Michael Vick’s Monday night performance didn’t impress everyone
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
While many were marveling at Michael Vick’s Monday Night Football heroics, some were wincing at it all while never forgetting about the victims.
One of those who was wincing was L.A. Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke, who wrote an emotional column that has quickly become one of his most popular screeds. An excerpt:
If he continues playing this well, he could end up as the league’s most valuable player. In six games, he has thrown for 11 touchdowns, run for four more touchdowns, committed zero turnovers and produced nearly 300 total yards per game. Heck, at this rate, with his Eagles inspired by his touch, he could even win a Super Bowl, one of the greatest achievements by an American sportsman. And yet a large percentage of the population will still think Michael Vick is a sociopath. Many people will never get over Vick’s own admissions of unthinkable cruelty to his pit bulls -- the strangling, the drowning, the electrocutions, the removal of all the teeth of female dogs who would fight back during mating. Some believe that because Vick served his time in prison, he should be beyond reproach for his former actions. Many others believe that cruelty to animals isn’t something somebody does, it’s something somebody is.
‘Dog owner can’t forgive Michael Vick’ has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, shared over 51,000 times on Facebook, and has received over 500 comments. A small sampling of those comments can be seen after the jump.
missdeluca wrote: Lest you forget, he didn’t serve any time at all on cruelty-to-animal charges. It was for racketeering. So how sympathetic can you be to a ‘man’ who didn’t even own up to what he did? usedname wrote: The point of the article is that there is residue left over from what he did. I am not a crazy dog lover, nor a football lover, and I didn’t even reallly know what the controversy was about until reading this and looking at some past articles. He was not humane, and it obviously had an effect. Has he changed? I don’t know enough to tell. But according to the article, the dog is scared to death and will probably not change.
jshannis11 said: How was he not held accountable? You are condemning him for things in the future he hasn’t done!! And of course our system is intended to rehabilitate those that can be rehabilitated, even if it doesn’t always work out that way. How would keeping Vick out of the NFL, after he has served the punishment our legal system imposed on him, benefit anyone? How exactly would that ‘prevent something like this from happening again’? You know what might prevent something like this from happening again? Having Vick, who is a hero to many young poor African-American children, rehabilitate himself as a person and high profile NFL star and do public service where he explains why the things he did were wrong. Oh wait, that is exactly what he’s doing, but it’s still not enough for some of you.
BruceBean wrote: Michael Vick spent more time in jail than the cop who shot the kid in Oakland will. How shameful of Plaschke to not allow this man who admitted his guilt, took responsibility for his actions and paid his debt to society and continues to do, live his life. He went to jail, served his time and now deserves a right to make a living if he can. Give it a rest. Or, what would you have him do? What more can Michael Vick do to appease a society that will give a cop less than three years for shooting a kid in the back and refuses to accept the fact that he paid his DEBT to society.
jmpgodiva wrote: I can’t forget what Michael Vick did to those dogs. I don’t know if he truly ‘gets it’, after his stint in Jail. I don’t care how good a Player he is, he shouldn’t be on anyone’s Team. Aren’t Great Athletes suppose to be someone young people look up to and emulate? Seems these days, they get away with anything if they can sell Tickets. They give Sports a bad image. People like Michael Vick are responsible for giving Pit Bulls a BAD reputation- him and the Drug Dealers. I feel very sorry for the DOGS.
StoneMalone wrote: We should forgive him and let him live this life. I’m split on the Dog thing; I have owned a lot of pit bulls and love the breed with a passion. I hate what he did and what other people still do to this breed. It’s give them a bad name and is very cruel. But on the other hand these dogs love to fight & kill that’s what we breed them to do, it’s in there DNA. I had an extremely crazy Pit Bull that got loose and killed a few dogs, he was a very sweet pet but had the kill thing. It’s like being mad at a blood hound for having a good noise. The Pit Bull will always get a bad rap because we as humans made them that way….is Michael Vick to blame for selective breeding?
Briony James wrote: He is and always will be a vicious brute, entirely unworthy of mention in any newspaper article except, perhaps, his own obituary.
MargaretLane wrote: Thank you for writing this. thank you a million times.
What’s your take? Should Vick be forgiven? If not, at what point should he be able to move on from his crimes and allowed to work in peace?
-- Tony Pierce
Top photo: Mel sitting with his back to a corner, (his safety zone) and Pumpkin sitting in front of him to screen him, so as to protect him when new people are in the room. Pumpkin always does this when new people are around Mel. Credit: Richard Hunter
Second photo: Michael Vick, #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles, looks on while waiting for a review to be completed against the Washington Redskins on Nov. 15, 2010 at FedExField in Landover, Maryland. Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images