Michael Vick: End of a "Legacy"!

By Antonino Buccellato & Derek Lofland.

Everyone’s favorite Fantasy Dr. X and Street Credit have combined forces to write an article for the AFS website. While it is fun to think about fantasy football and predict which wide receiver will score the most points on any given week, sometimes people have to take a step back and realize that there are things far more important than those going on in the world around us. Here is our take on the much publicized Michael Vick guilty plea.

We’re sure you’re aware that Michael Vick has finally pleaded guilty. As two fans that enjoy the game of football on the field, and not in the courtroom, we are happy that he pleaded guilty so that this is the last article we have to write about this disgusting matter. After tonight, there are just two weeks of preseason games left before the regular season starts. It should be a very exciting NFL season. Due to Michael Vick’s lack of judgment and his inability to obey even the simplest laws, he will not be a part of this great season. Hopefully he will not be part of many more to come.

We hope the judge gives him the entire sentence and fine allowed under the sentencing guidelines. If financing the dog-fighting ring weren’t bad enough, he killed these dogs in the least humane way possible. There should be no room for such cruel actions in our “civilized”society nor should we be lenient with unscrupulous individuals performing cruel and cold-blooded acts. This was not a mistake. Premeditated murder is the correct term. Trying to hang a dog and if it fails, chasing it down and eventually drowning man’s best friend in cold blood, unmercifully ignoring its heartbreaking look on its innocent face, in a 5-gallon bucket of water to death, certainly seems like something out of a horror movie, not real life. Why should the judge show any leniency to a man that could not do the same for his victims?

For months all we have heard is that Michael Vick was looking forward to the opportunity to clear his good name. Make no mistake, he is not accepting responsibility for his actions to the current date. He miscalculated that his “friends” would take the blame for him. Once he was backed into a corner, he did the only thing he could do to limit his jail time and save whatever is left of his career. Had his friends not turned on him, he would still be out there trying to clear his “Good” name. That is not taking responsibility for ones actions.

Erik Kuselias brought up a very interesting point in his radio show today. He said that the new way that Vick supporters are spinning the guilty plea is that Michael Vick is a good person that made a mistake. His argument was that saying this is just a mistake is a bit absurd. A mistake, Erik claimed, is ordering sushi that is a day old, because it is half priced. A mistake, is thinking that your sister-in-law is your wife, and pinching her butt from behind at a party. Building a dog pen for dogs to fight in is not a mistake. Organizing your own dog fighting ring is not a mistake. Executing dogs for your own pleasure is not a mistake. This incident shows a character flaw and a series of decisions that are unexplainable. While he can say he is sorry, it doesn’t undo the damage he has done. We couldn’t have said it better.

What did these poor beings do to deserve this atrocious death? Who gives anyone the right to decide someone else’s fate (whether a human or animal life)? Vick supporters will point to the fact that our laws allow for slaughterhouses and hunting, which somehow makes Mr. Vick as the victim in this matter. It is amazing the extent that people will go to justify something, sacrificing their own credibility in the process. Apparently, these canine “Athletes” failed to perform up to standards on an illegal game and instead of being dropped to the FA pool (fantasy speaking) as a poor-play’s consequence, their “Owners” decided on torturing these one-time money makers and finally sentencing them to death. That folks, is not a mistake and Michael Vick is anything but a victim.

Michael Vick let a lot of people down. First, and foremost, he has let himself down. To think that someone who at 27 years of age has this much going for him, could throw it all away for something so vile is unthinkable. Millions of dollars in contracts and endorsements weren’t enough to persuade him from acting with any amount or respect or decency. He let millions of people down, from his family and friends, to the people that believed in him coming out of college, the city of Atlanta, and the NFL. How someone could repay a game that has given him so much, by attempting to put a black eye of this magnitude on the sport is unthinkable. He has gone from a man that gave a face-lift to the Falcons, the savior of a franchise, a role model to millions, and person that had a key to the City of Atlanta, to a felon that will be tarnished with these images for the rest of his life.

Our opinion in regard to his NFL career is that he should be suspended for life. As it stands right now, he has committed the following grievances.

1) He plead guilty to a federal felony.

2) He lied to the commissioner about committing that felony. While we understand that his pending case prevented him from being forthright with the commissioner, he wasn’t lying about something from years ago. The testimony of his co-defendants links him to the execution of dogs that very same month. Just another example of how remorseful he was. Being sorry and being sorry that you got caught are not the same thing.

3) Most importantly from the NFL’s perspective, this guilty plea would seem to indicate Michael Vick was involved in illegal gambling. While we don’t know what extent he was involved, the possibilities are endless. You can’t ask Michael Vick to truthfuly reveal the extent of said actions, as he has demonstrated zero credibility.

While the gambling was not on football, it puts Michael Vick in an unbelievably bad situation. The only thing professional athletics has to hang its hat on is the integrity of the results. Games must be decided on their merit. If they are not, you have pro wrestling. The mere fact that he was associating with illegal gambling is bad enough. By doing this, he was setting himself up to be blackmailed and a pawn of people in the illegal gambling community. The NFL is going to have to go back and review every game Vick played in to make sure this illegal gambling activity didn’t spill over onto the football field, in the form of point shaving. The mere fact that he was involved with illegal gambling should be a death sentence on his career.

Any fan of the Falcons or Vick that thinks this guys should be allowed to play football is burying their head in the sand. We find it depressing that a fan could be that concerned about their team that they would be wiling to sacrifice any integrity. While Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, it is the Only Thing,” Lombardi did not start a legal battle to keep Paul Hornung in the league in 1963 when he was suspended for the year due to gambling. Lombardi was about winning. However, Lombardi was also about winning with integrity and class. Two strong words in today’s world.

We understand the NFL is not the League of Saints. Vick is not the first person to run into problems with the law, and he certainly will not be the last. While sports has shown to be more forgiving that other parts of society, there are some athletes that have ended their careers due to their transgressions. Pete Rose received the death sentence from major league baseball for illegal gambling. Rae Carruth never got a second chance, and it wasn’t just because he was a bad NFL player. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Vick supporters will point to the fact that a human life was involved in Carruth’s case, not man’s best friend. Make no mistake about it, we are not equating the taking of a human life to a non-human life either. People that want to do that need to take a step back into reality as well. A dog is not the same as a human being. However, our society has rules about dog fighting, and he broke those rules. While our laws do not allow him to sit in jail for life, we hope the judge at least sentences him to the fullest extent possible.

What is funny is that last season at this time, everyone was talking about Terrell Owens. Before Michael Vick’s legal problems, PacMan Jones’ legal problems were the talk of this off-season. Congratulations Michael, this off-season you went ahead and took the spotlight from both of them. Impressive. For as much as people like to get on TO, Terrell’s world of controversy is funny at times and its consequences pale compared to Vick’s primitive acts. We would do anything to get back to talking about TO riding his bike at camp, accidentally overdosing on pills, and his 30 million reasons to live. Anything would be better than this story.

This is our perspective on the story. The happy ending to this story, as mentioned earlier, is that it is finally over. In a few weeks, another great NFL season will be upon us. Instead, we can all talk then about the part of football that we truly love, which is what happens on the field. What a blessing it is that Michael Vick won’t be a part of the 2007 season, both on the field and in the courtroom. He will get to follow the NFL like the rest of us. The only difference is that instead of being from a living room or our favorite bar, it will be from behind bars. Well done, Michael Vick. Well done! Or should we say…You’re DONE!

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