I didn’t want to have to think that. I didn’t want to even entertain the idea that there is a new movement in America to uber-vilify another athlete who wasn’t convicted on the “correct” crime, so we have to get him any way we can. Now of course you can tell by the title that I’m drawing comparisons between O.J. Simpson, who is now serving time for doing his best impersonation of a stick up kid (actually serving excessive time, even for armed robbery), and Michael Vick, who served time for gambling across state lines … which just happened to involve dogfighting.
Anyone who has done even 1 minute of research knows that dogfighting usually doesn’t get you years in prison. Being a celebrity athlete that has a “thug” image, doesn’t seem to fit the image of what most of the “fans” think his position should be, and is otherwise full of himself does get you excessive punishment for anything wrong you do. Now throw in a little green-eyed monster named jealousy (over the fact that said athlete was worth more than most of those “fans” combined) and you have a haterade party that nobody’s leaving till 6 in the morning. Snoop Dogg!
But I digress, let me make my point and make it clear. For those of you reading this, please realize it’s mostly my opinion about what’s currently happening to Michael Vick. After the shooting that just happened at his birthday party, every person who wanted him locked up and the key thrown away is back and shouting loudly. They ignore the fact that it probably had nothing to do with him since he had already left the place before the shooting happened. He didn’t have any idea that his former partner in dogfighting would be at the party. Matter of fact, that gentleman wasn’t invited and just crashed the party. So some words were exchanged, he was asked to leave, he didn’t, some cake flew and Vick left. Now, are we to say what happened after Vick left was his responsibility? I don’t think so. With so much pressure from bias media types, idiotic PETA nuts (oh I’m sorry, PETA activists) who love their dogs more than they love their own human families, and police/political figures who want to make a name for themselves, the Virginia Beach police are now weaving a web to try and connect Vick to the shooting, no matter what it takes. Speaking of biased media types, check out this article from PFT. The part that grinds my gears is this:
Bernstein also confirmed that surveillance video shows Vick leaving the club only minutes before the shooting, contrary to accounts from men like Falcons receiver Roddy White and, reportedly, Vick himself.
And this regarding Vick’s lawyer:
By hinging his client’s credibility and his own credibility to an objective fact on which they’ve been proven wrong, reasonable people will be more likely to conclude that perhaps Vick had something to do with the shooting.
Who the hell is Florio to make assumptions of guilt or innocence? The fact is that no matter how early or late Vick left the club prior to the shooting, HE LEFT THE CLUB PRIOR TO THE SHOOTING! It’s no secret that Florio has a bias against Vick. But since he calls himself a “journalist” now and is being paid by NBC to be a “journalist,” he has to put aside his personal bias and report facts — and let it be known when he’s just spewing from the other side of his mouth.
I’m sure most of the anti-Vick bandwagon is looking for absolutely any excuse to have him back behind bars and not making money on the football field, or anywhere else for that matter. I can tell you that the local sports talk radio here in Philly is buzzing with hosts who clearly have a bias that was shown from the moment he arrived in Philly, trying to lead anyone to see their side as the right side. All you hear is that he shouldn’t have been at a birthday party in his hometown. Why not? Is he supposed to live in a cocoon right now? Yes, he should be, if you are to believe some of these people. He should do nothing but train and play football and keep his mouth shut. He shouldn’t live a normal life because he lost that right when he went to jail. God forbid he does anything that normal folks do … like attend a birthday celebration thrown for him. I don’t know if those people realize it, but if you throw a party anywhere, someone who wasn’t invited will show up. It’s like Rush Limbaugh to an anti-Obama rally, or Rush Limbaugh to a free prescription drug give-away; they’ll be there.
Much like the people who were looking for any reason to put O.J. Simpson away after he was acquitted of murder charges, they want Vick gone. I’m not here saying whether O.J. was guilty or innocent of murder since the jury said he wasn’t. He too couldn’t live any semblance of a normal life. I understand the outrage towards him since he was suspected of killing two human beings and he introduced the world to Kato Kaelin. He should have been put away just for that part. When he was stupid enough to get himself set up and caught in an armed robbery, he was put away for an excessive amount of time. Some feel that justice has finally been served now that O.J. is in jail. They aren’t concerned that it was for him being stupid and committing armed robbery, they feel vindicated for the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman. Now Michael Vick is walking that same path. If he’s not walking around outside of the football field wearing an old burlap sack for clothing and paper bags on his feet for shoes, then he’s not showing enough remorse for the dogfighting. If he cracks a semblance of a smile, then he has not truly done enough time in jail to teach him a lesson. God forbid he try to provide for his family the only way he’s trained to do his entire life, because that may bring him millions of dollars.
If dogfighting carried as much of a punishment as illegal gambling rings, don’t people think he would have been prosecuted and jailed for that instead of or in addition to the gambling ring? Dogs are precious to many people, and they are “man’s best friend,” but they are still animals. The PETA folks who tend to take everything too far in the name of getting attention for themselves (not their causes mind you, themselves) want to see him rot and suffer. Now they may, as a web is weaved to somehow, some way connect Vick to the shooting. Forget that it didn’t kill anyone, and that the shooting victim was as responsible for being shot in this case as the person who pulled the trigger. Yeah, I said it; he shouldn’t have been there, he wasn’t invited and was there looking for trouble. Michael Vick, you are today’s O.J. Simpson. Everything you do that may bring you joy will make some people vomit, and they wish nothing but bad on you and your family. It’s a sad way to live I’m sure, but you will be living it for some time to come. So grab your burlap sack, save those paper bags from your grocery shopping and start kissing a whole lot of idiotic, self-righteous asses because that’s the only way you’ll have peace. Oh, and don’t celebrate anyone’s birthday, or Christmas, or Hanukkah, or even Kwanzaa. Don’t do anything where you might be caught smiling or enjoying yourself. You’re in a no-win situation.
For the record, for all the people who like to make assumptions, I’m not a Mike Vick fan, nor am I anti-Vick. I’m just not going to rush to judge someone when I don’t know all the facts of a situation they are involved in. Especially when it’s clear that someone of the people who would have you believe they are presenting facts have shown already that they have an agenda against someone or something.