Vick Deserves To Play
“Eagle fans are in a state of shock. They are getting up and walking out of the stadium in disgust. They want nothing to do with [Michael Vick].”
That was the scene as ESPN radio’s Sal Paolantonio described it at last night’s Eagles’ preseason football game. Philadelphia Eagles fans are known as some of the most vicious in sports; they regularly boo their own players, they cheer when opponents get injured, and in the 1960’s they famously booed and hurled snowballs at Santa Claus. Assaulting a guy who gives presents to children they’re OK with, but Philly fans draw the line at Michael Vick. Of course, they’re allowed to make that choice. They’re merely fans, they don’t owe the Eagle organization a thing. But in my opinion, Michael Vick deserves a chance to play football.
We all know what Michael Vick did. It was bad/immoral/disgusting/abhorrent, depending on your personal level of vitriol. But let’s put this in perspective. Jason Kidd beat his wife. Mike Tyson raped a woman. Kobe Bryant did too, almost certainly. Lineman Leonard Little killed a pedestrian while driving drunk. Beloved linebacker and Under Armor pitchman Ray Lewis played a highly suspicious role in a double murder committed by his entourage. ALL of these athletes played again. And all of them were cheered. Heck, if you’re a sports fan chances are you’ve cheered for one of them, or someone just like them, at one point or another. But Michael Vick is going too far? Explain that to me.
Explain this, Philadelphia sports fans: in 2006 Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was arrested for beating his wife. Myers, an imposing 6′4″ and 240 pounds, was seen beating his wife on a street corner in Boston. As described by an eyewitness, “it was disgusting. He was dragging her by the hair and slapping her across the face. She was yelling, ‘I’m not going to let you do this to me anymore.’ ” After the incident, Myers took a few weeks off from baseball then quickly regained his position as a valued member of the Phillies pitching staff. In 2008, he played a major role in the team’s World Series championship. How is that OK? I guess Myers should be thanking his stars that he only beat up a woman and not a dog, or who knows what his future might have become.
For whatever reason, sports fans have been willing to look past abhorrent behavior time and time again when it’s committed against human beings. Maybe we’ve become numb to it. Maybe we’ve accepted that these things happen, and are willing to rescind our outrage after a week or two of heartfelt apologies. But with Michael Vick people are unwilling to forget. And that’s an absurdly misguided double standard. Vick pled guilty, served his time, and could not be more contrite. He’s made a point to say, in his own words, “look, I know I was a bad person, but I’m trying to get better.” That’s what we demand in this country, and now we should give him a chance to earn his life back.
We Americans love our dogs, and Vick’s crimes really touched a nerve. OK, fine. But I’m gonna go on record saying I love humans more than dogs. I love innocent, under-sized women more than a pet. I have more compassion for a woman who’s been raped than I do a golden retriever. And if we don’t have sufficient sympathy for her to stay angry at Kobe Bryant, then I have no idea how we can still be so upset with Michael Vick. He is bad, but Jason Kidd, Mike Tyson, Brett Myers — they’re all worse. And honestly, I have no idea why we don’t all see that. We’ve given second chances to far greater criminals in this country, and it’s about time we recognize that Michael Vick deserves his.
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Mr. Donovan,
If a substantial number of fans booed and walked out of a game that they paid real money for, admittedly a meaningless pre-season game, that is actually kind of impressive.
Having said that, Mr Vick has yet to score any points. If he can win a game or two, or even just make some big plays, all will be forgiven – or at least forgotten. As yet he has only kept the bench warm for a game that means nothing.
If Mr. Vick can give the Eagles the ground game they really need, the same fans will be cheering him. The only unforgivable sin will losing.
What David says is totally true. The only unforgivable sin in sports really is losing. Considering the gravity of the crimes we’re talking about, that’s pretty unfortunate.
Brian, I couldn’t agree more with your premise: Beating and raping women is no less morally heinous than what Vick did. Both demonstrate a kind of cruelty that I find difficult to understand.
Where I disagree is with your conclusion: that Michael Vick should be given another chance. Because I don’t think any of the athletes you cited should have been given a second chance.
Why should they be? Just to have a chance to do what they’re best at doing? That’s mighty big-hearted of us, especially when we’re talking about people who earn millions of dollars. But we don’t extend anything like that privilege to your average ex-con. That’s the true injustice.
If I were really good a making cabinets, but I raped someone, the next time I filled out a job application to make cabinets I would have to check the “yes” box when asked if I’d ever been convicted of a felony. And guess what? No job. No one would give a shit about my personal redemption, or whether it were the morally correct thing for a company to give me a second chance. We would all conclude, rightly, that private business owners have the prerogative to hire whom they choose.
The NFL is a corporation. The Eagles are a privately franchise. They have the same prerogatives as any other business owners and they don’t owe Vick anything. Just like MLB and the Phillies didn’t owe Myers anything. Ditto for the NBA and Jason Kidd. Let them all find redemption by pounding the fucking pavement for a minimum wage job like every other ex-con has to.
Barring that, they can always kick back and enjoy the millions they’ve usually already accrued by the time they’ve committed these crimes. Why we feel sorry for these millionaires who beat women and electrocute dogs is beyond me.
In response to another comment. See in context »I agree with those who walked out on this criminal. To point toward others who got off lighter for injuring their human counterparts does not really make any difference. Vick tortured and killed dogs relentlessly. The animals could not leave. And he made money off the tormenting and death blows. He is not anything more than a sadist. There is no place in sports, I hope, for a sociopathic sadist. My opinion, of course, but I can see why people walked out and I hope they continue to do so. Animals are at our mercy – we owe them respect and protection.
To Austin and Lann,
he was given a very stiff criminal sentence which he served dutifully. Why does not get a chance to earn our respect back? My point in bringing up other offenders is this: we have accepted rehabilitation in others. I think it’s unfair not to do so in Vick’s case. His crime is no worse – and in my opinion far LESS worse – than any of there’s. Do you disgaree?
Mr. Donovan,
Not to beat this issue to death, but what the other criminals you mentioned did was in the heat of the moment, while what Mr. Vick did was planned out and for profit. He did not get mad at his dog and kill it. He ran a criminal organization to generate money from the intentional death of many dogs. Our legal system is very much built upon the intent of the criminal (mens rea) as well as the criminal act itself (actus reus). The more severe the intent, the more severe the punishment. Malice aforethought is a key element to mens rea. Crimes of passion are, like those you cited, are generally punished less severely than the same act when it is was planned out in advance (this is the difference between first and second degree murder for example).
Mr. Vick has a right to get out of jail and to re-enter society. He even has the right to play professional football, if someone wants to hire him. Fans watch a game for enjoyment and if his presence in that takes that enjoyment away, then of course they should not watch. If he starts putting the ball in the end zone then that enjoyment may return.
You should re-read Ring Larner’s short story “The Champ”. It still says it all.
In response to another comment. See in context »Like I said, I agree with your assessment about Vick’s crimes being no worse than the others you cited. My basic beef is that this shot at a so-called “rehabilitation” (which, I would argue, is dubious at best) isn’t extended to anyone else in society. But we do extend it to pro athletes. And we shouldn’t.
The second chance we’re giving them has nothing to do with the goodness of our hearts. It has everything to do with winning games and our attachment to players who make the game exciting, on and off the field.
I came across this a few minutes ago from Dan Brown over at HuffPo. I think he says it pretty well:
“In what other profession besides pro sports would a person convicted of running a massive dogfighting ring for six years be welcomed back to their old employer almost immediately upon release from federal prison? Would a community rally around such a disgraced teacher? Or doctor? Or college student? Or soldier?
Absolutely not. It’s not like Vick made an understandable “mistake.” For six years, he systematically tortured animals and operated a criminal enterprise. Then he denied it until all of his collaborators blew the whistle on him.
This isn’t about America’s beneficent nature in granting second chances. Nobody cares if Vick’s dogfighting collaborators are getting “second chances.” (Nobody even knows who those guys are.) Vick is getting a second chance to live life as a citizen outside of jail. He served his time in prison. He’s out. That’s the second chance. It doesn’t impel NFL organizations to pay him millions of dollars to be a sports idol again.”
In response to another comment. See in context »Well, I think this is a slightly different point. Brown seems to be arguing that we treat athletes differently than we do anyone else. Sure, I agree with that. But I think most people would. And I think that’s more of a question of celebrities vs non-celebrities. Michael Jackson, Roman Polanski, Ted Kennedy – all non-athletes who carried on relatively unharmed despite embarrassing legal troubles.
I’m more interested in why this particular athlete has not been given the tabula rasa that’s offered every other athlete.
Perhaps it’s the fact that he was actually prosecuted?
In response to another comment. See in context »I disagree. There are many other more deserving, talented athletes who should be given this chance. Is this the best we can do in American sports? Cruelty and mistreatment of others, human beings, often begins with a depraved cruelty to animals. The level to which, in numbers and degree of cruelty and depravity, Vick’s case rose to (or sank to), shocks the normal conscience. I do not see why he should be given another chance. Imagine yourself doing what he did and ask yourself what it would involve as far as your conscience, degree of civility and humanity – taking helpless animals (over and over, day in and day out) caging them, beating them, depriving them of food and water so that they can entertain you as they attempt to fight for their lives. Should Caligula be here, would we want him on our football teams because he is just so talented? Vick pled guilty, most likely, to avoid a harsher sentence. The other cowards who were involved in this sick operation had turned on him to save their hides. Here is what I wonder about. Why is there anyone who wants to let him slide back into a tremendously rewarded career that calls for sportsmanship? He is not a sportsman.
In response to another comment. See in context »I too did not want to see Vick playing again until several months ago when someone else wrote a similar editorial at ESPN. I totally agree, we have become numb to all the bad things being done to other humans but were outraged it was being done to helpless animals. I now agree he deserves another chance, but only one, if he screws up again he should know he will be banned; as it should be for all these other pro’s who continue to get away with things because some team needs them.
I’m so tired of ESPN stealing ideas from my head before I have them!
In response to another comment. See in context »What Vick did was repellent, and watching him on ESPN this morning, I’m skeptical about whether he’s truly repentant. But if we believe what we like to say in this country about crime, punishment and rehabilitation, he should be allowed to suit up again for any team willing to take him on.
Although if he gets his, um, head knocked into the dirt, I personally won’t shed any tears.
We don’t know two things: is Vick truly sorry? and Can he still play? We may never know the answer to the first one, what’s truly in Vick’s heart and head, but we will know soon enough if he can play. It seems like everybody (and by everybody, I mean everybody at ESPN) is assuming that he’s going to return to form and be the Michael Vick we saw in 2006 the moment he steps onto the field. Hold on right there, bub. A few years ago, Jamal Lewis served a much, much shorter jail sentence and stunk to high heaven when he returned to the NFL. It took him a full season to get close to the player he had been before his incarceration and he never has returned to his 2003 form.
All of which augers poorly for Mike Vick. By normal human being standards, Vick is probably in great shape. But that’s hardly NFL shape. The game is so fast, so violent, that you can’t really replicate anywhere else. I doubt that he’s going to be great right away, if ever. And being merely adequate won’t cut it, not with all his baggage. Stellar play might quiet some dissatisfied fans, but if he is simply ordinary, the volume on his heinous felonies gets turned up to eleven.
And Brian, count me in the camp that believes in second chances, whether the ex-con involved is famous or not.
I totally agree, Jody. I don’t think Michael will have much impact as a player this season. As McNabb’s backup he probably won’t have much opportunity, and he’s got an entirely new and fairly different offense to learn. It’s funny that the entire sports universe is up in arms about a player who may not see a lot more snaps than I do this season.
In response to another comment. See in context »I’m not trying to be on the bad guy’s team, but I see a perfect chance for him to turn things around. Instead of trying to hide from what he did, and live it down, he can publicly admit it (again), then use his position to campaign against animal abuse. Talk to PETA or Humane Society, and be a good little convert.