Vick gets released by the Falcons

Michael Vick released by the Falcons


I had thought they had already done this. Although, I think he should get the opportunity to play again should he meet the requirements, whatever they be, set forth by Commissioner Goodell. I know Goodell wants to be seen as the tough guy who will clean up football and the best way to do that may be to hold Vick up as a sacrifice and he may play out the next could of years in the CFL. Was what Vick did despicable? Yes. Should he have spent time behind bars? Absolutely, although part of me thinks that the jail time was more for all the illegal income that was coming with the dog fighting as much as the dog fighting itself. But in the pantheon of sports crimes committed, this is not the worse and probably will not be. Taking Benoit out of the picture, there are guys that did far worse and didn't even go to jail but should have. If he they you or me, Steven Jackson, Ron Artest, and Jermaine O'Neal would have spent months behind bars. Hell, Todd Bertuzzi never went to jail (although he may still be on probation) after breaking Steve Moore's neck. Which has to beg the question: If Michael Vick had committed a crime against another human being would the punishment (legally and professionally) have been as severe? I know there's more to the question than I've covered here, but it seems to me that one of two things happened. Either A. dog fighting is a much larger problem amoung NFL players than once thought and taking down a figure as large as Vick may have been a way to attempt to control that, or B. the NFL is terrified of PETA and the negative press that comes with the abuse and killing of animals because for some reason, we as a society seem to be used to people beating on each other to the point that the only people that ever make an uproar are the victim and their families. Now when similar treatment is given to animals, there are nationwide protests staged. Now before you get the wrong impression and label me a horrible person (and I am, just for many other reasons) for not caring about the horrible actions of Vick, let me say that his actions were horrid. I really have to question what type of person could do what he did to his dogs. And I know that he personally killed dogs. So don't think there is no moral outrage here against Vick's actions, there is. But what I question is a the attitude of PETA and other animal rights groups holding animals above humans and whether that societal attitude doomed Vick here where other athletes have been able to get out of serious trouble for doing similar things to people. I was going to mention how Ty Cobb literally got away with murder, but that's still kind of considered legend. Although he did go into the stands and beat a heckler stupid. And now that I've gotten this far, I've forgotten what triggered this rant initially, or even what the point was...