Bad sports, good sports: The dilemma Michael Vick presents to an Eagles fan
I don’t imagine that there are too many people out there who have not heard that the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick this week. I am not sure I have ever been as surprised by a piece of sports news as I was by this. The dilemma that has been presented to me is not one with which I know how to deal.
I have been an Eagles fan for my entire life. I am a fan of many sports, but football is definitely first. In addition, I am very much a dog lover. We have three dogs, and I would get another if I could convince my wife that four was not too many. When the details of Vick’s crimes against dogs were revealed, I was absolutely horrified. Truth be told, I hoped he would never be back in the league. When he was recently conditionally reinstated by Roger Goodell, I hoped that all thirty-two teams would pass on him. After all, what team would want to deal with the circus that would be sure to surround the team, creating as big a distraction as you could imagine, right on the eve of the NFL season? Beyond that, Vick was never even a good quarterback, in my estimation. Great athlete, poor quarterback. How hard would it be to just say no and move on? Never, for even one second, did it occur to me that the Eagles would be the team to sign him.
The past few days since the announcement have been very difficult. I feel like someone died. I know that may seem ludicrous, but I am so invested in the Eagles and everything they do, I simply do not know how to deal with this. Never in my life have I even come close to questioning my loyalty to the team. Never have I had to even consider how I could possibly root for a player on the team. When it became clear, during the 2005 season, that Terrell Owens was the team-killer we thought he was before coming to Philadelphia, I wanted no part of him. The Eagles conveniently sent him home for the remainder of the season, though, so I never had to deal with rooting against an Eagle on the field. There have been other players I did not like, sure. Plenty of bad guys have played for my teams. Never has there been one, though, who caused this kind of visceral reaction in me.
Michael Vick didn’t just train dogs to fight. He killed dogs. Drowned them. Electrocuted them. Hung them from trees. Bashed them against the ground until they died. And this didn’t happen once. It happened continually, over a period of years. If I hear one more time that he “made a mistake,” I am going to scream. That’s not a mistake. It’s evil.
The other term I keep hearing is “second chance.” I’m sorry, was Michael Vick a good guy before this stuff came out? I seem to remember a bunch of transgressions on his part, including drug issues as well as the whole Ron Mexico fiasco. Second chance? Tack a few more chances on to that. However, none of those things comes close to comparing to what he has done here. People keep bringing up Donte Stallworth when talking about Vick, stating that what he did was far worse than what Vick did, as a human being died as the result of his actions. What Stallworth did was horrible, absolutely. He deserves whatever punishment he gets. The difference for me is intent. Stallworth, while guilty of abysmal judgment, did not intend to kill anyone. Vick fully intended to do everything he did. Imagine the person who is capable of doing the things I described in the last paragraph. Then imagine trying to root for that person to succeed in anything he does.
The only thing I have read about this story that may help put this in perspective for me is the stance taken by the president of the U.S. Humane Society, Wayne Pacelle. He pointed out that Michael Vick’s high profile and his willingness to work to eradicate the horror of dog fighting could be a huge boon to the Humane Society’s efforts. Only with someone like him on board could they really make inroads into the inner cities, where most of this is happening. Pacelle believes that Vick can do an awful lot of good in this area, and that his ability to do so is greatly enhanced by his reinstatement to the NFL. Philadelphia, in particular, seems to have a huge problem in this area.
I really have no idea how I will react when Vick is playing in games that count. At this point, I can’t imagine rooting for him. At the same time, I can’t imagine rooting against the Eagles in any way at all. It won’t be too long before I find out, I guess.
Bad sports, continued:
2) David Wright, of the New York Mets, was hospitalized overnight Saturday, after being hit in the head by a pitch thrown by San Francisco’s Matt Cain. Looks like he will be okay, but that sure was scary.
3) Professional wrestler Kurt Angle was arrested this week, charged with possession of human growth hormone, while also being charged with violating a restraining order intended to keep him away from his girlfriend. HGH is best known as a performance enhancing drug that professional sports leagues currently have no viable test for. I am not suggesting that professional wrestling is a real enough sport to need to ban peformance enhancers. Possessing HGH happens to be illegal, though. Oh, and he was also driving without a license.
Good sports:
1) As someone who has never been a fast runner, I am truly in awe of those who are. Usain Bolt, of Jamaica, looks like the most impressive of all. He broke his own record on Sunday, running the one hundred meters in 9.58 seconds. Spectacular.
2) In his entire stellar career, Tiger Woods had only lost one tournament when leading after 54 holes. In majors, he was 14-0 in those situations. He is already the most intimidating presence in sports, regularly causing his playing partners to crumble under the pressure of that last 18 holes. This week, Y.E. Yang, ranked 110 in the world, failed to crumble, coming from behind to beat Tiger and win the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.
3) The Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 17-8 in extra innings. 17-8. In extra innings. You read that correctly. Maybe one of the most unlikely final boxscores I have seen.
Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday
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Bravo, Alan. You nailed it. :
Vick fully intended to do everything he did. Imagine the person who is capable of doing the things I described in the last paragraph. Then imagine trying to root for that person to succeed in anything he does.
Thanks Clark.
The news reports about it have already lost focus on that aspect of the signing, now tending to focus only on how Vick is performing in practice. I keep waiting to hear “Vick threw two touchdown passes in practice today, and managed to kill no dogs when he got home.”