posted by Zagnut on Dec 10
Michael Vick was sentenced to spend the next 23 months in prison today.
While the debate will rage on about the duration of the sentence one thing is certain. The message is out: Stay clear of bad decisions or it will cost you your career, reputation, and millions of dollars.
Personally I don’t believe Michael Vick may have been a choir boy, but I don’t believe for a second he woke up one morning and said “Hey Mike why don’t I start a dog fighting ring”. More likely he made poor choices when confronted by those he chose to associate with and payed a much larger price for his inability to say no to his “friends”.
Other professional athletes have nearly paid more severe penalties for the same issue: Decisions. Life is about choices we make. We benefit, sometimes, from the good ones, and almost always pay for the poor ones. Part of that is who they choose to associate with. Surrounding ones self with successful people that keep their nose clean is the best choice any of us can make, especially when there is so much to lose.
Clearly the difference between cruelty to animals and assaulting/murder of a human being is light years apart. My personal view is somewhat clouded by the seemingly overwhelming number of people clamoring over ridiculous supposed violations of animal rights. Now dogfighting is a despicable thing, make no mistake in my mind that is way wrong…but who are we to say. We kill deer, elk, antelope, and other animals for sport. Yes many are used also for food, but that doesn’t make bambi any less dead….
I believe the severity of Michael Vick’s sentence is meant more as a message to people of notoriety: No more free passes.
Not this time.
I do believe that Micheal Vick should have been arrested, indicted, and sentenced to some prison time. I do think that it is his misfortune in terms of timing. To be the example, unfortunately not the example that many parents, myself included, had hoped he would be.
With essentially another 2 missed seasons in the NFL his career is basically shot. Even if, after his release in Oct. 2009 he is in “football condition”, what team will take a chance on a quarterback that was already having football issues and add a federal conviction and prison time? I can’t believe any team will be willing to take that chance, but I could be wrong.
With any good fortune Mike will spend his time in prison figuring out what went wrong and correct those issues, the sad thing is he won’t be surrounded by choir boys now either. It will be a tough road for a young man who not so long ago had the world by the tail.
Just a thought.
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