Should NFL let Vick play?Asset/Liability
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| Tue, 07-28-2009 - 9:39am |
Michael Vick paid his debt, but should NFL let him play?
Legally, there seems no question the disgraced quarterback's reinstatement is justified. Morally, many animal lovers will have misgivings.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-pucin-michael-vick28-2009jul28,0,9346.story
Reporting from Kanab, Utah — Your head says Michael Vick has served his time, has suffered some punishment for his horrific involvement in a dogfighting ring and that people who have committed more serious crimes are allowed to leave prison and go back to work.
Your heart, though, remembers a May day in a large and airy kennel here at Best Friends Animal Society, and Georgia, one of the unlucky members of Vick's Bad Newz Kennels, where she was taught to fight and then, because she was so good at that, had all her teeth pulled -- by a veterinarian. That way she could serve her time as a breeding bitch, whether she wanted to or not.
Your head says from a legal standpoint it is wrong to keep Vick from playing football this season for an NFL team if a team wants him. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Monday that Vick is immediately eligible to practice with an NFL team and can play in the final two exhibition games, with the idea that he may be fully eligible to play in the NFL by mid-October. Otherwise, your head says, what's the point of thinking our justice system works?
Your heart, though, remembers listening to John Garcia, Georgia's main trainer at Best Friends, talk about the worst parts of life for Georgia and her Bad Newz Kennel mates. About how some of the dogs were swung around by the neck and killed for not fighting or not fighting well enough. About how they were beaten and forcibly bred on something called the "rape stand."
Think about that.
Your head says, these are animals after all, not humans, and pro athletes and others in our society have killed humans -- by accident or with malice -- were imprisoned for their crime, served sentences and came back to society.
My heart, though, is at home with a dog named Dillon, who has cancer, who is undergoing experimental chemotherapy and whose spirit and happiness and daily anticipation of the good things in life put a lot of humans to shame, even as he suddenly loses a little hair around the ears.
That's what the sweet pit bull named Georgia teaches people who come to see her.
Georgia, with her toothless grin and her wiggly butt and her desire to kiss anyone and everyone, has become a goodwill ambassador. She puts on a bejeweled pink collar, is hooked on to her pink leash, and Garcia takes her around the country to show how even the fiercest fighting dog can be taught something else.
All Georgia wants is to please people. When her people wanted her to fight, she did. Now when her people want her to make kids giggle and to have adults marvel at her capacity to enjoy life, she does.
Outspoken Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens has the right to his opinion given to reporters in Buffalo over the weekend.
"I think the way the commissioner is handling it is unfair to Michael Vick," Owens said. "I think he's done the time for what he's done. I don't think it's really fair for him to be suspended four more games. It's almost like kicking a dead horse in the ground."
Did anyone else's stomach turn at that phrase?
At Best Friends, Garcia sat on the ground in Georgia's kennel and spoke eloquently about Vick's dogs.
"How they were treated," Garcia said, "humans shouldn't be capable of that."
Garcia said his head told him Vick should one day be able to have a job.
"But is it his right to make millions of dollars?" Garcia asked. "I guess it is."
While he spoke, Georgia had run to the far end of her kennel, under a shady tree. She shook her head as if to signal John and a visitor that they should come to the cool place. So we did and she settled down for some petting time.
Should Vick play in the NFL again?
This heart says no, which makes it much less forgiving than Georgia's. She most certainly would give Vick a second chance. She's given all of us humans one. In that way, I guess, she's better than many of us.



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Kudos to you.
No, it wasn't a storm. I'm guessing it was a wreck. It's been a very nice summer here. My area hasn't had a lot of rain until recently. Usually it's 90 plus degrees here this time of year. It's been hovering around 82 degrees. July was very cool for here. I'm sure August will make up for it.
LOL!
Welcome to In the News.
I have to agree with you about PETA - they are a little 'too' for me as well.
I am a member of the Best Friends Society and a member of the ASPCA, I have read the reports on these precious dogs and what that monster did to them, I hope that man has a hot place in h*ll, I am trying to get over it but I don't think I ever will. For me it has been days spend crying and praying for these dogs. They come back to humans hoping for some type of love instead of pain and anger. I have through the grace of God forgiven him but I will never forget, I am only a human and I have seen dogs and cats suffer at the hands of men and women like him. I have a sweet precious rescue that was so badly abused she still screams in terror sometimes, so do I think he deserves a second chance H*ll no! I will not allow any type of football or anything that is associated with that evil, vile man in my home or near me. As I read some words people have written "oh he served his time," God help me if it was left up to me he would have been there a lifetime. So my dear readers I don't need anyone chastising me for my feelings they want change, I just hold on to the fact that there is a God in heaven and I know his day Mr. Michael Vick is coming.....
" People hold dog fights all the time and in other countries they eat dogs so clearly we Americans need to focus on something else."
Excuse me, but Michael Vick has chosen to reside in America. Not where people hold dog fights all the time and eat them. If Mr Vick is unwilling or unable to conform to our culture perhaps he should seek out another country to live in. What other countries may or may not do does not relieve Mr Vick from responsibility for his actions.
Blessings,
Gypsy
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
Edited 8/4/2009 12:40 pm ET by gypsywolfwoman
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
I can't stop shaking my head after reading your posts. How in the world can you equate telling your child there's a Santa Claus to killing helpless animals? Forgive me for saying this, but you need to make a doctor's appointment real soon.
The guy's an idiot. Anyone who would throw away a $110 million contract for the chance of winning a paltry $25,000 on a dog fight has some serious emotional issues that no amount of football playing is going to cure. He may have grown up around dog or c*ck fighting, and for that reason alone I can understand why he may have felt it okay to dabble in it once he became an adult, and had the financial means to get into it big time. He made a terrible decision, and now must pay the price for doing so.
Nobody is immune from having to be held accountable for our actions when they break a societal law. The degree of that criminal act determines how society will look upon you and your misdeeds once you've paid the legal punishment. Often times your peers can be tougher on you than the authorities are.
Are you trying to tell me there really isn't a Santa Claus??
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