A Sad Day
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three other men were indicted by a federal grand jury today for a bunch of legal stuff involving interstate commerce. The charges boil down to them buying, training, fighting and killing pit bulls, while they were betting money on the fights.
I'm sure that Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons isn't too happy about this given that Vick has, I think, 6 years left on a 10 year, $130 million dollar contract.
But that isn't what I want to write about.
Vick and his fellow defendants are charged, and the lawyer in me has to emphasis the word charged, with drowning, electrocuting, shooting, beating, and maybe a few other things, pit bulls that either didn't test well at fighting, or lost a fight. I didn't read the entire indictment. What I did read did not have Vick pulling the trigger himself but he is charged with being involved with some of the killings.
Again, he isn't guilty yet; but, I have a gut feeling that he will be found guilty. What do I think? He was a young, dumb kid. He is currently a mid twenties, dumb millionare. He was never taught what is right. That doesn't excuse him. It just makes me a little less angry at him for what I think he has done. He probably didn't have much of a chance, then he didn't give the dogs a chance.
I wouldn't be writing this if he didn't have enormous talent that led to enormous money and public scrutiny over his stupidity. He would have done what he did without the talent, money and scrutiny; and, that leaves us with the ultimate tragedy. He apparently has little regard for life. A sad day.
10 comments:
You have Michael Vick in Atlanta; we have -- well, had -- Tank Johnson in Chicago. (Vick's brother got kicked off his college team, too, I seem to recall.)
How can these guys have so much talent and so little common sense? It seems the hangers-on get these guys into trouble and these "stars" never shed themselves of them.
Of course that doesn't explain Brian Urlacher (sentenced to parenting classes because he's in an ugly child support case with a woman who once claimed she was assaulted by the guy who did "Riverdance.")
Hey Curmudgeon, one of the guys on a local sports station said Vick could solve all his problems by, one, living above Arthur Blank's garage with a curfew; and, two, hanging out with people that have as much money as he does on the theory that they know how to avoid stupidity and if they engage in it, know how to minimize the damage.
From an AJC article, in April of this year, the indictment charges that Vick and other defendats "'executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well ... by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground.'"
I guess I should have read the whole thing before I posted. I don't want to stay with my typical "innocent until proven guilty" mindset. I will, but I'm not at all happy.
If Pacman Jones can get out of his troubles (which I have a sneaking suspicion that he will), Michael Vick will get out of his, too.
It's hard to conceive of that kind of cruelty. But athletic talent has nothing to do with gentility. I don't think it ever has. And the thought strikes me that he must have been severely abused or neglected growing up. Saying he didn't have a chance-- we all have a chance to care about life. We all make a choice at some point to follow a path.
Saying he "wasn't brought up right" makes him sound like an innocent bystander to his own life and shifts the blame for his behavior onto his parents.
He's a grown man who tortures animals for fun (allegedly). I find it hard to have a lot of sympathy for him.
If my child grew up and did things like that I would hang my head in shame. I am raising kids and thus my focus is always on the parental standpoint on my influence as leader.
Understanding the sources of a person's psychosis does not absolve him of responsibility, but it does enable us all to recognize, and prevent future horrors such as this.
(You really ought to learn to take criticism with more humility, T.)
Thomas and Anon, Vick's childhood, and I know little about it, does not excuse his apparently criminal adult behavior.
Doc, having read the entire indictment now, the Feds either have a witness that was there and has "turned" or a witness who is a very good liar. My bet is on the former. I'm not making any bets on Pacman sliding either.
I never said he had an excuse. There is no excuse for behavior like that. I was looking at the sources, because I ALWAYS like to understand WHY. Go figure!
I heard some of the reports on it but not as in-depth as your post. I guess I assumed that it was just that...dog fighting and wagering which is wrong I know but then to hear about the depths of the cruelty?
Of course, that IS where we got our child abuse laws, right? Animals had rights before children and women.
Personally, I do not feel sorry for him. How many times have we heard horror stories of killers who tormented animals in earlier years?
I think he SHOULD be kicked off the team minus the rest of the contract money.
Instead of counting his blessings he was off involved with the torture of animals. Just another not so great role model for the kids.
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