Another Two Cents on the Vick Case

I thought I was through with ranting about the Michael Vick case, but after listening to Neal Boortz tonight, I've got to throw in my two cents yet again.

A caller to the show said they hoped that Vick would get a lifetime ban from the NFL. Boortz disagreed, saying that such a punishment would be too harsh, that he couldn't understand why his likely punishment of a year in jail and the loss of income from the NFL wouldn't be sufficient.

He noted that Vick would be losing a year's playing time while sitting in prison only getting to "watch football on TV", and not getting to play. He went on to bemoan the "tens of millions of dollars" Vick would lose while being incarcerated. Boortz was also concerned about how Vick would manage to make a living if he couldn't play for the NFL anymore.

Cry me a river, Neal. For one thing, in just a few years, Vick has made more money than the average person could ever hope to make in a lifetime. If he's pissed all of those millions away and not invested large portions of that money, then it's on him. Boortz would certainly spare no sympathy for the average non-famous person who was out of a job and/or sent to prison and who had failed to save for a rainy day. He'd simply call those people "losers" as he is so often wont to do when referring to the average down-and-outer.

Similarly, I doubt Boortz would worry about how the average criminal was going to make a living once leaving prison and facing the typical employment discrimination the average ex-con faces. I'd tell Vick the same thing Boortz would tell Joe Schmo the parolee, "If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime".

Let's get one thing straight. Michael Vick isn't the victim here. He killed helpless dogs by torturing them to death in a particularly cruel and heinous fashion. Some people might say that they were only dogs, but psychological studies have shown time and time again that people who abuse animals are quite likely to move on and eventually do the same to humans. If Vick had been arrested only for the gambling, I'd not have a problem with his reinstatement to the NFL after he'd done his time and/or paid his fines.

But Michael Vick isn't your garden-variety pro-sports miscreant; he's an extremely sick individual. I have absolutely no sympathy for him and I don't give a flying fuck about his football career or his millions of dollars. He did this to himself and he threw away his privileged position as a professional football player. No one did this to him. His return to the NFL would be an insult to the NFL, to the fans, and to other football players.

Thoughts?