I have but a few things to say about it, and those remarks probably contain more questions than answers. Mike Vick was investigated, indicted, charged, and sentenced on an array of federal charges related to a dog-fighting operation in his home state. He served 23 months and was released from federal custody early this week.
At the time of his indictment in 2007, he was suspended by his employer, the National Football League. Vick is now out, his sentence served, and everyone is in a fucking snit about what should or could happen next.
He is yet to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The commish holds the keys to whether Vick plays in the NFL again. Some people say he should be banned; others disagree. Here at the Chicken, we present points for discussion and evaluation.
The details released during the investigation were -- depending on what type of person you are -- deplorable and sickening. If you did not find those details disturbing and sad, then you are a soul-less asshole. Actually, you're probably not a soul-less asshole. You're probably the type of person who plays this stuff off as nothing, in an effort to look like a tough guy. "Electrocuting dogs to death? Pfft, don't bother me. I'm straight hood G, nigga." Yes, of course you are. Actually, you're a poser with insecurity issues but that's another discussion.
I don't care if Mike Vick plays in the NFL again. I never liked his game to begin with. I don't care where he played college ball and I could not care less about the franchise that selected him as the top pick in the 2001 draft. But, do I think the commissioner should reinstate Vick? I don't see how he can't.
I understand that not everyone in jail deserves to be incarcerated. I am also aware that the length of some sentences, when coupled with the crime, are absurd. Ten years for selling a couple of ounces of weed? You have got to be fucking kidding me? Five years for not paying your taxes? Really? Just under 2 years in federal prison for torturing and maiming animals? I think it's a little light, but I'm not the judge in the case. But, if that's what the courts give to you, you have few avenues for resistance. Unfair as that is, that is the reality.
So, let's say I get caught robbing Rodney's coop on the other side of the farm. And I am sentenced to 15 years in chicken prison because I used a gun in the commission of that felony. And let's say my day job is down the road, working as a mechanic. When I get caught and thrown in jail, my employer can do whatever the fuck he wants, and that would include firing me. And when I get out of prison, he is under no obligation to hire me back. So, why the entitlement with Vick? Why are his boys in the NFL saying "Well, everyone deserves a second chance." Yes, everyone does deserve a second chance, but your previous employer is not the one obligated to provide that chance. I had a job as a mechanic and I fucking blew it by getting busted and going to jail.
That's one pattern. The other logic is that the NFL is much unlike other employers and it can reinstate Vick as it sees fit.
My other gulf-sized gap in this Vick situation is the perception of paying one's debt to society. If I get caught robbing Rodney's coop and receive a 15-year sentence and I do 15 years to the day and walk out of that facility a so-called free man, did my prison term not wipe my slate with society clean? I always considered doing time for your crime as way of creating an even-Steven scenario in the situation. I did my time. I'm out. What's the fucking problem? How could there be so much as Question One regarding any of it?
The people with whom we share a society are not so black and white. You can do your time to the tune of indifference. If my next door neighbor is a 20-year-old man arrested, charged, and convicted on serial rape charges, and he does 25 years to the day, when he gets out, is his slate clean with me? No. I still think he's a worthless dickbag for what he did, and he's better off avoiding conversation with me in the future (although, if he did 25 in the joint, he's probably totally fucking ripped and has the strength of an ox, so I'll probably be pretty civil to him, as I'm moving out his neighborhood).
You get caught, you do your time in the eyes of the system, but your slate is not clean when you get out. How is that justice? Why bother?
What employer would hire a guy back after doing 2 years in a federal prison? And not just any guy on any charges either -- a professional athlete who, at one time, had the top-selling jersey in his sport, embroiled in a case with some of the most alarming and disgusting evidence of animal cruelty most people will ever again witness. Who does that? If you worked at Pep Boys, would that be the reality? Or a fucking Shoney's? So, how is it OK for Vick? Or how is it not OK for Goodell?
The Falcons have already let him go. He'll never play for them again. But, the Redskins could sign him.
Imagine that, a convicted felon/asshole in D.C.
There is hope for me in my golden years.
PJ cover you may or may not have seen before. Enjoy.
What challenges stand in the way of your ideal lifestyle? How are you working to overcome them?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.
That pesky thing called employment is the biggest barrier. That, and mortgage payments, insurance costs, utility charges, and grocery bills. The need to satisfy those things -- in the form of working -- gets in the way of my ideal lifestyle, which involves drinking beer at noon, while playing with my dog and wife, enjoying our ocean-side view before taking naps and later making gourmet dinners, swimming in said ocean and later sipping heavy glasses of aged whisky while being rubbed down by high-priced escorts draped in skin without pores.
Oh, and watching sports on TV at some point as well.
Headline at news site today indicates "Man killed during running of the bulls in Pamplona."
First, you had it coming when you decide to try to outrun the bull.
Secondly, it reminds me of the classic mess-with-the-bull-you-get-the-horns missive from Principal Vernon.
