The Weekly Gut Check Vol. 156.5 - The Gut Check's Rant
Posted 6/14 by Matt Waldman, Exclusive for Footballguys.com
The Weekly Gut Check examines the players, strategies and guidelines fantasy football owners use to make personnel decisions.
If you're a regular listener to The Audible, you know that the incredible Cecil Lammey will frequently take a moment to share a rant with his audience. A few months ago, Lammey asked me on the air if I had any rants. Well Cec, I do have a rant that has been simmering for over two years. And it boiled over when Michael Vick walked out of Leavenworth Prison on Tuesday, May 12 after serving a 23-month conviction on dog fighting and animal cruelty charges.
Yes, it's old news in a sense. The debate over the former star quarterback's potential return to the NFL began well before Vick could even realistically think about returning to his Hampton, Va. home. A PETA spokesperson called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to have Vick undergo a brain scan before the NFL lifted their "lifetime ban" on the former Atlanta Falcon. They believe Vick's admission that he enjoyed watching dogs maim each other is a sign of psychopathic behavior. The sports community got "good TV" with the debate. ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning had an engaging discussion on the difference between "a right" and a "privilege" about playing a professional sport. As for fans, we believe a variety of things and we're are split into different camps about Vick, the crime, the dogs, and what the NFL should do.
Here's what I believe and don't believe regarding Michael Vick's saga:
If NFL players were afforded an off the record response, I would I believe they would have the same divisiveness on Vick's return as the public. Personally, I believe in second, third, fourth, and fifth chances when it makes sense. Ricky Williams deserved all the chances he got. When it comes to the power of forgiveness and compassion, I'm all in.
I believe Vick has the legal right to earn employment if he meets an organization's requirements for the position and those requirements are compliant with state and federal labor laws. I don't believe that Vick, who to the best of my knowledge has never held down a full-time job outside of football, deserves a $10/hour construction gig. When a guy I know can't find a job remotely as good as what was handed to Vick although he is more qualified and his conviction dealt with multiple misdemeanors resulting from unpaid parking tickets, I believe it reinforces the double standard celebrities enjoy in our society. Hey Mike and Mike, Vick earned the right for a shot at the NFL because of his play, but it's the privileges of celebrity that allow him to get a job handed to him that guys convicted of far lesser offenses can't sniff.
I believe pit bulls are highly misunderstood, intelligent, loyal, and amazing animals that I would own in a heartbeat (they were the most popular family dog in the first half of the 20th century). As with any breed, all it would take is the time and effort to participate in obedience training with the dog and care for it properly. I don't believe PETA had a clue when they recommended all of Vick's dogs should be put down. Thankfully, the Commonwealth of Virginia didn't listen to them, either.
I believe the police did a good job enforcing the law, and the lawyers, judge and jury upheld the letter and the spirit of the law. However, I don't believe the laws are nearly strict enough for animal cruelty in this country, a crime that is often a gateway to the abuse and murder of human beings. If we want our society to take a proactive approach to stop molding future serial killers - something our great country leads the world in developing - a proactive, strict approach to protecting animals would help.
After (allegedly) thoroughly enjoying himself when he watched animals maim and kill each other and then participated in their maiming and killing - animals with the same capacity to save and enrich human lives as pets, police and rescue dogs, and therapy dogs - I don't believe it matters whether Michael Vick feels true contrition or his loss of wealth and fame generated his newfound sense of humility. If anything, I believe it's a crying shame that I or anyone else outside of a parole board even has to entertain his motivations right now. I believe he should still be doing push-ups in a prison cell.
However, I don't believe Michael Vick is to blame that he has a $10 per hour job, an opportunity to play house with his fiancee, and a chance to return to the NFL with a contract most ex-cons with his conviction would consider obscenely fat. Even if I believe Roger Goodell lacks the stones to do the bold thing and keep the ban on Michael Vick permanent, I don't believe he or the NFL is to blame if they let him return. If Vick still has his God-given speed and athleticism and the work ethic to maximize his quarterbacking skills, and the NFL believes it lacks an enforceable reason to maintain a ban after Vick served his legal debt, then more power to them for lifting the suspension.
Ultimately, I believe Michael Vick is to blame for his actions, but we are the only ones to blame when it comes to our response as a nation. We're the ones who elected the officials who created these weak animal cruelty laws. I believe we lacked the urgency to change them because few of us cared to notice that these laws weren't tough enough. I believe we lack the compassion and knowledge about pit bulls to regard them as anything different than soulless predators that are a threat to our communities - including an often, self-righteous organization like PETA who recommended death as the only solution for the true victims in this crime.
I don't believe most people will see it this way but most of all, I believe if Vick resumes his NFL career and every time he plays in front of a packed stadium on national TV, earns enough money to live better than 90 percent of America, and even gets offered endorsements in the not-distant-enough future, that we the people, who are ultimately responsible for what Vick can and cannot do, are receiving our just punishment.