Embracing a burgundy and gold obsession of 40+ years.
My off-beat look at the trials, tribulations, and triumphs
inherent in the world of a lifelong Redskins fan.
Philthy
I must be mad. Out of touch. An anachronism. Hell – I’m certain of it.
I don’t believe Michael Vick was wrong. I don’t believe he was ‘misguided’. He wasn’t mislead by his ‘cultural upbringing’. Michael Vick wasn’t immature or confused. He didn’t use ‘bad judgment’, or make some ‘bad decisions’.
Michael Vick was evil.
Yep. The ‘E’ word. You know what evil is, right? Raping a woman? Evil. Bludgeoning someone weaker than you and taking something from them? Evil. Knowing something’s bad, bad, bad, and doing it anyway - lacking the compassion, caring, or hell, just the plain humanity to recognize it’s not something you should be engaging in? That my friends is called evil. At least where I come from.
If I have to hear one more ****ing time, we all *make mistakes*, that we all deserve a *second chance*, or that Michael Vick has *served his time*, I’m going to commit virtual acts of violence of my own. Flunking out of college is a mistake. A failed marriage is a mistake. Running a red light is a mistake.
Willfully, knowingly, hell, gleefully killing innocent animals isn’t a mistake.
It’s evil.
Roger Goodell let me down awhile back. Goodell, the self-described moral voice of the NFL, proved he doesn’t really have the cajones to do the right thing when it’s called for. He’s a paper tiger. When you commit evil, and serve the requisite and appropriate punishment for said evil, it’s true, you’ve ‘done your time’. But ‘doing your time’, and being given a free pass to return to your former life, no harm no foul, are two different things. Goodell believes that too. He’s simply shown he lacks the spine to act on his convictions.
Felons come out of prison every day. It sucks. They don’t get to return to their former lives. It’s ….like….unfair. All I’ve heard over the past weeks is how tough Michael Vick had it at Fort Leavenworth. I don’t doubt it. They call it ‘prison’ for good reason. But Vick committed not just crimes but really bad deeds. I’m not a pacifist. I’m not a PETA member. Hell, I only own the singular obligatory suburban cat and dog. I don’t assault oil tankers or whalers in a zodiac boat on the weekends. But I know ‘bad’ when I see it.
So when the Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick yesterday, I had a visceral response. Do I think Vick - felon, bad guy, murderer/torturer of innocent animals - should spend the rest of his life being punished for his sins? Probably not. Are there worse crimes than those Vick has been found guilty of (even among active NFL players)? Probably. And yet, I find his reinstatement and signing by the Eagles beyond despicable.
Why?
It’s not a lack of belief in the possibility of redemption. But redemption is earned, not given. Call me a sucker, but if a convicted serial killer suddenly renounced violence from the rooftops and professed his undying and sincere remorse for his crimes, I might well be inclined to believe it could be genuine. But I’d also recognize that revelation changes nothing. He’d still have committed horrible acts, acts that inflicted pain, suffering, anguish on other living creatures. That, in the neighborhood I was raised in, is unforgivable. You might even say it’s evil. Perhaps Michael Vick has changed. Perhaps he now realizes that choking dogs, electrocuting them, torturing them – heck, it’s wrong. I’m skeptical. How could one do those things without knowing they were evil and wrong?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
If there was ever any doubt that all NFL owners believe their fans are idiots, Lurie removed it today by asserting that his primary goal in hiring Michael Vick was to allow him the opportunity to save animals.
How stupid do these guys think we are?
Pretty damn stupid apparently.
I don’t wish Michael Vick dead. I don’t want him to rot in a prison for the rest of his life. I just don’t want him resurrected, rehabilitated, or reinvented as a misunderstood unfortunate.
If Vick’s past is unforgivable, so too has been the NFL’s effort to spin his redemption., fueling nothing short of a national sports media feeding frenzy. They suckle greedily, insatiably, and remorselessly at their NFL teat. Even the great Tony Dungy has gotten into the mix, pronouncing milk any blind man could see is spoiled, fit for human consumption. The Eagles and the NFL know Vick is a bad guy. They know he’s a poster-child for what each of us hopes his children DON’T grow up to be. And yet, they bring him happily into their fold and reward him with millions. The media, who would proclaim Stalin ‘misunderstood’ if there was a potential ‘feel good’ story in it, is just as unseemly.
Shame on you Roger Goodell, shame on Jeffrey Lurie and his front office, and shame on Philadelphia Eagles fans if they don’t boo Michael Vick right out of the stadium every chance they get..
Everyone deserves a chance at redemption. But not everyone deserves the most desirable and high profile job in America. That we can’t seem to recognize this anymore leaves me feeling dirty.
You might even say Philthy.
I don’t believe Michael Vick was wrong. I don’t believe he was ‘misguided’. He wasn’t mislead by his ‘cultural upbringing’. Michael Vick wasn’t immature or confused. He didn’t use ‘bad judgment’, or make some ‘bad decisions’.
Michael Vick was evil.
Yep. The ‘E’ word. You know what evil is, right? Raping a woman? Evil. Bludgeoning someone weaker than you and taking something from them? Evil. Knowing something’s bad, bad, bad, and doing it anyway - lacking the compassion, caring, or hell, just the plain humanity to recognize it’s not something you should be engaging in? That my friends is called evil. At least where I come from.
If I have to hear one more ****ing time, we all *make mistakes*, that we all deserve a *second chance*, or that Michael Vick has *served his time*, I’m going to commit virtual acts of violence of my own. Flunking out of college is a mistake. A failed marriage is a mistake. Running a red light is a mistake.
Willfully, knowingly, hell, gleefully killing innocent animals isn’t a mistake.
It’s evil.
Roger Goodell let me down awhile back. Goodell, the self-described moral voice of the NFL, proved he doesn’t really have the cajones to do the right thing when it’s called for. He’s a paper tiger. When you commit evil, and serve the requisite and appropriate punishment for said evil, it’s true, you’ve ‘done your time’. But ‘doing your time’, and being given a free pass to return to your former life, no harm no foul, are two different things. Goodell believes that too. He’s simply shown he lacks the spine to act on his convictions.
Felons come out of prison every day. It sucks. They don’t get to return to their former lives. It’s ….like….unfair. All I’ve heard over the past weeks is how tough Michael Vick had it at Fort Leavenworth. I don’t doubt it. They call it ‘prison’ for good reason. But Vick committed not just crimes but really bad deeds. I’m not a pacifist. I’m not a PETA member. Hell, I only own the singular obligatory suburban cat and dog. I don’t assault oil tankers or whalers in a zodiac boat on the weekends. But I know ‘bad’ when I see it.
So when the Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick yesterday, I had a visceral response. Do I think Vick - felon, bad guy, murderer/torturer of innocent animals - should spend the rest of his life being punished for his sins? Probably not. Are there worse crimes than those Vick has been found guilty of (even among active NFL players)? Probably. And yet, I find his reinstatement and signing by the Eagles beyond despicable.
Why?
It’s not a lack of belief in the possibility of redemption. But redemption is earned, not given. Call me a sucker, but if a convicted serial killer suddenly renounced violence from the rooftops and professed his undying and sincere remorse for his crimes, I might well be inclined to believe it could be genuine. But I’d also recognize that revelation changes nothing. He’d still have committed horrible acts, acts that inflicted pain, suffering, anguish on other living creatures. That, in the neighborhood I was raised in, is unforgivable. You might even say it’s evil. Perhaps Michael Vick has changed. Perhaps he now realizes that choking dogs, electrocuting them, torturing them – heck, it’s wrong. I’m skeptical. How could one do those things without knowing they were evil and wrong?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
If there was ever any doubt that all NFL owners believe their fans are idiots, Lurie removed it today by asserting that his primary goal in hiring Michael Vick was to allow him the opportunity to save animals.
How stupid do these guys think we are?
Pretty damn stupid apparently.
I don’t wish Michael Vick dead. I don’t want him to rot in a prison for the rest of his life. I just don’t want him resurrected, rehabilitated, or reinvented as a misunderstood unfortunate.
If Vick’s past is unforgivable, so too has been the NFL’s effort to spin his redemption., fueling nothing short of a national sports media feeding frenzy. They suckle greedily, insatiably, and remorselessly at their NFL teat. Even the great Tony Dungy has gotten into the mix, pronouncing milk any blind man could see is spoiled, fit for human consumption. The Eagles and the NFL know Vick is a bad guy. They know he’s a poster-child for what each of us hopes his children DON’T grow up to be. And yet, they bring him happily into their fold and reward him with millions. The media, who would proclaim Stalin ‘misunderstood’ if there was a potential ‘feel good’ story in it, is just as unseemly.
Shame on you Roger Goodell, shame on Jeffrey Lurie and his front office, and shame on Philadelphia Eagles fans if they don’t boo Michael Vick right out of the stadium every chance they get..
Everyone deserves a chance at redemption. But not everyone deserves the most desirable and high profile job in America. That we can’t seem to recognize this anymore leaves me feeling dirty.
You might even say Philthy.
Total Comments 14
Comments
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Inspired brother. Inspired.Posted 08-14-09 at 10:26 PM by Neophyte 
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Hey, I've already been banned from the official Eagle's messageboard just for posting a link to this.
I guess I can consider that either having hit too close to home, or as a badge of honor.Posted 08-14-09 at 10:29 PM by Boone 
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Hmmm...guess that explains all the "Guests" I saw reading it soon after the posting. Must have been a dozen or more.
Posted 08-14-09 at 11:51 PM by Neophyte
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I wonder how different the national media reaction would have been had Dan Snyder been the one to give him his second chance.Posted 08-15-09 at 04:36 AM by Chris
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I am all for Mike Vick trying to make up for what he did and getting a second chance but I am not for him getting 1 million dollars while doing it.
Posted 08-15-09 at 11:28 AM by MikeSr619
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How does he 'make up' for what he did Mike? And specifically, do we really think a few public service announcements and Humane Society fundraisers is going to right things or even make a difference?
I haven't heard Vick say he'd donate 90% of his future NFL paychecks to animal rescue services, have any of you?
Didn't think so.Posted 08-15-09 at 12:33 PM by Boone
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I hear ya, Boone. But in this area, my faith in the NFL disappeared a long time ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Little
If I wrote blogs about this sort of thing. I'd write about this guy every week.Quote:Manslaughter Conviction
After leaving a birthday party drunk in 1998, Little crashed into and killed Susan Gutweiler in St. Louis, MO. When tested, his blood alcohol level measured 0.19 percent, a level that exceeds the statutory level of intoxication of 0.08 in the state of Missouri. Little received 90 days in jail, four years probation and 1000 hours of community service.
Second arrest
Six years later, in 2004, Little was again arrested for drunk driving and speeding.[5] The probable cause statement filed by police said Little had bloodshot and watery eyes, smelled of alcohol and failed three sobriety tests. [6] Because of Little's 1999 guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter in his drunken-driving crash case, prosecutors charged him as a persistent offender. This made it a felony case.[6] Little was acquitted of driving while intoxicated, but was convicted only of the misdemeanor speeding charge.
I had NO doubt the league would let Vick play ASAP, and I had NO doubt a team would pick him up right away. This is nothing new. Sadly.Posted 08-15-09 at 02:11 PM by Henry
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I know I shouldn't be surprised. I'd have more respect for NFL leadership/owners if they just came clean and said 'morality and ethics is for society to judge - all we care about is winning and our bottom line'.
Because that's a fact - that's all they DO care about - and I'm not even sure about the winning piece, except that it leads to a better bottom line
Posted 08-15-09 at 07:13 PM by Boone
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Excellent work, Boone.
I think he should have been permanently banned from the NFL, but I guess I'm just of that class that views the torture and murder of any living creature to be unforgivably disgusting.
I know, I know. I'm a sissy.Posted 08-16-09 at 11:02 PM by Sassy Gretsch
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At a dinner party last night I was with a woman who was pretty pro-"give him another chance" and she invoked the "Hey..look what Teddy Kennedy did and how he is perceived...and that involved human life." (her words guys/gals) I'm throwing this into the mix for reaction....I think Henry's post sheds some light on the issue as well in terms of what should/could have been expected.....hope I don't get banned for stirring things up with this post. It's all very thought provoking for me.....I do not want to offend.
Posted 08-17-09 at 01:40 PM by JM
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Newbie, this ain't that kind of a place Funny you'd bring up Teddy Kennedy, as I think there are similarities in that they both had defining moments. They call them 'defining moments' because they illustrate who someone might be at that person's core. In the case of Kennedy, regardless of his decades of service (whether you agree with his politics or not), he committed an utterly despicable act that, like Vick's, no manner of 'rehabilitation', not even a lifetime's worth, could erase. What makes his history a little different is that he made his mistake in a sudden, traumatic moment of what must have been something close to panic. It was the worst decision possible, but under the circumstances, at least in terms of the human condition, can be understood. Vick willingly and knowingly and repeatedly over years committed horrible acts. Big difference in my book.
You haven't said a thing offensive - you're exactly the kind of person we built this board for. The last thing you need to worry about is being banned.Posted 08-17-09 at 07:52 PM by Boone
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btw Boone...I totally disagree on Kennedy...the drunken rectal orifice knew EXACTLY what he was doing the moment he got in the car with a young babe he wanted to make...the end result was part of a chain of decisions....not just a panicked out-of-cycle reflex. and, oh btw, many in worse circumstances sacrficed (as you know semper fi man!) for others.....
Posted 08-20-09 at 03:35 PM by fansince62
Updated 08-20-09 at 04:00 PM by fansince62 -
whose morality and whose ethics?Quote:Originally Posted by Boone
I know I shouldn't be surprised. I'd have more respect for NFL leadership/owners if they just came clean and said 'morality and ethics is for society to judge - all we care about is winning and our bottom line'.
Because that's a fact - that's all they DO care about - and I'm not even sure about the winning piece, except that it leads to a better bottom linePosted 08-20-09 at 03:37 PM by fansince62
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newbie....here's a hint: we live in an age where morality and ethics count for very little....multiculturalism and diversity count for everything. what matters most are intentions...not the moral properties of acts.
Posted 08-20-09 at 03:39 PM by fansince62
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