If Michael Vick Can't Play in the NFL, How Can He Become a "Different Person"?

Disgraced football superstar Michael Vick completed his prison sentence under house arrest Monday at his home in Hampton, VA.

Vick, 29, who had been caged in a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas since December of 2007 for serving as the kingpin of an illegal dog fighting operation, was released by the Atlanta Falcons this past June. He is currently a free-agent suspended from playing in the NFL.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he will consider reinstating Vick provided he exhibits “genuine remorse” for brutally slaughtering and torturing canines for his own entertainment purposes.

The NFL’s head honcho labeled Vick’s actions, “Not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible.”

“He’s going to have to demonstrate to the larger community, not just to the NFL community and me, that he has remorse for what he did and he recognizes the mistakes that he made,” Goodell informed USA Today last month.

Vick, who received treatments for herpes under the alias “Ron Mexico” and still decided to bang women and share the disease anyway, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy protection in July 2008.

It has been reported that Vick, who lost both his NFL and product endorsement incomes because of the pooch scandal, has $20.5 million in liabilities and assets of only $16 million.

One of “Mexico’s” bankruptcy attorneys was quoted as saying that “Mr. Vick has every reason to believe that upon his release, he will be reinstated into the NFL, resume his career, and be able to earn a substantial living.”

Vick, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and the only quarterback in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards during the regular season, was raised in an utter war zone called Newport News, Virginia.

The first overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft for the Atlanta Falcons told Sporting News that same year, “Sports kept me off the streets. It kept me from getting into what was going on, the bad stuff. Lots of guys I knew have had bad problems.”

Andrew Young, a black member of the Falcon’s board of directors and an ordained minister, claims he was long worried about how much time Vick spent with his flunkies from the old neighborhood.

Young told Sports Illustrated that he offered Vick advice and guidance, but “everything (he) tried failed.”

The cleric labeled most of Vick’s friendships and bonds as “ghetto loyalty.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank told ESPN he would like to see Vick play in the NFL again and that, “Hopefully, after spending a couple of years in jail, he’ll come out a different person.”

Michael Vick was a spectacular athletic talent who committed horrific and sadistic crimes against animals.

In light of his wrongdoings, Michael Vick lost his freedom, his finances, and his livelihood.

The fallen hero has paid his debt to society, and he deserves a chance to correct his life and career.

If Vick isn’t afforded that opportunity, how can he be expected to become a “different person?”

http://www.newyorkyankeesnews.com/colin815/weblog/8104/if-michael-vick-cant-play-in-the.html

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