The truth about Michael Vick
In the latest New York Times article by William Rhoden, Jesse Jackson has expressed his opinion on the Michael Vick saga. Apparently he wants to know why lesser qualified QBs are being signed by teams and allowed to go to training camp while Vick is not being picked up. He then goes on about how democracy guarantees an opportunity for Vick to play or at least have a shot at playing. Then he really ruins his credibility by comparing Michael Vick’s situation to Jackie Robinson trying to play in the MLB.
After I stopped being appalled at the article I was reading I began to think yes Michael Vick, unlike others, has actually served time for what he did and lost everything in the process. I also have no issue with him being reinstated in the NFL when you have far unsavory characters being allowed to play despite their transgressions like Leonard Little who killed someone driving drunk. That being said he’s already being given an opportunity to return to an NFL team by being reinstated. However, just because he’s reinstated does not mean an NFL team is obligated to try him out of they don’t want to. The truth is Michael Vick made a great weapon for an offense but was never much of a QB. Even before he was brought down by the dogfighting, Vick was not exactly lighting it up the Falcons lost a lot of winnable games and all Vick ever did was just run from side to side and Atlanta was on the verge of missing the playoffs again. Now Atlanta has moved on from the Michael Vick experiment and drafted a QB who appears to have a future with the franchise and they managed to get into the playoffs.
If Michael Vick is to return to a team its not as a QB but more of a weapon like a kickoff returner or a wildcat option, assuming being in prison for the past two years hasn’t already eroded his skills.
This also is not a race issue because Matt Jones, the troubled former Jaguars receiver who was busted for coke isn’t also getting any work either. Why? because no team wants him he has too many issues and doesn’t produce enough for a team to look at him much like Vick. If Vick could produce to the point where teams need him to win they’d sign him. The NFL is a bottom-line business if Vick was the best option they’d sign him but he’s been removed from the NFL in two years and honestly at this point he’s radioactive.
Most importantly this is NOTHING I repeat NOTHING like Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson lived in a different era where black men couldn’t play professional sports and if they did they were treated like complete lepers. Sure there’s still racism in our society but Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and had done nothing to garner the hatred directed at him. Michael Vick’s situation is self-inflicted he CHOSE to run an interstate dogfighting ring for years, he CHOSE to lie to Arthur Blank and Roger Goodell, the bottom line is what Vick is dealing with now is the consequences of the bad CHOICES he’s made.
I have no issue with Michael Vick playing in the NFL again but lets not make this a civil rights issue because it is not and its a complete insult to Jackie Robinson and others of that movement to even say it is.
This is a great article, more in the aspect of addressing the issue that Vick not being signed to a team is not about race, its about his bad decision-making in his life along with his deteriorating skills as a QB. He will be better off as a receiver, kick returner or punt returner but as a QB, its not going to happen. Some people write articles just to have something to say and feel important. What he said was very disrespectful to Jackie Robinson and what he dealt with during his era. If Vick gets signed, a team feels he can fit into what he wants to do.
FINALLY, a voice of reason! This could very well be a race issue, but Vick’s stats are so subpar that it’s not like a legitimate argument can’t be made for the other side.
And I get si tired of people acting like Vick DESERVES his job back. If I was in jail for that long, I doubt if my job would be waiting for me when I got out.
Well said. I was sickened by a comparison of Robinson to Vick. When you think of a role model in sports for kids, they are the 2 extremes.
Vick deserves a chance to make a living. That does not say he deserves to play football. It is a privledged spot in entertainment, and if the owners of the teams don’t want the PR nightmare and a player at the bottom of the moral scale, that is their decision to make.
I personally believe he should not have been reinstated, but also feel there are many playing that should not be. To that end, I will do my part in never watching/attending a game he plays in as I’m sure many more Americans will. Chances are that won’t be enough for some team sooner or later, but at least I’ll feel I did what’s right for me.
The only thing vick is sorry for is that he got caught. A true dog lover would never even dare to think of trying to harm a dog in any way now he has to go around to young children say how wrong it is how hypicritical can one be. I guess when your ordered to apolagize to be able to make a millions of dollars any one will say anything.Playing sports is a privilage it must be nice to be able to do a serious crime then serve a little time and get your job back and continue to make millions again. to bad thats not the real life for people with every day. Society is a shame in todays world some rolemodels we have for our children to look up too.
Well written and well said. Jesse Jackson is slowly losing relevance with each word that passes from him mouth.
Respectfully I disagree with you as regards both Vick’s reinstatement and his crimes being less serious than others. His repeated choice to involve himself directly with the rape, torture, and murder of multitudes of living, thinking, feeling beings is nothing short of monstrous, and while this certainly does not mean that killing someone by driving drunk is not horrific and horrifying, I honestly can’t see it in the same class as what Vick did. Where I agree with you however is that my horror and outrage has nothing to do with Vick’s race. Nor his gender. Nor his age. And frankly I think it was extremely specious of Reverend Jackson to even suggest that the reason he has not been immediately embraced by NFL team owners is merely because of skin color.
Yall niggas trippin’ he paid his debt, no one cares about you uppity negroes anyway. I wish yall were worried about the millions of people dying in the Congo for your diamonds, or pigs, chickens and cows on industrial farms slaughtered inhumanely. Damn I can’t stand yall hyprocrites
Roy its not about his crimes being less serious its about the fact that if you allow Leonard Little and his ilk to play in the NFL again why should Vick be excluded after doing his time for his crime? It would be hypocritical to deny him that opportunity.
I am looking for a professional sports handicapper and can’t make up my mind. There are so many services to choose from. I am kind of leaning towards this guy after finding his video on sports picks. He claims a 97% success rate which I find hard to believe, I would be happy with a 60% success rate. Anyway, it’s backed by a clickbank guarantee. I have bought products through clickbank before and I can trust them. I was just wondering what other people thought about these kinds of products?
What do you vick haters have to say now, and Mike Vick never killed the dogs this was just something that family members of his were doing on property owned and operated by him. Fighting dogs is as american as apple pie but do to society weakening the core of america and teaching us to think with our hearts and not with our heads.
Of course I like your web site, but you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome to tell you. On the other hand I’ll certainly come again again!