Now that Mike Vick has signed with the Eagles, the ridiculous speculation that he may end up on the Steelers can stop. Anyone that has been a Steeler fan for any length of time knew that there was no chance Vick would be wearing black and gold. It is the exact kind of signing the Steelers never make. However, the speculation got me thinking whether I could bring myself to cheer for Vick if the Steelers had signed him.
Here are various reactions from facebook statuses from my Eagle fan friends:
-"is not happy to be an Eagles fan right now! Vick is a P.O.S.!!!!!!!!!"
-"Vick What???? Eagles?? This could definitely be an interesting season."
-"how fitting that Vick would go to the Eagles..."
And a quote from my roommate, who is a die hard Eagles fan from Philly, responding to my question:
"Hell yeah, I will root for him, I am willing to look past his former mistakes and give him a chance to prove himself" -Dave Higham, life long eagles fan.
Seems to be a mixed reaction from the Birds faithful. As I sat here watching my roommate field many calls and texts and discuss his reactions with other fans, I felt myself wondering how I would have reacted had Vick signed with the Steelers. Normally, I blindly root for the Steelers, regardless of who is on the team and what they have done in the past. Two recent examples are James Harrison and Santonio Homes. Harrison got into a domestic dispute with his girlfriend/baby momma if you remember, yet I still cheer for him and even considered getting his jersey. Santonio had numerous run ins with the law soon after being drafted and recently was busted with blunts in his vehicle, yet I was going crazy when he scored the first TD in the AFC championship game and I was jumping with pure glee when he caught the winning score in the Superbowl. What Vick did seems somehow different than from the other crimes.
The question I was asking myself was, "would I root for Vick once he put on the black and gold?" I can't really come up with an answer that satisfies me. Once he started making awesome plays and helping the Steelers win, I probably would root for him, even though morally I don't want to. I have had pets including dogs my entire life. What was done to those animals in VA was beyond terrible. Then Vick lied to try to cover it up. As fellow Steezbro Josh put it, "it all comes down to genuine remorse." So is Vick truly sorry for what he did or is he just sorry he got caught? If he is truly sorry, I could root for him. Everyone makes mistakes. Otherwise, I could not.
When he first was arrested, I believe that Vick was only sorry he got caught. He lied to everyone he could, including Commisioner Goodell, until it was patently obvious that he had committed the crimes, and only then did he apologize. Now, after serving his debt to society by spending two years in federal prison, I believe that Vick may truly have realized the severity of his acts. He has taken many steps to express his regret and to volunteer his time to prevent these types of atrocities from occurring again. I believe people deserve second chances and I believe in forgiveness. I think Vick deserves the chance he has received from the NFL and the Eagles. Hopefully, he makes the best of it. But for some reason I am still glad I don't have to root for him.
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2 comments:
After hearing the general backlash from everyone including Philly fans I am a little suprised. Here is a comment made on my favorite Philly sports blog www.the700level.com that I think raises a great point:
Let's put this in perpective. Compare and contrast:
MICHAEL VICK:
Crime: betting on dog fights; cruelty to animals
Penalty: 2 years in federal prison (some of sentence served on house arrest)
Impact on NFL carer: Out of football for two years; had to apply for reinstatement (faced banishment for life); had to repay $20 million in salary/bonus money (filed for Chapter 11)
DONTE STALLWORTH:
Crime: Vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk. Killed a 59-year old construction worker who had just finished his work shift. Stallworth was doing 50 in a 40 mph zone and had a BAC of 0.12.
Penalty: 30 days in jail (released after 24 days), 1000 hours community service, 2 years house arrest, 8 years probation; reached out of court financial settlemnt with victim's family
Impact on NFL career: one year suspension (will be automatically reinstated after the Super Bowl); loss of less than $750,000 salary.
Are you really telling me Vick deserves a harsher penalty from the league than Stallworth? Seriously? Did I mention Stallworth KILLED another human being? Yes. Killed. A. Human. Being.
As much as I love dogs, no animal's life is worth that of a human.
Is the league telling us that gambling is a worse crime than manslaughter?
Please. Let's get some perspective.
So yea, the dogs were tortured yada yada yada. I dont know that it was Mike Vick personally zapping the poor animals. (was it?) Bottom line, the guy served his time and the Eagles took a chance on someone who can add some very unique wrinkles to the O. As a forgiving person I am proud of the way Reid, Lury, and the team are rallying around him as a person. Hopefully the guy isnt a train wreck and I would prefer to hear stories about him impact the HUGE dog fighting problem in Philly than going to strip clubs with Iverson. That is all.
Stallworth's was not premeditated, it was an accident and from what I have heard it was the victim's fault he got hit while Vick chose to countless murder helpless victims
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