Michael Vick Sentenced to 23 Months

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock lately and haven’t heard the news, Michael Vick, the former star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was sentenced yesterday to 23 months. The judge actually went on the long side of sentencing and gave Vick more time than the prosecution asked for because Vick, apparently, showed a remarkable lack of integrity all through the process. At one point he failed a drug test just days after promising the judge he would stay away from drugs.

This is the same man who was arrested at an airport not long ago for having a secret compartment in his bottle of water with drugs in it. Remember that? Yup. Vick.

While I, personally, could care less about the drug charges (hey, it’s his body, right?), the dog fighting charges needed to be answered for. According to what came out in the trial, Vick not only bankrolled the entire operation (Bad Newz Kennels), but actually killed and/or aided in killing several dogs who, when first brought in for “test fights,” didn’t perform at the high standards set by the Bad Newz Kennel. So of course, these underperforming dogs had to die…you know…since they couldn’t fight well enough in the pit.

Disgusting.

More disgusting was the method of execution. Bad enough they killed the poor animals, but how was this accomplished? Euthanization? A needle? Nope. The dogs were drowned and hanged. That’s right. Hanged. As in a rope was tied around their necks and the dogs were dropped so that the neck snapped, like cattle thieves in the old west or Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Which leaves one to wonder…what was the purpose of this method? Why, if you are going to kill a dog, would you do so in such a grotesque manner? I can only guess, though I am tempted to lean towards the idea that Vick and pals must have thought it was “neat” or entertaining in some way.

The part that confuses me the most is this: Michael Vick was the highest paid player in the NFL. Note: not ONE of the highest, but THE highest. He made more than Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, or Tony Romo (for those who don’t know…Brady, Manning, Favre, and Romo are the 4 best QBs in the NFL, playing for the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, and Dallas Cowboys, respectively). Now, given all that, why would anyone risk losing so much over something as stupid as dog fighting? I just don’t get it. If I were pulling down that kinda salary, I sure wouldn’t risk it all for something like that.

Stupid, if you ask me.

Before I found out some of these details, I felt a little bad for him. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe, just maybe, he was a good man who made a bad mistake. But after reading some of the details; the constant lies to the court, the atrocious acts committed to the dogs, the STUPID drug use when he knew he was being monitored, I no longer feel sympathetic. This is a man who thought he was bigger than the law, and thumbed his nose at the legal system. I do not feel the least bit bad for him anymore. Instead, I feel bad for his family, who has to go through this with him. I feel bad for his mother, who has to watch her son come crashing down from Grace. I feel bad for the dogs who were brutalized in the name of sick entertainment. I feel bad for his teammates, who now have to play without him and have had several starting QBs this year because they have been unable to find someone who can fill Vick’s shoes on the field.

Lastly, I feel bad for the millions of fans who had to watch all this trash unfold, especially the kids who looked up to him as a role model. Let’s hope they all learn from his example.