Michael Vick and the NFL - Kris Crawford
May 23, 2009 - There is once again a media frenzy about Michael Vick and people are debating left and right whether or not he should be allowed to play again in the NFL. In the meantime, while everyone is focused on Mr. Vick and his NFL career, dogs are being tortured and dieing in fighting pits across the country. The focus should not be on a football career; it should be on how to Knock Out Dog Fighting altogether!
Just as I don’t agree with all the media attention being put on the future NFL career of a man who was involved in dog fighting, preferring the attention be put on ways to eradicate the activity, when Mr. Vick was ordered to pay $20,000 per dog for his dogs' “rehabilitation”, I disagreed with that too. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled that the Vick dogs were given the opportunity to be re-homed and to live the rest of their lives knowing what it's like to be cared for and loved....to be treated like man's best friend. I am grateful and thankful to those who are now raising them as they are doing a fabulous job! However, I feel that the money would’ve been much better spent going to youth and gang-intervention programs in cities most affected by dog fighting in an effort to stop the abuse and teach empathy for animals, thereby reducing the number of dogs ending up in the fighting pit.
As for whether or not Mr. Vick should be allowed to play in the NFL again, that is a decision that Roger Goodell has to make. Is dog fighting worse than anything some who are now playing in the NFL have done? Nope, not at all...making it obvious that Mr. Goodell only sees the NFL as a business and fails to appreciate the fact that his players are role models to millions of children and young adults around the world. By allowing those that have committed violent crimes to continue to work for him making millions of dollars, his actions make it appear that he could care less about the example his players set for those that look up to and try to emulate them. Is it right or fair that Goodell's "employees" are put on a higher moral pedestal than a factory worker? It may not be right and it may not be fair, but the fact remains, his players are role models whether he or they like it or not. It is tough enough to convince children nowadays not to do drugs or to be kind to others. It’s even harder to convince them that “crime does not pay” when they see these exceptions.
Past and present NFL stars have publicly defended Mr. Vick’s participation in dog fighting AND the act of dog fighting itself. Washington Redskin’s Clinton Portis told a reporter with WAVY-TV: "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it.”
Former NFL player Deion Sanders wrote an article for NewsPress.com defending Vick's criminal behavior. Sanders justified the brutality by saying: "What a dog means to Vick might be a lot different than what he means to you." He goes on to say: "I believe Vick had a passion for dog fighting. I know many athletes who share his passion. The allure is the intensity and the challenge of a dog fighting to the death. It's like ultimate fighting, but the dog doesn't tap out when he knows he can't win." He goes on to say, "It reminds me of when I wore a lot of jewelry back in the day because I always wanted to have the biggest chain or the biggest, baddest car. It gives you status." Torturing and killing dogs gives you status?!
I am one who wholeheartedly believes in forgiveness and second chances, he did the crime and he served the time. However, Mr. Vick’s actions weren’t “immature” and he didn’t just make "a mistake". During his entire six year career as a professional football player he forced dogs into deadly fights and he personally killed innocent animals. He didn't pick a quick, painless method of killing, but instead chose a variety of means that qualify as torture.
After being informed that he failed a polygraph test when asked questions about his involvement in the killing of dogs, Mr. Vick admitted to helping hang six to eight under-performing dogs. In a 17-page report filed by the USDA on Aug. 28, 2008, one witness said there were times he suggested that dogs unwilling to fight be given away, but that Mr. Vick said “they got to go“ meaning be killed. The dogs were killed by shooting, hanging, electrocution and drowning. Reports state that jumper cables were connected to car battery terminals and then clipped onto the ears of poor performing dogs. They were then thrown in Mr. Vick’s pool to die an agonizing death. On another occasion, Mr. Vick killed a red pit bull by “slamming it to the ground several times before it died, breaking the dog’s back or neck.“ An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on the Vick dogs reported, "Sometimes [the dogs] were starved to make them more vicious in the pit."
The abuse and killing was not confined to his own dogs. The USDA's Inspector General's investigation revealed that Mr. Vick also put family pet dogs into the ring with his trained fighting dogs. The witness report goes on stating that Mr. Vick "thought it was funny to watch his dogs injure or kill family pets.”
The deliberate and repeated planning of dog fights where dogs are literally torn apart and forced to fight to the death and the repeated premeditated violent killings of dogs are not “mistakes” and they are not the acts of someone who’s merely "immature". Any man who can look a dog in the face and deliberately pick the most brutal and prolonged way of killing that dog, for the fun of it, has more issues than simply being immature.
The focus shouldn’t be on whether or not Mr. Vick should or should not be allowed to play professional football again. It should be on the fact that dog fighting is alive and well in the United States; that at this very moment a pit bull is being violently ripped to shreds and dieing an excruciatingly painful death in a fighting pit; and that Mr. Vick is only one of thousands upon thousands of people in our society who enjoy torturing animals for entertainment, to make a quick buck, or to simply improve their "status".
We, as a society, can no longer keep turning our heads….we need to Knock Out Dog Fighting!
featuring Kris Crawford and Kristine Crawford of For Pits Sake
