America, The NFL, and Micheal Vick

OK America, I have got to say this because the timing is right and my words will not be taken as black and white thing.  The whole issue of the former Atlanta Falcons Micheal Vick is that this is not about black and white, it's about wrong and right.  Micheal Vick, the officially former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is currently serving a 24 month sentence for allegedly conspiring to run a dog fighting ring in a house, that Vick bought for some of his relatives and was in his name.  Since Vick pled guilty to these charges (actually before he pled guilty), Micheal Vick has seen almost his whole life crumble before his and America's eyes.

Now the question I have been asking this whole two year period is "Does the punishment fit the crime?"  What is worse, killing a man or animal?  This question was answered yesterday with Cleveland Brown's wide receiver Donte' Stallworth receiving a 30 day jail sentence, 2 years of community arrest, and 8 years probation for pleading guilty to a DUI manslaughter charge.  In other words, the judicial system has determined that Donte' Stallworth's crime of accidentally killing a man is nothing compared to Atlanta's Micheal Vick killing dogs, even though Stallworth was completely inebriated.

I do not have children, but I do have a niece and two nephews, along with two dogs.  I love dogs but ask me would I be more upset over someone accidentally killing one of my nephews or niece versus killing my two dogs and I would honestly tell you that I would want revenge against the offender who attempts to kill any one of my immediate family members.  If my two dogs were the victims, I would be mad but not to the point of seeing that person go to jail and lose their freedom.

Let's call the whole Micheal Vick saga what it really is: a cruel, modern day public lynching.  As the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, Micheal Vick rubbed the mainstream world the wrong way with an urban swagger style that Micheal Vick portrayed.  Micheal Vick was, and hopefully still is, a talented quarterback, who had not scratched the surface of Vick's potential.  However, Micheal Vick was not the clean cut All American that would fit corporate America, so Vick had to be stopped.

I live in Atlanta and witnessed this with my own eyes.  During Micheal Vick's final season with the Atlanta Falcons, this team's offense struggled with consistent play and the blame from the local and national media, alike, was that it was Micheal Vick's fault.  The reality was that Micheal Vick played behind a below average offensive line, where Vick would literally have to run for his life to not only get positive yardage, but keep himself from getting murdered every game.  This, however comically ironic, accounts for Micheal Vick rushing for over 1000 yards that season, which had never been done by a NFL quarterback in NFL history.

The other, and the most mistakenly overblown, issue was Micheal Vick's passing ability.  There strangely arose questions about Micheal Vick's accuracy numbers because of Vick not having a lot of passing yards.  Here's the reality, Micheal Vick can only throw the football but Vick can not catch his own passes too.  Vick's wide receivers, current Atlanta Falcons Roddy White and Micheal Jenkins, obviously could not catch his passes as well. Go back to the stats, or even the game tape, and count how many passes the Atlanta Falcons' receivers dropped that year, and years prior for that matter.  The former Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowl tight-end, Alge Crumpler, dropped his share of passes that year as well.  No wonder the Atlanta Falcons let Crumpler go at the end of the next season.  Did you see Crumpler drop an important potential game-winning pass for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL playoffs this past season?

Now presently, Micheal Vick is finishing up his sentence at Vick's home in Virginia, hoping to get back in the NFL league this upcoming season after officially being released recently by the Atlanta Falcons.  However, NFL franchises, with obvious quarterback needs, are surprisingly not showing interest.  This past Tuesday, in a interview with 790 the Zone, a local Atlanta sports talk radio station, the NFL's St. Louis Rams GM Billy Devaney quotes that their team "is satisfied with the four quarterbacks on their current roster going into training camp" and they "would not consider bringing in Micheal Vick for a workout."  This is there current quarterback roster: the incumbent, but much maligned starter, Marc Bulger, Gus Ferotte, Brock Berlin and Kyle Boiler.  Dumb question, Who is better option if you throw Micheal Vick's name in this equation?

Obviously, this whole issue was never about Vick's talents.  Micheal Vick pissed a lot of people off in high places, and because of Vick's own arrogance at times, he is paying a substantially huge price.  Micheal Vick was a no-call, no-show to an event that members of Congress requested that he attend.  Micheal Vick boldly stated to a local Atlanta affiliate News cast that no matter what Vick does, "people will still love me."  Micheal Vick told a bold face lie to the NFL's commissioner Roger Goodell and the Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, when each asked about Vick's potential dog-fighting legal issues.

Not defending Micheal Vick because of Vick's character.  The hurtful truth is that Micheal Vick would have never led the Atlanta Falcons franchise to any Super Bowl victories unless Vick changed his rebel hip-hop culture tendencies and became a bonafide NFL, team leading example that was relatable to everyone.  Donovan McNabb is a great example of this style of NFL quarterback.  Despite being literally humiliated by local media and fans from the time McNabb arrived in Philidelphia, Donovan McNabb continues to establish himself as the greatest NFL quarterback in Philidelphia Eagles' history.  Because of some great additions, the Philidelphia Eagles are my choice to win the NFL Superbowl this upcoming season and I am pulling for them only so that Donovan McNabb can quiet his racist critics in the media and Philly fanbase alike.

I am also pulling for Micheal Vick to make a triumphant NFL return as a better man and lead an NFL franchise to a Superbowl victory as well, along with gaining back every penny that was taken from Micheal Vick.  If Micheal Vick does that, this would truly be a great All American story for the NFL and America.


Sources

www.fox5news.com

www.790thezone.com

www.espn.go.com