and driving resulted in the death of a 26-year-old pedestrian.
As for animal cruelty as an issue, Guilford County residents shouldn't cast too many stones. Just visit the local animal shelter to see the pets we blissfully abandon and mistreat in droves day after day. Many will die just as final and sad a death, if not as painful, as Vick's dogs.
Some people have expressed anger that 15 confiscated pit bulls are being housed at the shelter as evidence in a Greensboro dogfighting investigation. The animals are taking spaces that could go to other abandoned pets who might be put to death for lack of room to house them.
But the shelter is so crowded in the first place because we keep casting off unwanted animals and have, until now, resisted efforts to raise money to address the problem through pet licensing fees or a proposed statewide pet food surcharge that's as dead as Julius Caesar.
The bottom line: Vick's actions were clearly wrong and inhumane. But the righteous outrage from the rest of us rings more than a little bit hollow.
Comments (11)
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Enough already! This man did wrong, not the first not the last. Let him pay for it and get on with his life.
Posted on September 2, 2007 6:49 AM
Allen,
Let us not forget that Michael Vick knowingly engaged in illegal activities, violating both federal and state laws. His actions were more than just "wrong" and inhumane. And, people who are in the position to know tell me that this was not just a momentary lapse in judgment. He and his family have been involved in this illegal activity for many years. You make it sound as though he just made a mistake. It's not that innocent, Allen. He deserves what ever punishment and public outrage that is directed at him.
Posted on September 2, 2007 9:56 AM
And, no, some of us are not more like Mick than we would like to admit. Some of us are law-abiding people. So, are you like Mike?
You will note that he refused to admit that he gambled on dogfights. Wonder why that is? The reason is that if he admitted or was convicted of gambling that would be the end of his NFL career. You see, gambling is the cardinal sin of professional sports. Participants that illegally gamble bring the integrity of the sport into doubt. Yes, many people gamble, but they do not participate as a professional in sports. Pete Rose learned the hard way what gambling can do to your sports career. It is also rumored that Mick Vick is just the tip of the iceberg in dogfighting and gambling by NFL players. Roger Goodell is going to want to send a message to the other players that it will not be tolerated, and Mick Vick will be that message.
Dogfighting doesn't occur just as a sport. Dogfights and gambling go hand in hand. This is the illegal activity he was involved in. The heinous executions of the dogs was the inhumane part that got the public agitated against him.
Posted on September 2, 2007 10:09 AM
Allen,
Vick better hope and pray that the Commonwealth of Virginia doesn't elect to file state charges in addition to the federal charges.
Among the state laws Vick could be charged with violating are those against dogfighting and animal cruelty. Both are felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.
Convictions on eight animal cruelty counts could result in up to 40 years in prison if five-year terms for each count were imposed to run consecutively.
Oh, my, 40 years in the slammer! No, we aren't more like Vick than we would like to admit. Most of us aren't admitted criminals.
Posted on September 2, 2007 10:52 AM
Your �wink and a nod� defense of Michael Vick surprised me. I pulled back from your op-ed thinking that this was not the normal, logical, rational and thoughtful Allen Johnson I was used to reading.
If you honestly believe what you have written, then I must conclude that your moral compass has a bent needle.
Your litany of other tragic oversights by sports and entertainment figures is a weak attempt to lower Mr. Vicks offenses from heinous to deviant.
Mr. Vick may have apologized stating that he �needs to grow up�, but it was his apology that rang hollow.
I would also like to take this opportunity to respectfully request that you remove me from �the rest of us� in your closing statement.
Mr. Vicks barbaric behavior MUST be met with righteous outrage! Otherwise you would have us believe that barbarism is simply just another social disease.
Posted on September 2, 2007 1:46 PM
Your �wink and a nod� defense of Michael Vick surprised me. I pulled back from your op-ed thinking that this was not the normal, logical, rational and thoughtful Allen Johnson I was used to reading.
If you honestly believe what you have written, then I must conclude that your moral compass has a bent needle.
Your litany of other tragic oversights by sports and entertainment figures is a weak attempt to lower Mr. Vicks offenses from heinous to deviant.
Mr. Vick may have apologized stating that he �needs to grow up�, but it was his apology that rang hollow.
I would also like to take this opportunity to respectfully request that you remove me from �the rest of us� in your closing statement.
Mr. Vicks barbaric behavior MUST be met with righteous outrage! Otherwise you would have us believe that barbarism is simply just another social disease.
Posted on September 2, 2007 1:46 PM
If the Guilford County Animal Shelter euthanizes dogs in the same fashion that Mike (Con)Vick did, there would be immense outrage.
And one of the most disgusting aspects of this whole fiasco is the way people try to rationalize this behavior as "not being that bad in comparison to other crimes". This is not a victimless crime--think about that next time there's a dog attack. The scum that run these kennels/backyard operations and breed dogs specifically for agressive traits are the culprits when it comes to dog attacks. These dogs were never genetically predispositioned to be human aggressive; but what happens when you train them to be aggressive towards other dogs and bait them with smaller prey? Common sense says that they will develop a penchant to fight any animal and any person--small children will look like prey. Why do people want to gloss over the fact that what these wastes of DNA did not only is inhumane and despicable, but they are essentially creating a public danger to their communities? These guys don't belong among the general public in society because they have no conscience of how their "sport" poses a greater risk to the community.
Don't dare lump me with that group. I am nothing like these people. And as an African-American, I am nothing like the people supposedly the NAACP is representing with their questionble support of Vick. I'm not so desperate for a black male role model, that I'll scrape the bottom of the barrel and hang on to Mike for dear life. The misplaced devotion is pathetic.
Posted on September 3, 2007 9:32 AM
What about when a race horse underperforms (by breaking its leg) and the handler trots out with a gun and shoots him on the track?
And did anybody notice that people bet on horse racing?
Posted on September 3, 2007 11:24 AM
Allen:
We, as a society, have an astonishing ability to miss the forest for the trees. You could have probably gone on for many pages about inconsistent behavior.
Vick's behavior makes a great media story--rich guy who seems to have everything engages in brutal and illegal acts, tries to cover them up, is eventually exposed, and ultimately pays the price. Vick will be punished, and hopefully sports fans, who ultimately pay his salary, will remember this.
It would be helpful though if you also discussed the media's role in all of this. Editors make the decisions about how much space or airtime a story or an issue is going to get.
In some ways, doesn't a column like this just add to the Mike Vick media circus?
Posted on September 4, 2007 8:59 AM
Chad,
Simply, a race horse that breaks its leg isn't destroyed because it "underperformed", it's usually because it is a necessity. Horses are big, heavy animals on slender legs. When a horse breaks its leg, it is a major catastrophe. Healing a broken leg is very "iffy' for too many reasons to explain to you here.
And, for your information, betting on horse racing is legal. Running and racing is what horses are designed to do and do well. In no way can you compare horses racing to dogs being trained to fight and kill, and when they "underperform" (lose) are excecuted in an inhumane manner. (For your information, there are laws against animal cruelty, and they carry five years imprisonment for each count.) Perhaps, you should read the federal indictment to understand the vile and brutal actions of Ookie and then defend him. http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/07/18/ind.pdf
Posted on September 4, 2007 9:44 AM
Mr. Tweed:
I'm hardly defending Vick. I still believe what he did was beyond reprehensible. I was merely pointing out our selective outrage and hypocrisy. At least that was my intent.
Posted on September 4, 2007 5:07 PM