What do I think of Michael Vick?

What do I think about Michael Vick? Well first, let me just say I'm not a pro football fan at all, haven't been since I was a little girl growing up in Allentown, PA and you had no choice but to be one. Go Steelers! But that was a loooooong time ago, and ever since I've actually developed a strong dislike for professional football and its players. I find many of them overpaid, overrated and downright arrogant. And of course I am a MAJOR dog lover - duh, I've only devoted most of my adult life to working with them in some capacity. So, by all accounts I would be the prototype person calling for the head of Michael Vick. And I am. But at the same time I am disturbed by all the hypocrisy surrounding the issue. From the way it's being presented you would think Michael Vick invented dog fighting. This vulgar, inhumane and despicable practice has existed for hundreds of years, in fact it wasn't until 1976 when dog fighting was finally outlawed in all 50 states. Even more importantly, the reason dog fighting was outlawed had more to do with its association with other criminal elements (gambling, drug trafficking, etc) than our government's compassion for animals. Because let's face it, our government and society at large cares very little about dogs. This is apparent from the fact that hundreds of thousands of homeless dogs are euthanized every year like waste products. Where's the public outcry about that? Not to mention the fact that our government still considers a dog property, i.e. a dog owner can take a perfectly healthy dog in to be euthanized with no repercussions whatsoever because, after all, it's his property.

And then I guess we're supposed to believe the NFL really cares that deeply about animals and dogs in particular, huh? It's common knowledge that the NFL is no stranger to dog fighting. Quite a few players have been involved in it through the years but now that Vick has been outed, the NFL and commissioner Goodell want to distance themselves from it. Okay.

Well, let's look at the good that will hopefully come from all this. Dog fighting is under the microscope now. All the former case precedents will now come to light and the slap on the wrist sentences they've previously received will undoubtedly become much stiffer. That's a good thing. And maybe in an effort not to appear like complete hypocrites, all of us who are outraged by dog fighting will also take a stand on other equally barbaric and vulgar practices like fox hunting and any sport hunting for that matter. Yes, I consider the willfull, calculated and planned murder of an animal of any kind for sport to be despicable. I just can't understand anyone who takes a life of any kind for fun. Yuck.

So yes, string up Vick, if for no other reason but for being one of the dumbest people on the planet. He, along with the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, et al, sure know how to mess up a good thing, don't they? Here he was a young man enjoying benefits that most people can only dream of and what does he do? He throws it all away. Idiot. And he has no one to blame but himself. He made his bed, now he will have to wallow in it. Good riddance. But while we are stringing him up, I hope we don't stop there. I hope this puts all killers of animals for sport on notice. Wrap it up any way you like it, you're no better than Vick in my book.