Timeout

Taken from my Nebraska Cornhuskers blog, "The Scarlet Letter"...

Before I get started, let me get one thing out there. I’ve never really liked Michael Vick as a football player. I never really liked him even while I was watching him at Virginia Tech back in the late 90’s. I didn’t think a black quarterback that could run and make plays with his legs was that revolutionary. For those that read this blog, Tommie Frazier had already accomplished the same type of success that Vick was. Of course as the record shows, the NFL rightly decided to recruit Vick into their ranks and allowed his type of play to sweep the country and make fans around the world. This was all fine with me, despite the fact that I was never a big fan of Michael Vick the football player. He seemed selfish, however I was a fan of playing football a different way.

We all know now what he did or maybe didn’t do. He has made his admission of guilt and in my opinion that is all you really need to know. During the entire process from after the evidence was found on his property in Virginia on a drug raid, up until he chose to plead guilty to lesser crimes than he was charged with, I’ve maintained with my friends that it is important to let the system do it’s job. When we come out on the other end, then I’ll let my opinion be known. Well, now that Vick has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to run an interstate dog-fighting ring my opinion is this.

In black and white in regards to our justice system (no racial sort-of-pun intended) I believe that he should serve out his sentence that will be handed down on December 10^th. Following his time in or out of prison he should be given the same opportunity as any convicted felon in getting his old job back. That is what would happen in an equal, perfect world. Let’s look at reality for a second. Consider yourself and you in your job. Let’s say that you are at a bar with your wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend and you’ve had one too many drinks. Someone at the bar repeatedly harasses you and your spouse/partner for the duration of the night. When it’s time to go home, you’ve finally had enough and you beat the person that has been heckling your partner, who you love, to the point of paramedics needing to be called to the scene. You’re arrested and eventually charged with felony assault. Now whether this action warrants this type of punishment, I don’t know, but for the sake of the story just follow me on this one. I know that in my job if I’m even charged with a felony I will lose my job. Not convicted or pleading guilty mind you, just charged, I’m fired. Let’s say the worst happens and you’re convicted of felony assault and having no criminal record you’re sentenced to one year in prison and the rest of the five year sentence gets suspended as probation. Like I’ve said, I’m not sure if this is how it works, just go with it. Now it’s the day you get out of prison and you meet with your probation officer and you inquire about getting your old job back. Tell me, what do you believe are the chances of that actually happening?

Here’s my prediction. Michael Vick will serve his time and his suspension away from playing in the NFL with no further issue. Two or three years from now, you’ll see Vick back in an NFL uniform. He won’t have the same positive exposure as before. He won’t get an endorsement deal, but he’ll be back in the NFL and playing again. People that say he should be banned for life, I’m not so sure I agree. It’s not up to us what should be done with Vick. We don’t run the NFL and if you don’t want to see him play ever again, I guess that’s just too bad. Don’t watch the games he plays in, or don’t watch the game that allows him to play. How deep do your convictions really go? That’s a good question for holier than thou individuals. Color me indifferent in regard to my personal opinion when it comes to Vick being allowed back into the NFL. Some team will take a chance on him, believe me. If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell does not ban Vick for life, he will be back. Talent supercedes almost everything in professional sports. Look at Leonard Little, look at Warren Moon and yes, even look at Lawrence Phillips. Look at every NFL or college football player that has been charged with anything. They’ve been given chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity. So, will this type of crime be where we stand up as a society of NFL fans or just sports fans and say enough is enough? Someone needs to learn a lesson and someone needs to be made an example of? I doubt it. Despite the fact that there have been many, many arrests this past offseason with NFL players and crime. I’ve even come up with a clever nickname for the NFL, the Numerous Felons League. Pretty stupid, huh? Anyway, I think the majority of people are too lazy and weak to make any kind of stand to boycott professional sports. Issues like this will just keep churning along.

I just finished listening to Vick’s statement and it went just like I expected. He said he doesn’t speak well, so we should forgive him for that. He apologized to commissioner Goodell, Atlanta Falcon’s owner Arthur Blank, Falcon’s coach Bobby Patrino (who’s probably secretly happy his team will tank and he’ll be able to draft Louisville Cardinal’s senior quarterback Brian Brohm) his Falcon’s teammates, and of course, finally, the children. Letting down the kids is probably the worst thing you can do, right? Well he left someone else out. He left out the overwhelming majority of people that are indifferent to all the people he apologized to. Do I care about the trials and tribulations of a millionaire like Blank? The answer is an emphatic no. Unless there is a silent majority that just does not care, Vick is leaving out the most important of NFL constituents, and that is the fan that pays his salary. People like you and I.

Michael Vick himself and the charges against him are only the tip of the iceberg. Do you think that when the dust has settled on this case and after he has been sentenced a few weeks before Christmas this year that it will be over? I’m inclined to say no. Why? Because of the issue of race. From day one the cry was small and concentrated. Now the swell of shrieks of racism will bubble over into not only sports media, but mainstream media as well. It already has, but it will increase and be discussed for a great deal of time. Will this be a watershed moment in examining race relations in our country? Will race relations regarding a sports figure serve as a metaphor for society? You’d think that the answer would be yes, considering the almost perfect storm of situations colliding in the middle. You have the face (not my opinion) of the NFL from the past few years, you have our most popular sport in our country and you have a subject that is near and dear to many American’s hearts. The easy answer is race, however the subject I’m referring to is the issue of your family pet and animal cruelty. If this were Peyton Manning that had been running a dog-fighting ring, would there be this much public outcry? Could you imagine a good old boy with his slow southern draw Peyton Manning in the center of a scandal like this? If you’re thinking that Peyton Manning couldn’t be in the middle of something like this because of who he is, then you’re probably a little racist. Look, Manning is a southern, white guy who comes from a good family with NFL pedigree, given every opportunity in life and because he his who he is, it would be harder to stomach for white America. It’s easy to pin this sort of thing on a black guy because most white people probably expect it. You may not say it, but you probably think it.

I am already tired of the countless representatives from the black community playing the race card. I’m equally tired of most white people that have spread the word of his guilt since this story broke almost as quickly. This issue is a magnified look into how we as American’s feel about race. Overall, white and black people don’t seem to trust each other, at least not on this issue. I know making this generalization might get me into a little bit of trouble, however if I were wrong why would this situation be breaking down like it is? And why will it continue to play itself out as such? Will we as a society surprise future historians and prove this to be our shinning moment in the sun in finally understanding each other as white and black societies? Doubtful.

White people, or white commentators I’ve listened to on this subject, are much more subversive in regards to how they add up the evidence and allegations that lead to Vick’s guilt. They talk about his mom being a single mom, how his brother has been in trouble with the law since you knew who he was and how he was raised in a community from the “wrong side of the tracks.” They talk about the culture shock of going from a nobody and someone everyone wanted to be and how hard that is on a poor black kid from Virginia. They talk about how hard it is for a black kid to cut ties with people from “the hood” from his past that he should leave behind, because poor black kids turn into poor black adults that are desperate and commit crimes like this. That’s how they break you down, the listener, into believing that Vick is guilty. Of course he’s guilty because he couldn’t help it, that's what they want you to believe. It makes you feel he’s guilty and allows you to feel sorry for him like he’s a criminal and a victim all at the same time. This is wrong and how a lot of white people want you to feel about black people. Did I mention that it's wrong?

Let me say this quick, I am not defending Vick and his actions that he has now plead guilty to. I don’t defend what he did or didn’t do, what he may have done and what he probably did. I think Vick’s aberrant actions and behavior are grotesque. I think cruelty to animals is right up there with cruelty to children. They are both innocent and helpless to a certain degree, and for adults to take advantage of this shows the lowest of the low of human spirit and capacity to be evil. Now that my late disclaimer has been stated for the record, let’s move on.

The individuals who have been nationally representing the black community on this subject, at least in the publications I have read or watched, have been a little more forthright in their mistrust of mostly white America jumping to their inevitable conclusion of “guilty.” “It’s OJ all over again, and this time we lost.” This was a quote from a sports talk show host that was on ESPN a couple of weeks ago. This has stuck with me for quite some time. Are we still harboring feelings from the OJ case that was wrapped up over a decade ago? Just a side note, I remember the OJ case was so big that when the jury came back with the verdict, they announced it over the intercom at our high school. I’m not kidding. I was watching ESPN this morning and a guy who’s name and credentials I did not happen to catch said that the reason white American is so quick to cut down a young black athlete is because we, as whites, have a hard time stomaching a young black man being rich and successful. Here is where I don’t open a can of worms regarding racial double standards. I will ask this, only because I believe it is worth asking. Who exactly was the first group of people to lob the race bomb into the mix?

I don’t have any problems with young black kids signing multi-million dollar deals to play sports. If I did, I wouldn’t watch them. I think that any professional athlete who squanders their opportunity by hanging around people that don’t have their best interests in mind should have examined their situation a little closer. We all have this problem though, there are always those couple of kids we probably shouldn’t be friends with because of the choices they make. The only difference between you and Vick is that Vick has much more to lose. When you are blessed with the talent to play on a level where you are paid a king’s ransom it is a privilege, not a right. That thought allows many fans to feel justified in persecuting athletes in the court of public opinion.

Vick’s story is yet to be completely played out, and I will always ultimately believe that he is admitting to something less than what he is truly guilty of. That is my opinion and it is based on this. Any person that will tell you they are innocent and vehemently claim their innocence and proclaim they will have their day in court and the evidence will show that they are innocent and then turn around and plead guilty to the charges they once denied, are guilty. I’m sure when Vick and his attorneys sat in either their office or in a separate room in a courthouse and were presented with the evidence that the federal prosecutors had put together, Vick and his lawyers quickly changed their tune. A man innocent of these charges would not do something like this. He would want to fight to clear his name. To this point, Vick has done nothing to clear his name. He’s taking the easier way out and not fighting the good fight to hear the words “we the jury find the defendant not guilty.” He’d rather take his plea and run and turn state’s witness and give up more information on his cohorts. That’s why I think he’s guilty of all he was charged with. There was a dog-fighting ring on your property and you didn’t know about it? Please. Oh, well, I knew about it but I didn’t gamble on it at all. Get real. Well, I may have covered all the losses for people that bet on the dogs that fought and died, but I never killed the dogs myself. Hogwash. When you’re a nobody and you get charged with prison time, you’ll flip almost immediately, just like Vick’s friends did. They sold him out and said he killed those dogs with his bare hands, and I believe them. Not because I jump to conclusions, not because I’m jealous of Vick and his money and fame, and certainly not because I’m racist. It’s because when people are backed into corners they become the most honest of honest. It is forced attrition, and it is hard to deny or refute.

I believe in forgiveness. I believe in redemption. I believe in second chances. I believe in these ideals and principles but only if they are honest and heartfelt. If Vick is truly sorry for what he did, he deserves a second chance. If his intentions are contrived in any way, shape or form then those falsehoods will show through and Vick will likely wind up in more trouble. What he did or did not do on that compound to those dogs he will have to live with. If he chooses to live with no remorse, than the God he has claimed to turn his life over to today will have something to say when his time in this time is over.