Michael Vick

Michael Vick was released from prison recently and I’m assuming that means the lottery to get him as a quarterback will begin for certain NFL teams soon.  Sure he’s currently talking about getting in touch with his family and “football being on the backburner”, but I would bet he’ll play football somewhere again, which is a real shame.  I remember when the stories came out about his dog fighting cabal and his subsequent arrest and found myself thinking “he’ll go away for a few years, but at some point he’ll wear a uniform again.”  He might not, but I have a feeling that NFL teams will be able to look past a “little” animal abuse when they might see a few more wins.  Such is the nature of a big business like pro sports.  We’ve seen that you can pretty much do anything and they’ll keep paying you if you’re talented enough athletically.

Let’s not forget what he did.  He (and his pals) trained and tortured animals so that they would kill other animals.  He maliciously abused (or had animals abused, or paid to have animals) animals to make them meaner.  We currently have a debate going on in this country about torture…well here is a guy who tortured.  Here he is…19 months and 4 months of house arrest.  More than the Bush Administration will get, but still.  It gives me a headache. 

And beyond that…he’ll probably be back in the NFL within a few years.  Probably.  Maybe he’ll turn over a new leaf in his behavior, but…he should have known better in the first place.  Right?  I’m sure he’ll be getting in touch with God and doing charity work to end dogfighting, but that’s what all people do when they get caught and want to “rehabilitate”.   

And what about the NFL people?  Are they going to hire this guy back?  I know that quite a few teams have chronic quarterback problems, but will they sacrifice their last strands of moral fiber to hire an animal abuser?  Yeah, probably.  I wouldn’t be suprised.  *Sigh*