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Michael Vick's return to the game
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Michael Vick
Upsetting the Lord’s monopoly over Sundays and ushering in a new brand of cultural hero, football has replaced baseball as the national pastime. Much to my Willie Mays acolyte father’s chagrin, this game- which never ceases to give foreigners pause (“This is not ‘football’ they do not even use their feet!”), fans a reason to scream, wives headaches, children memories, and fat men heartburn- is America’s sport. Uniquely American in its expression, so too are the cultural perceptions of the game off the field. Currently under society’s collective microscope is Commissioner Roger Goodell’s reinstatement of disgraced Quarterback Michael Vick to the National Football League.
A large outcry has since erupted in opposition to Vick’s return to the field. There is little question as to why. August of 2007 the NFL star was convicted to a 23-month sentence on federal charges of running an interstate dog fighting ring-the details of which have caused even the most hardened of men to grimace. Commissioner Goodell’s exercise in forgiveness and faith in rehabilitation has not been mirrored by a vast swath of the American public. Judging by the level of outrage, to be a dog killer is the worst of all possible crimes.
As a dog owner and lover with the most embarrassing ability to recite “Lady and the Tramp” from memory, I find Michael Vick’s actions to be heinous and reprehensible. I do believe, however, in the power and nobility of forgiveness. Vick has served his time, demonstrated remorse, and undertaken steps toward rehabilitation, of both his image and his soul. He ought not be prevented a chance to make a living doing what he does best. His reinstatement and subsequent signage to the Philadelphia Eagles is thus not only beneficial to Vick (I can think of no better mentor than Tony Dungy), but also good for society’s understanding of justice. Once a criminal has served his time, it is not for the unruly mob to decide he can no longer make a living... A painter with a criminal record is allowed to keep his paints and paint brushes, a felon grocer is allowed to continue selling fruit, to restrict otherwise is to sentence these individuals to ruin and perhaps future acts of illegality. The criminal justice system is indeed imperfect, but it is the best method society currently possesses and Vick has served his time.
Michael Vick is an Eagle now and it will be up to the market whether he falls or flies (to take a metaphor obscenely overboard). If he plays well, listens to Coach Dungy (on matters beyond football), and people go to the games it seems likely this story will have a happy ending, if not, not. All the same, it is an interesting commentary on that which will raise the level of outrage in the United States to deafening levels. There have been many wife beaters, drug addicts, gang members, rapists, and murders recruited and/or reinstated to the NFL, seemingly none of those garnered the same level of public anger. Maybe this is an opportunity, not for a public lynching of dog killers, but for social introspection and redirection of such outrage toward worse demonstrations of evil against our fellow men: whether it be inner city murder rates, partial birth abortions, or the treatment of women under Sharia law, to name a few.
Nevertheless, to those still not sated, it seems certain that there will be some justice meted out on the football field against Vick by a few refrigerator-sized behemoths with a love for their own pooches, waiting for them back home. Nothing a few hard hits and concussions won’t solve.
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