The Other Michael Vick Rant - It's About the Money, Stupid

[NashVegas]

Let me spell it out for you up front: our president's complicity in the salvage and bail out Michael Vick's public reputation is no different from his prior approval and/or participation in the bail out of Wall Street banks.

Michael Vick attempted to make money off the savagely cruel treatment of a reproduceable resource as surely as Lehman Brothers tried to use the human animal as a source to wring dry.

Just as America's elite invested in Wall St., the NFL - and Philadelphia - has an investment in Michael Vick and they want that money returned, with interest.

If Michael Vick were not a football player but instead, perhaps an accountant or a lawyer, he'd have a tough time getting hired at all, let alone for a public position. Something in the back room and away from the phones or social media, where no one can ask, "hey weren't you the guy who ..."

If he were a low-level wage worker, it wouldn't matter to most Americans; he might get "redeemed," but we'd never have to know about it. He would never be in a position to be someone a kid looks up to and says, "I wanna be like him when I grow up."

Over the next several years, I suspect we will see the NFL go through what the music industry has been going through. Between the "redemption" of a brutal animal killer, the steroids, the "our tax break ran out, let's move to whatever city will build us a free stadium," mentality, the NFL is killing itself.

Good riddance. This isn't football, this is Barnum Brothers.


Edited to add: We are entering the NFL playoff season and the Philadelphia Eagles have clinched their division. I think it's safe to say there's a greater purpose to the bail-out.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[flvegan]

2. His "redemption" in the eyes of the public is about money too.

His money, or rather potential to earn. He wants some of his endorsements back. His handlers and his PR team are simply doing "what great things Vick has done" so that someday the idiots at Nike or Wheaties or Go Daddy! will throw some big money at this shitwit.

He doesn't have any remorse for what those dogs went through at his hands and his behest, fueled by his millions. He's just pissed those millions are in jeopardy because of it.

Fuck Michael Vick, dog torturing bastard.

[NashVegas]

6. He Might Have Remorse, But It's Irrelevant To Me

He is not so remorseful that he abused his role as a public leader, obviously, or he could forgo pro-ball altogether.

[Foo Fighter]

43. He could take a page out of another NFL player's book.

Specifically, that of former MN Viking Robert Smith (who, BTW, did not break any laws AFAIK and has never been convicted of dogfighting).

I saw an interview (and I'm paraphrasing a bit here as it was a few years back) where Robert Smith said that when he toured the local hospitals, he saw that what they did there was so much more important than what he was doing. In the end, football is just a game but the people there were doing things that really, truly mattered.

He quit football after 8 seasons and at the peak of his career in order to pursue a career in medicine.

Foregoing a football career in order to do something better with your life is possible and can happen. Robert Smith is proof of that. Sadly, Michael Vick is not.

[Foo Fighter]

36. [phone].

The only thing Vick is sorry about is the money he lost.

And I bet he blames the dogs for that. Yeah, that's it. The dogs "wanted" to fight and Vick was just helping them fulfill their dream. It's all the dogs' fault.

If the dogs had money, I bet Vick would sue them to try to recoup all the money he lost.

"Fuck Michael Vick, dog torturing bastard." Thank you, flvegan. That sums it up in a nutshell.

[FreakinDJ]

3. I think Pres. Obama did a very noble and kind thing for Vick

He offered encouragement to a person who admitted his wrongs, paid his debt to society, and is working hard to turn his life around

Gawd - I know I'll get flamed for this

All I ask is - "May he who is without Sin Cast the First Stone"

[sendero]

4. I find the vitriol..

... and the outright assumption that a person cannot be redeemed and changed pretty sad and definitely not progressive.

I find it curious that people can claim to understand how growing up in poverty creates a person that does not understand his or her options in life, and then on the other hand not understand how someone can grow up in a toxic culture where things we consider abhorrent are not.

Oh well.

[FreakinDJ]

5. Not to mention all the people involved who turned "State's Evidence"

and never some much as did 1 day for those same crimes. I don't see 1 single person that is condemning Vick for life so much as utter a word about all those who went free.

What makes anyone believe those people are not out there Fighting Dogs still - where is the Outrage

[Critters2]

7. I'm not altogether convinced Vick isn't still fighting dogs, or won't be

the minute he's out of the spotlight.

[sendero]

9. I'm betting..

... you have about ZERO basis for that belief other than your own prejudice.

[Critters2]

10. That and his lack of empathy for living creatures. And his lack of remorse. nt

[FreakinDJ]

16. YEP - prejudice fits

[FreakinDJ]

15. Why that is so very Human of you

[Fumesucker]

11. I believe a person can indeed be redeemed and changed..

I do however find it difficult to believe in the redemption and change of Michael Vick.

If Vick had gone to work for say Waffle House as a cook at twelve dollars an hour and Obama had praised Waffle House for giving Vick a second chance to rejoin society then I would not feel the repugnance I do towards Obama's singling out Vick and his employer for praise. I've been around big money enough to see how it changes a great many people for the distinct worse and my feelings are that this is all about the big money that can roll in for an athletic star.

[FreakinDJ]

22. He had like 2000 hrs of Community Service

as in $0.00 per hr

[Critters2]

24. OMG! The poor dog torturing football star. He actually had to do something

for no pay?! Why, I believe I need my smelling salts!

[Fumesucker]

28. Average that out with the millions he makes as an athletic star..

And the per hour rate is still orders of magnitude above what the average Joe or Jane Sixpack makes.

Plenty of people in the land of the free do "crimes" that are far less horrendous and are punished far more severely.

[TBF]

42. Poor, poor, celebrity. nt

[Foo Fighter]

47. But isn't all Community Service done at $0.00 per hour?

If not, hell, the city, county, state, and feds owe me a TON of money. (OK, I'm kidding.)

Seriously though. I thought that Community Service was always unpaid. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[NashVegas]

13. Growing Up In Poverty

Doesn't automatically create brutal dog-killers any more than being sexually abused automatically creates pedophiles.

[flvegan]

17. Jesus.

Vick took his $3 million signing bonus (with which he also got I believe a $2 million/year contract) and started a dogfighting ring at his luxury property. I'm sure you'd be equally forgiving had he (God forbid) taken his money and opened a child sex trade travel business because having grown up in such a shitty culture he didn't see child prostitution as "abhorrent" since there was so much of it on the dirty streets he grew up on.

I'd like to see you sell that somewhere.

Oh, here's where you accuse me of comparing dog fighting to child prostitution, fyi.

[woo me with science]

37. +1000000 nt

[Foo Fighter]

45. Once again, flvegan, you are spot-on.

And I'll try my best to not make you spew water through your nose from now on. ;)

[flvegan]

46. Hey, now

thank you, but I love a good laugh. I need to not be taking a drink when I read a response of yours. Stay funny, I'll be mindful...deal?

[Foo Fighter]

50. It's a deal.

Like you, I love a good laugh. Hell, most of the time, I'd say it's necessary just to get through the day.

I get my sense of humor from my folks. My Dad had the most hilarious, twisted, anything-for-a-joke sense of humor I have ever come across and my Mom also had a wicked sense of humor.

Consider yourself forewarned.

Granted, I can't hold a candle to them but at least I try.

And you're more than welcome to make me spit water out of my nose anytime. Humor is welcome and, especially in today's society, much-needed.

:toast:

[MisterP]

49. we heard the same flatus about how "he's a Constitutional scholar" and "it would be Bushevik to

not forgive them" when the corrupt US Attorneys weren't fired last year

[NashVegas]

8. So If Bernie Madoff Admitted His Sins, You'd Have Had No Problem Investing With Him Again

If he'd lived, right?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NashVegas]

14. Not Even Remotely

Michael Vick was pardoned because he can make a lot of money for powerful people.

[sendero]

18. SO WHAT?

What does that have to do with ANYTHING? Does THAT MEAN that there is NO CHANCE that he regrets his actions?

And BTW, I'm not asking Vick to babysit my dog so the Madoff analogy is bullshit.

[TBF]

19. Vick has not, to date, admitted his wrongs.

He did serve his prison time and now he is back in the NFL. This has nothing to do with atonement, it only has to do with money and worship of celebrities.

[FreakinDJ]

20. What part of "Pleading Guilty" do you not understand

[Critters2]

23. The part where that basically guarantees a shorter prison term,

and still allows you to live as if you'd never done anything wrong when you get out.

[FreakinDJ]

25. after 2 years of State Prison

you certainly employ a very selective memory

[Critters2]

26. It was federal prison, and he didn't serve 2 full years.

You clearly don't know much about his case.

[TBF]

27. His lawyers did that - he has not once been shown on video speaking about

what he did to those dogs. He has shown zero remorse.

[dflprincess]

32. Pleading guilty isn't the same as remorse

and I have yet to hear anything that indicates Vick is sorry for anything other than getting caught.

[NashVegas]

21. Thanks for the Info

I think the simple fact there's so much PR going on right now is an indicator of how fearful the NFL sponsors are, with playoff season about to kick-in.

[TBF]

29. Sure - both Frank Battista and Michael Mountain of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

have talked about the lack of remorse in Vick. Here is an OP I did a few weeks ago regarding one of Michael's articles on the subject -

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/TBF/28

[NashVegas]

31. Painful, Relevant Questions

But the kind of questions that someone who is ready to own their shit would stand up to.

[roguevalley]

33. no matter what anyone on this site says, he has to be what the

public instinctively sees him to be: a rich assed piece of shit with the soul of a murderer. People can get it that sometimes you kill each other -fight, drunk, etc- but the willful evil, the calculated pleasure in the violence and suffering of the completely helpless, the innocent, the good, the inhuman self worship that you could do this and no one would find out, the absolute lack of empathy, that is outside the realm of forgiving for waaaay the hell more people than you can imagine, including me, he earned it, its a viceral reaction from the world and no one is to blame but him. its his own sorry dumbass fault. No PR firms and sad faces will remove the albatrose of his actions from around his own neck, where he put it himself with his soul numbing arrogance.

[truedelphi]

35. Yeah, me too, I have always hated that damn George Bush.

Oh wait a minute - you mean, Obama is moving forward regarding yet another criminal??

[Foo Fighter]

39. You must not have read roguevalley's post very well.

There was no mention of cocaine and/or going AWOL so obviously it wasn't about Bush.

However, the rest of your post is correct.

[truedelphi]

41. I blame the egg nog and

Brandy.

Without that stuff polluting my sytem, I'd have clearly seen it could not have been about Bush.

:banghead:

[Foo Fighter]

48. Cheers to you.

Carry on, my friend. ;)

[rucky]

52. Michael Vick's second public apology: you be the judge

I'm sorry. That's the place where I need to begin. My feeling of remorse. I ain't never written a blog before, so putting my thoughts down on paper is a challenge - however it's a challenge I must face. I can look a 250 pound linebacker in his eyes at the line of scrimmage and have no fear. But expressing myself when I know that there are millions of people who are so angry with me, and rightfully so, is a challenge unlike any other I have faced before.

What I did was horrendous. Awful. Inhumane. And I've no excuses for my actions. It makes my heart hurt now to think about what I've done. And I'm gonna be real honest, it took a while for me to get to this place.
Sitting in a prison cell didn't make me feel remorse. It was meeting so many animal lovers, speaking with them and looking them in their eyes. Staring at them. Looking so deep into their eyes that I began to feel their pain. Allowing that pain to enter into my body is when I started to understand how bad it really was. I have been trying hard to connect with people who feel this pain,because for my whole life I was disconnected from the suffering of animals. And you might say, "come on Mike, how could you do those things to those dogs?" And you're right...I
ask myself those questions every day. What kind of person does this? How does a human-being treat dogs or any animal with such pain and cruelty? And the hard part for me is the answer to these questions. Because the answer is ME. And I am trying so hard right now to become a better person, because who I was, I am ashamed of.

Cause see, my whole life has been numb. I was numb to the violence in my community...cause I saw it all the time, ever since I was a child. I mean, how does one grow up in a city that's nickname is Bad Newz? You can probably guess that from the jump, ya' know I've seen some bad things in my life. And football was the only way that I could escape. As a kid, I even used to go out fishing, and most of the times I wouldn't catch a darn thing, but just needed to get away from the chaos every once in a while. So, when the commissioner called my name as the #1 draft pick in the NFL - the first time a black quarterback had ever been chosen as the #1 pick, I thought my life was all good. But, what I didn't realize then, that I have begun to realize now, is that even though I had more money in my pocket, big cars and big houses, I was still numb. And when I say numb, I ain't talkin about not realizing the stuff that was going on around me, it was just like I was living life asleep. However, that is still no excuse for what I did. But let's not forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of young people growing in similar environments and seeing violence at a young age has severe consequences.

Now that I'm trying my best to wake up, I know I have a lot of work to do. And this isn't about trying to win a Super Bowl ring or a MVP trophy...this is about trying to save lives. I think back to when I use to play football and of course I use to see all those kids in the stands wearing #7 jerseys. And I would never want them to look up to the Michael Vick who did all of those terrible things to the dogs. I know where I need to do the most work is with all of the people around the world who continue to fight dogs. Let me be straight forward with y'all: What I did was wrong, and what you're doing is wrong. We must stop dog fighting, and I will do everything in my power to be a voice of someone who has finally woken up from the numbness, and knows just how bad it really is. My mission now is to be a source of service to save many animals. I am working very closely with The Humane Society and will be launching a new campaign shortly. If I had one hope in life, it would be that my actions will speak louder than my words. I know it will be hard to forgive me until you see my sincerity through my actions, but I promise you and I promise myself that that day will come.
Lastly, I accept this challenge, not of writing this blog, but of redeeming myself.

-Michael Vick

http://globalgrind.com/channel/news/content/912587/michael-vick-blogs-my-heart-hurtsto-think-of-what-ive-done/

[TBF]

53. He doesn't talk about what he did to the dogs and why it was wrong -

he talks about his upbringing in a bad neighborhood. Big deal. I grew up in an area of rural poverty - I saw animals abused - and moreso I saw children abused in unimaginable ways. That doesn't mean I grow up to abuse others.

The blog is from 2009 and he talks about an upcoming "campaign" with the humane society. All I see is PR to restore his "good name" - I don't see any evidence that he has really acknowledged what he did and is trying to make amends. He's out there playing football and wants his glory back.

Pfft.

[rucky]

55. His "campaign" was documented on BET

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/michael-vick-now-working-peninsula-boys-girls-clubs

http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-national/michael-vick-urges-kids-to-spread-the-word-about-evils-of-dog-fighting

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/michael-vick-project-real_n_432817.html

His sincerity and motives are still questionable, but time will tell as to whether or not he deserves the benefit of the doubt. I think it's important to give ex-convicts the benefit of the doubt - with caution - until they prove otherwise.

[TBF]

56. I guess we disagree on that - at least in some extreme cases.

I actually have no problem with Mr. Vick playing football again, it is his profession (although others would argue in some professions - such as law or medicine - you might lose your license for engaging in criminal behavior). But I do have a problem with him being held up as some paragon of virtue.

There are so many folks Mr. Obama could call and praise - folks who do non-profit work, volunteers, folks who join the military - so many. Yet he chooses this case.

[TBF]

57. I have looked through your links,

and this statement in the second article caught my attention: "He told the kids had he not been arrested, he still might have been involved with the Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting in Southeastern, Virginia, but states he wants to spread his message that animal cruelty is wrong, even if it's "common or cool in your neighborhood."

Had he not been arrested, he still might be involved with the Bad News Kennels.

And you see remorse?

I even question how that sentence is worded "involved with" - he wasn't just "involved with" the kennel - he owned the kennel. He was the person who electrocuted, hung, threw dogs on the ground until they stopped breathing. He killed at least 7 dogs himself.

"Involved"? He is trying to downplay his acts. Still.

Ugh.

[blueamy66]

54. "I ain't never....."

lovely....

And those in Fed pens don't sit in cells.

FU vick.

[ZombieHorde]

30. I wonder if President Obama will reach out to those who have helped Vick's victims? nt

[TBF]

38. Not until they kick ass on the football field. nt

[flvegan]

40. Or serve at the feet of the very wealthy.

[emilyg]

34. Rec.

[Withywindle]

44. Rec

Follow the money, people. This is all about PR and profits, and shame on Obama for playing into it.

[michaz]

51. Poverty doesn't have anything to do with this. There is something

seriously wrong with someone's head if they can look at their animal and do something like this! Point blank, the guy is seriously ill in the head! He needs more than prison, he needs a good counselor as do all of the idiots that do this kind of thing. How many of you could do this, no matter how you grew up? I am betting not many.