NFL 2011: Is Michael Vick Misunderstood or Does He Not Understand?

The comeback of the decade has yet to take another hit. The ongoing, "Michael Vick Project-Experiment" has hit a snag in the midst of its meteoric climb. It is now well known that Michael Vick spent 18 months, or 544 days, a number that Vick spits out off the top of his head, in prison for running a dog-fighting business and killing dogs that were no longer in good fighting condition.

After serving his sentence, he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as their third string quarterback behind aging all-pro quarterback Donovan McNabb and projected future starter Kevin Kolb. McNabb was soon traded to the Redskins, and Kolb suffered an injury that allowed the path for the experiment to come to fruition. It did last year with great success, culminating with the Eagles winning the division and sending them to the playoffs. The season was highlighted by a furious comeback game against the Giants on Monday Night Football.

Vick has had a team of PR professionals that have paved the way for his social rehabilitation and financial return to glory. He has since gained endorsements, the biggest coming from Nike, who never actually lost contact with him even while in prison. He has worked furiously with the Humane Society, PETA and even appeared on Capitol Hill in support of a dog-fighting bill.

But now, the swagger of what was Michael Vick before the imprisonment seems to be back. He has learned to use more of his talents now that he is in a system that exploits all of them. His latest hit comes from an interview with GQ magazine about his current status in the league, his comeback as a whole and how Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, played a role in his coming to the Eagles. 

In his interview, Vick comments on dogfighting and its role in impoverished urban areas, "Yeah, you got the family dog and the white picket fence, and you just think that's all there is. Some of us had to grow up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods, and we just had to adapt to our environment. I know that it's wrong. But people act like it's some crazy thing they never heard of. They don't know."

He was also asked if white people just don't understand some aspects of the black community and said "I'd say that's accurate."

As you can imagine, the media and dog lovers (or Vick haters) have come out in droves and spoken against his comments saying they are insensitive and they show that he has not truly rehabilitated. But is that true or is he misunderstood? In fact, isn't it true that dog fighting, just like drive-by shootings, are a part of these neighborhoods? They aren't the part of the community that people like to highlight, but it is prevalent. 

There are many successful African Americans who have been raised in the same type of communities and never done things as heinous as Vick did. This too is very true. The hope is that everyone who is first educated by the norms of the community, whether it be drug dealing, gang fighting, pimping women, car-jacking or dog fighting, learn that these are negative aspects of the community and are not to be glorified. The reality is many of them are never taught that, and by the time they are adults, it is ingrained in their brain as simply a way of life.

Vick had the unique experience of getting out of the neighborhood by going to college and learning about other ways of life and new norms of wrong and right. He is one of the few that get that opportunity but chose to not actually leave that setting, but bring that home culture with him. So he actually never learned the difference. He simply found a way to maximize that way of life.

This fact by no means excuses him for his actions. It just seems that people who have learned the difference between which norms of society are good or bad at an early age and learned to live by them have a hard time seeing the world from the Vick experiment's point of view. The part of his answer that also bothers people is where he called his dogs his companions. Again, this is a misunderstood point. I equate it to the value system of a pimp or gang leader. The women the pimp puts on the street are objects of earning money. The women in his life, like his mother or daughter, are people he cherishes. Therefore, he is unlearned in treating all women like he does his mother or daughter.

The same goes for a gang leader. His fellow gang members, or street soldiers, are merely workers or tools of survival. His own son or father are people he cherishes, and again, he is unlearned in being able to differentiate. Vick had the same outlook on dogs. He had his house dogs who his family loved and he wouldn't harm in any way. Then there were the pit-bulls that were trained soldiers, a means to an end.

This fact by no means validates his actions, but hopefully sheds some light on how he may view things. I equate Vick's learning process to a young teenager. He is just now beginning to realize the damage it caused. My advice is that if all those PR people want to really help Vick, stop him from commenting on this subject for now and educate him more in the value system of people outside of the poverty stricken urban areas. Then maybe he can begin to look at the world from someone else's eyes.