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Humanity Has a Dog in This Fight

The American media industry has a vested interest in leveling sensational charges against celebrities, and none at all in finding the truth, so I am reserving all judgment as to Michael Vick's involvement or lack of same in dog-fighting purportedly staged on his property. All I can say for sure is I know what should happen if the charges are true.

If they are, Vick should be banned from the NFL for life. No appeals, no get backs, nothing. This is 1000 times worse than Pete Rose betting on baseball. This makes PacMan Jones's legal problems look like the immature punkish behavior they are. Anyone guilty of participation in organized animal fighting is a monster. Period.

Cruelty to animals is a tell in human behavior that's a real accurate forecaster of future cruelty to other human beings. It marks someone as less than human, far lower on the evolutionary chain than the animals they abuse. To participate in murder for fun, well, it's a major felony for a reason. Vick could earn serious jail time here. It wouldn't be enough punishment.

Vick's case is a clear-cut crisis for commissioner Roger Goodell. He's no nose tackle like tank Johnson, or overrated cornerback like Jones. Vick's a certified star, a name, a franchise quarterback, who stands accused of behavior that's morally far more degraded than the stupid, thoughtless, dangerous DUIs the Bengals pile up.

Goodell needs to find out what happened first. After that, let me offer the following words of advice. You do not want to go to your fan base trusting that they love football more than they love animals. You'll lose.

posted by Michael Gee @ 8:23 AM