Today former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Micheal Vick was sentenced to 23 months or just under two years in prison on charges of financing a dogfighting ring and helping to kill pit bulls that did not fight aggressively. Now first off I would like to say that I think what Vick did was dispecable and completely disapprove of dogfighting.
With that said though I do believe that his sentence is a bit excessive. It seems that because of his celebrity some folks are determined to make and “example” out of him and “teach him a lesson”. Its my conention that had Vick not been a celebrity he sentence would not have been as great. Because he is an athlete this whole situation has been blown out of proportion. I just dont think the punishment fits the crime. I could see if Vick had been a trouble maker and had previously had several run-ins with the law but he hadnt. Until this point he did not even have a criminal record. Vick’s one mistake may have been his arrogance and not coming forward quickly enough and admitting his involvement. But i am not sure that the punishment for that arrogance should be two years of his life. Not when other celebrities commit multiple offensives that if you view them as a whole endanger the lives of lots of innocent people and yet they get sent to rehab or are sentenced to probation.
Micheal Vick did a lot of things wrong, he underestimated his position and associates loyalty and at the same time got caught in a political fight. There are other factors to this which are important but I wont discuss here. He has been publicly humilitated and financially ruined. Though he appears to be accepting of his sentence, if I were authorities I would watch him closely while in custody, when you consider the magnitude of all the things that have happened to him as a whole it is enough to really make someone a threat to themselves. I am not saying he is but I would keep a close eye on him for a while.
Yes it true that Vick failed terribly but we failed him too. The league and the Atlanta Falcons organization failed him. They both need to take a more active role in helping these young men get acclimated to going from poor little boys to rich young men overnight. You cant expect them to do this on their own. A two day rookie symposium is not enough. In my opinion, there needs to be contact and supervision for at least a players first 2 years in the league. If we continue to make instant millionaires out of these young men without giving them no real support or guidance we will continue to have players like Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, and Micheal Vick make bad decisions. For all of his athletic prowess on the field, when Micheal Vick came out of VT he was just like any other 21or 22 year old. People tend to lose site of the fact because they perform on the world stage that when they first come to the league they are just young men. They may perform superman like feats that awe and amaze us but underneath those pads is still just a young person that needs guidance. The league has got to do more for its young players and in regards to Vick the Falcons could and should have done more. I am sure they knew to a degree the kind of people he was involved with, and instead of risking upsetting the superstar quarterback they looked the other way. Because of his athletic ability the Falcons gave him a degree of freedom and autonomy that is unacceptable.
In the end Micheal Vick made a series of bad decisions, but I just want to highlight the fact that he was not alone in poor judgement and there are things that could have been done to prevent these terrible acts being committed to these dogs and the ruining of a young man’s life who could have done so much good. But its all spilled milk now, right?
