Two years ago today, when Michael Vick copped a plea to charges stemming from his dog-fighting operation, I wrote that six months in prison and a $250,000 fine would be a fair sentence.
I reasoned that, if he did any time at all, he would forfeit at least one season’s pay on his NFL contract, which would be tantamount to an additional $10 million fine. Moreover, that only when the millions more in lost endorsements were factored in would one get a true assessment of his punishment.
As it happened, Vick spent two years in prison and forfeited his $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons, which forced him to declare bankruptcy.
Now, as part of his continuing rehabilitation (or punishment), he has pledged to deliver public confessionals about his crime – as spokesman for the Humane Society’s anti-dogfighting campaign – for the rest of his career.
Hell, they don’t even subject rapists and murderers to this kind of post-incarceration penance, which makes the notion that, beyond all this, he still owes a debt to society abject nonsense.
I wish that some of this public outcry against Vick for abusing dogs would be heaped upon other professional athletes for routinely abusing women….
[Vick, dog-fighting fiend, cops a plea, TIJ, August 21, 2007]
I also wrote back then that all of the talk about Vick being banned from the NFL for life was naïve bullshit:
Let me hasten to disabuse you of any doubt about Vick’s football career. Because the only question is: which team will offer him the most lucrative contract once he pays his debt to society.
This is why I was not at all surprised when he signed a two-year, seven-million dollar contract with the Philadelphia Eagles last week. And it will not surprise me if, after this probationary period, he becomes one of the highest paid (and most popular) players in the league again.
I welcome him back! And I hope he has the good sense not to blow this second chance at fame and fortune….
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Vick, dog-fighting fiend, cops a plea
deborah christ says
Anthony, Disagree on this one. I have treated abused animals, heart wrenching and unforgetable. You can forgive, but forgetting is entirely different. I for one will not forget what he has done
Thanks again for continuing your fine pieces. Still stop by when my head starts to ache and I need to climb out of the rabbit hole (smile).