What's Up With That? Volume Three

I’m a dog person. Don’t get me wrong, I love cats as well, but a cat simply isn’t as lovable (unless it’s a kitten) as a dog can be. Cats are standoffish at times, a little finicky, and treat humans in general like we’re their pets.

Dogs, on the other hand, love people with an unconditional love. They are eager balls of energy most of the time just waiting to be scratched behind the ears or to have their bellies rubbed, and will play fetch 'till they’re "dog" tired.

The last dog I owned, though, was when I was a child. His name was Buster, like the name of the dog in the photo adorning this article. In fact, he looked a great deal like that dog in the photo from what I remember.

He was my best friend at all times, and while he was actually our family dog and not just mine, I was the one who always fed and walked him, and considered him my own.

Buster died when he escaped our yard one day and was struck by a car. That was a pretty sad time for me, and although my mother wanted to get me and my two brothers another dog, I really didn’t want one, and we never did get another. I think I just felt I couldn’t take losing another dog the way I’d lost Buster.

However, as I said, I’m a dog person, and I’ve loved many a dog since, usually dogs of friends of mine. My former boss, Robert Cutrona, owned a pedigreed German Shepherd named Phoenix, and I definitely loved that dog. He was playful and rambunctious, and while he would bark ferociously at people he didn’t know, he would never attack anyone.

A running joke with Phoenix, or "Feener" as he was known in the office (Rob brought him to the Court Reporting agency where I worked constantly), was that he hated Jeff, one of my co-workers. Jeff was the only person in the office Phoenix would bark at, and we would always joke that "Feener" instinctively knew something about Jeff no one else did.

A little over a year ago, Phoenix met the same fate as my old family dog, Buster. Escaping Rob’s yard at home, he was found later miles away, having been hit by a car. Needless to say, that was a very, very sad day at our office. Rob has since bought another German Shepherd, but I don’t know that dog as well.

Regardless, all of those dogs were loved, as all dogs should be, and while their ends were tragic, they were rather common for dogs. For dogs, unfortunately, sometimes get hit by cars and die. It’s sad, but there’s nothing really horrifying and sickening about it. At least not like the ends many dogs owned by Michael Vick met.

I just read an article by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports titled: “Goodell Displays Good Judgment with Vick Ruling" in which he says Goodell’s decision to allow Vick to continue playing in the NFL, with only a slap on the wrist suspension of two games, made Goodell a “reasonable jurist.”

I’m sorry, I am completely flabbergasted by this. Reasonable jurist? This was a sickening and despicable ruling, and shows once again that in many cases, sports is ruled by money, and money alone.

The reason this ruling was made was not to be reasonable. Goodell didn’t rule the way he did because he felt it was just. He ruled Vick only had to sit two games because he saw money being wasted for every game Vick sat.

While most in the sports media have jumped on the bandwagon of the NFL’s official policy toward Vick and have tried to pretend there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with Vick coming back at all, I believe wholeheartedly I’m in the majority when I say Vick should never have been able to suit up for an NFL team again.

Wetzel goes on in his column to say “Anything more would have been piling on. Vick had already spent nearly two years in federal custody, lost a bulk of his $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons, and all his endorsements.”

Is that all? Vick should be counting his lucky stars that’s all he lost. If I’d been the one deciding his fate, he might have lost his life; period. He certainly wouldn’t have seen or tasted freedom within two years.

I’ve heard some echo Wetzel’s sentiments where he claims Vick “paid his debt to society”, including some writers here on B/R, claim that it would be completely wrong to bar Vick for life from the NFL. In fact, I’ve had some people I’ve talked to say that it would even be illegal (these folks obviously have NEVER studied law).

One writer here on B/R, in defense of Vick, asked a question something along the lines of “what job could they bar you from for life for something you’ve done that has nothing to do with that job?” He was actually asking it seriously.

My response to him was, I don’t know what planet he’s been living on, but there are literally tons of jobs and professions on THIS planet you can be barred for life from ever working at if you’re a felon; and that includes if your felony was a minor one.

Vick’s felony wasn’t minor, and was in fact heinous. I am not alone, far from it, in believing Vick’s crimes were on par with those of a child rapist.

To me there is no question Vick should never even have been considered for a position in professional sports again in his life. However, I don’t have the power to make that decision. Those who do have let his talent, and the obvious millions they can make by exploiting it, cloud their judgment, and have allowed him to return.

With his return, we get stuff like this from B/R writer Josh McMullen in his piece “Leave Michael Vick Alone! Vick Can’t Run From the Protesters” where he states:

“It really isn’t fair to drag anyone’s name through the mud for one crime, no matter how low or depraved…I’m fed up with hearing about another protest trying to shove Vick back in jail.”

I can only believe that Josh, and many like him, who have welcomed Vick back with open arms (they even gave him a standing ovation in Philly when he came onto the field) have either never really heard about the details of his crimes, don’t give a rat’s ass about animals to begin with, or simply have a short memory.

Michael Vick did things to those dogs that are unspeakable. He committed cruelties that reveal a character that is sickeningly depraved and evil. He can spout words of remorse till he’s blue in the face. He can donate millions to animal shelters. None of that will ever erase the facts of his crimes, or convince me he doesn't harbor that depravity and evil somewhere.

Those who ignore those facts in order to utilize his obvious talents (and yes, he’s supremely talented) so their team can win a “game”, are nearly as sickening as he is.

I know I’ll catch flak for this piece. And I know it’s diametrically opposed to my earlier piece calling for sports fans to abandon and ignore negative articles in sports at this awesome time of the year. However, Goodell’s decision to make Vick’s suspension just two games, while making Dan Wetzel proud, makes me absolutely sick, and compelled me to write this.

So, I say to Dan Wetzel and Roger Goodell, What’s Up With That?