God bless Michael Vick and 2nd chances
Recently, I was having lunch alone at one of my favorite cafes in Paris, “cafe de flore.”
Unfortunately, my table was very close to another table where two couples, both american one from Alabama and the other Texan sat.
I was reading the IHT, and I guess a picture of Mike Vick was on the back sports page (he was recently released from jail) … and the table next to me got into a long (loud) discussion over whether Mike Vick should be banned from the NFL … all 4 of them were adamant: he should be banned from the NFL for life.
For those readers who do not know Mike Vick .. he is a black american football player who was convicted for running a dog fighting ring at one of his homes in Georgia. He went to prison and served a couple of years or so in prison. Consequently, he lost everything, his 100+ million dollar contract, several of his homes, and he filed for bankruptcy ….
He was convicted for “dog fighting” NOT murder.
Not to mention, the dogs which he fought were not Lassey or Tunner’s Hooch …
By now … my american neighbors understood I was also american, so I got brought into the conversation.
The first thing I said, when asked my opinion on all of this didnt make me any friends, but it opened the conversation up a little….
i told them what I thought: “if Mike Vick was white he would never have gone to jail for something like this, and he would still playing in the NFL…”
(they didnt like that comment at all)
What Vick did was horrific-ly stupid, and yes, illegal … but worthy of 24 months in jail??? HOW???!!!
Then I pointed out/reminded my 4 new friends about the NFL player who recently, while completely drunk at 7am in his Bentley killed a man drunk driving… yet this player is not in jail; will never go to jail and after a few game suspension will surely play NFL football again.
We all make mistakes …
some of us make bigger mistakes than others, but (IF) we learn from our mistakes, we can grow stronger; climb higher and become more successful than before.
I sincerely, feel sorry for Michael Vick … surely, the guy regrets his actions – he lost over 100 million dollars and he will never be paid close to this again.
But he deserves another chance … just like many of us who f’up once or twice in our lives, but were given 2nd chances….so does Michael Vick.
ato
Hm, well the NFL has suspeded Donte Stallworth, the player you mentioned in the drunk-driving incident, indefinitely. And he did serve 24 of a 30-day sentence as part of a plea-bargain, not to mention a cash settlement with the victim’s family.
And while that is lenient, as he’s also black I think your assumption that racism was behind Vick’s predicament is just that — an assumption.
Though the victims may have only been a few slaughtered mongrels, cruelty to animals is one of those crimes (like paedophilia) that is popularly considered among the most incomprehensible and deviant a person could commit. Therefore an NFL franchise would have to consider the poor PR resulting from putting someone convicted of those sorts of crimes on their roster. It’s a business, after all.
There’s an argument for giving him another chance, and I suspect someone will. But I think there’s an equally valid reason for not, if you’re an NFL team owner. Your cafe-mates weren’t dolts for disagreeing with you here.
csr
ato — great points. maybe I am too cynical on this one.
But i bet lunch we see Stallworth playing in the NFL again before Vick.