More on Michael Vick

So now what happens to Mike Vick? And whom, since we are in America, do we blame for this?

The easy answer is that we blame Mike Vick himself because he is the one who financed this dog fighting; bought the land and the dogs; and
enjoyed the culture of this blood sport. Is it a societal thing? (Not
sure.) Is the NFL to blame in any way? (Nope.) Is Vick the only guy
in the league involved? (Are you kidding?)

We have in this country an entire generation of young people of all
different ethnicities who are being raised very differently than those
who have come before it. There is almost a generational sense of
entitlement that a lot of these kids have. They claim it is all about
respect but for the most part, respect has to be earned, not demanded.
These kids are exponentially disaffected and are most definitely in
crisis. You see them on the news every night and the media glorifies
them for being nihilistic and selfish. People like Britney Spears and
Lindsay Lohan have frittered away actual talent because they have no one for guidance and direction. It's all a life of "me me me" and the
quickest, most guilty pleasures possible to escape the mundane boredom
of living life day-to-day. The youth culture have no real understanding of right and wrong and seem to have no sense of remorse until they are busted; fired; or caught breaking the law.

Michael Vick is one of these kids. I'm not trying to push blame off of
him at all. I am just saying that this lifetime of ass-patting from
adults who see the gravy train out in front of these kids doesn't
exactly get them ready to become sensible and adjusted citizens. People with dollar signs in their eyes have been enabling Michael Vick from the time he picked up a football.

Teachers, coaches, and even team owners have been letting him skate by
in life because of his skills. Take for example a guy I went to college with, a man I will not name. That guy attended the first and last sessions of a philosophy class I had with him in it. Everyone joked about his never showing up, including the teacher. And no one was surprised when he passed and graduated. I'd see the guy every day at the gym and even worked out with him here and there and he never asked me what was going on in the philosophy class. Not even once--and he knew that I was in the class he was supposed to be attending. We mostly talked about sports and a little bit about other school activities; but never once about philosophy class. In fact, I never even knew he was the basketball team star until I recognized him at one of the games. (OK, he is really tall so I had an idea he may have been on the team but I didn't follow basketball, etc.) Then the guy makes the NBA and has a few great years. He signs a big-money contract and then year or so later it comes out that he has developed a drinking problem. And we are supposed to think he just woke up one day and became an alcoholic? This guy got a free pass through life because of his athletic talent and once he got to the NBA, he most likely had a free pass there too. Seriously, how many times do you think cops pulled him over for drinking but let him go because he offered them tickets to the next game or signed a couple of autographs for them?

Mike Vick might have had all of the freaky athletic ability in the world but none of that transferred into being a very good QB--no matter what Berman and the Gameday crew wanted the viewer to believe. He either couldn't get what his coaches were trying to teach him or he was too immature to listen to them; thinking he'd just do it on his own like he always had. And what did it matter? He had 100m in his pocket and the coaches (Reeves; Mora; and whomever the new dude is) would leave way before he would anyway. He had made the NFL on under-developed raw talent and he didn't need a bunch of disposable coaches telling him what he could and couldn't do. And don't think that "above the law" attitude doesn't seep into the daily life of these guys.

I mean, Vick was accused of some pretty heinous stuff and as much as we
want to believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty, Michael
Vick was all but locked away in the court of public opinion. One thing
disturbs me and it has nothing to do with dog fights: the guy could have croaked a person and it sure seems like he would have not faced the same kind of vitriol that he has. Pardon me, but that is just weird. I mean, Ray Lewis is accused of murdering someone in Atlanta a few years ago and now that he has been acquitted, he is on video game covers and commercials for the NFL Network. That dichotomy is just puzzling to me.

Saying that, Mike Vick is going to be facing 18- to 24-months in jail.
I doubt it will be one of those Robin Colcord Country Club-types of
prison either. And when he does get out, Vick is going to be about 30
years old and free to try and regain his career. He should have that
chance if he does his time. Which team will risk the PR hit to sign
him? We don't know that now because the landscape of the NFL changes so rapidly. One thing for sure. The team that does try and sign Vick
after his incarceration is going to be desperate and yet they are going
to have to be a team that is strong enough to weather the storm
throughout the organization. They also are going to have to have a lot
of good karma built up within their fan base because the team's
credibility (and that of the owner or GM who signs him) is going to take a massive hit.

In America, we love to build 'em up and take 'em down. Then we wait to
see if they can make it back up again. Because of that, I am almost
1004% sure that some team in the NFL is going to take a flyer on Vick
when he gets released. I just hope that the team taking the flyer is
not the New York Giants.