My own thoughts on the Michael Vick & dog-fighting story

Unless you've had your head buried in the ground for the past few weeks, you will undoubtedly be aware of one of the prominent titles in the media these days: the release of NFL star Michael Vick who, just over two years ago, was arrested and jailed for holding illegal dogfighting activities on his own property, on operation that had lasted for over five years.

Unknown numbers of dogs have died as a result of the fighting; estimates could reach in the dozens, or even hundreds. The dogs that survived and were captured at the site, 22 in total, were originally to be put to death after "experts" deemed them irreparably traumatized. Then, some actual experts stepped in and offered to take them all to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, which operates a dog section known as DogTown (which is the focus of an eponymous series on National Geographic). The dogs slowly but surely showed signs of progress over time, and current progress reports state that all but 2 of the 22 Vick dogs – renamed, somewhat cornily in my opinion, "Vicktory Dogs" – are now ready for standard adoptions into loving homes. I personally expect the dogs to fly away like hot buns.

Now, as of July 27 of 2009, Vick has purged his sentence and has been released. The big news item as of late, however, is that his previous team, the Philadelphia Eagles, has welcomed Vick back amongst their ranks with a 2-year contract and have defended this decision from the media and other critics.

It's difficult to say where I stand on this matter, but in general my thoughts are thus:

Does Vick deserve absolution for what he's done? For all the dogs he's happily and greedily seen butchered, mauled and killed in his ring of death, just for money, or personal enjoyment? That would depend entirely on how he feels about it at the moment. If he looks back upon these activities in shame and remorse for all the evil he's done, and if given a second chance he'd stay away from dogfighting ... then, as much as I resent the fact that he's done it and it's too late to change that, I would say he does deserve forgiveness.

Problem is, I just don't think he does care for all the damage he's caused these poor innocent animals. It's my personal opinion, based on what I've seen, heard and read, that he honestly does not regret his dogfighting activities, and that the only thing he does regret, is being caught. Anyone who launches such inhumane operations and keeps them bankrolled and running for five straight years is devoid of the capacity to regret it, in my opinion. If the man was truly to feel any remorse, he would've had plenty of time to show it in that timespan and would've pulled the plug on the horrendous affair. But he didn't, until he was caught and forced to face justice.

However, even if the man did feel remorse for his actions and did deserve a true pardon, I would still be against the Eagles signing him up. What this amounts to, is taking a convicted animal-killer and putting him back in the limelight as a hero just because he can run real fast and catch a ball. Michael Vick is not a hero, not by any stretch of the word. Even if he did regret his actions, it wouldn't change what he did, and what he did has earned him the merited title of "animal-killer" in my mind.

What this story shows, is that anyone can get a second chance – even those who don't necessarily deserve it. There are plenty of things Vick could be doing now to earn his living – but being put on a stage before the whole world for his athletic abilities after all he's done, is not one of them. That's my opinion.