The Sports Rumors

Vick, City of Atlanta In For a Long Year

I had said only a couple of days ago here on this site, that I was not going to cover the Mike Vick topic unless some new factual information was released, or unless there were some new major developments. I don’t take pride in throwing out my opinion on what should or shouldn’t happen, going off of a lack of knowledge on the subject matter. It’s not what I do and not something I suggest others to do. In fact, I hate it when other people, like L.A. Times writer Bill Plaschke for example, go on the air with just as little knowledge as anyone else, and adamantly say what the NFL should do with Vick. It irks me that people can be foolish enough to throw out their meaningless two cents without knowing even one percent of the case details.

Unfortunately however, these people in the media have made this situation into such a circus, that I have no choice other than to write something about it. If you’re looking to read what punishment I think Vick deserves, you might as well close this window because you’re not going to find that here. I’m not going to be an idiot and announce a sentence for someone who has yet to even be charged officially, let alone be proven guilty in a court of law. Instead, I’m going to break down the elements that I believe have made this case into such a big media spectacle. Some topics are bland and obvious, some are very touchy.

Before I continue, let me preface my article by saying that I in no way condone acts of dog fighting or any participation in cruelty to animals. I myself have a dog and a cat. I could not fathom committing or participating in any acts of cruelty towards them. That being said, I hear a lot of outrage from PETA and other animal rights organizations. I know of their plans to protest at every NFL game if Vick is allowed to play. I agree with them in the fact that cruelty to animals has, allegedly, been committed and this is something not to be taken lightly. I disagree with them singling out Mike Vick for it, without knowing for FACT, just how involved he was.

Don’t tell me that PETA wasn’t licking their chops when they saw that a celebrity, one of the most marketable and famous football players in the country for that matter, was accused of being involved. For animal rights groups, this is something they relish. Before you throw your arms up in the air and say “What is this guy talking about”, hear me out. I’m not saying that those activist groups WANT animals to be abused. I’m not saying that at all. Animals however, have been, are, and will always be abused somewhere. As long as humans walk this earth, animals will be abused in some form or fashion. But the concept I am bringing here about how these groups love it when a celebrity can be their target is the same way CNN, FOX news, NBC and others love when there is a disaster or tragedy of some sort. Why? Because they get to cover it. They get their money from it, they get their ratings from it and that is what their job is. You can’t be a reporter if there is no story. You can’t be an animal activist if there is no animal cruelty. Your activist organization will not get any funding if there is no public knowledge of what you are an activist against.

When a celebrity is involved in something like this, the animal rights groups go after them like no other. I understand they are trying to use the celebrity to bring light to the situation for the common public to recognize what types of things are going on. However, I think of these activist groups as being hypocritical. I do appreciate a lot of the work they do. But tell me why we never hear about dog fighting in other regions and what is being done to stop it? Clinton Portis said himself that this goes on in Mississippi all the time and in other southern states. PETA has come out and said that dog fighting is a very big problem. Okay, then why did we not hear a WORD about it before Mike Vick was involved??? Where was the media coverage of it then? Granted, it wouldn’t be as big of a public story if a celebrity wasn’t involved, but it’s not like there was much of an effort to expose dog fighting. No one I spoke with had ANY knowledge of something like this being so huge and rampant. My point is; Mike Vick’s celebrity status is one element into why everyone has rushed to form an opinion about whether he is innocent or guilty, which isn’t fair because he hasn’t had due process yet.

The second element of why this story is so electric and is gaining so much momentum as each day passes is one that I don’t like to get into because it is so sensitive in nature. However, we have to recognize all factors and elements, regardless of how touchy they may be. The factor I am speaking of is race. Race has a lot to do with this story’s awareness. I have heard a lot of discussion about this on sports radio. Some people simply dismiss it and say it has nothing to do with it. Others say it does.

(Note: I am not talking about race being a factor in whether Vick is charged or not. I am talking about race being one of the reasons the story has so much power and attention right now. It is very important to differentiate the two.)

I was listening to a lot of the callers who chimed in with opinions yesterday. I’m going to be honest, a lot of times you can tell which caller is an Asian guy, which one is a white guy, which one is a black guy. You know it, I know it. It’s just how it is. So based on what I was hearing, a lot of the black callers were saying that they support Vick and they were more in favor for letting the trial go through before suspending him from the NFL. The white callers seemed to want Vick suspended sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t write something like this without having more evidence, so to speak, than of a radio show. I saw the same kinds of responses when people were being interviewed on T.V. Of course there are exceptions. A good friend of mine, a white 24 year old, said that he thinks the NFL should wait before jumping to suspend him. So I’m not saying if you’re white, you want him suspended and if you’re black, you condone what he has allegedly done. Not saying that at all. But a lot of the arguments coming from both sides are ones that suggest race being a factor, a major one at that.

Atlanta residents were interviewed yesterday. As most people know, Atlanta is the current “King of Hip Hop”. Some of the most famous rappers and artists (Usher, Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupree, Bow Wow) reside or come out of that city. Again, most of the Atlanta residents who were black felt that Vick was being gone after in a way that say, Peyton Manning, would not have been gone after. I think that has SOME truth to it. You disagree? Consider this. Do you think Mastercard or Reebok would stop airing Peyton commercials immediately or stop the release of his shoe based on an indictment? Do you honestly believe, that the entire world would vote 76% in favor (as reported by ESPN’s poll two days ago), to suspend him immediately, based on alleged charges for which he hasn’t even had an arraignment for yet? I think not.

If you still don’t believe me when I say that race has a lot to due with why this story is so magnified, look all the way back at O.J. Simpson’s case. You remember seeing the pictures of black people rejoicing and white people looking angry or even crying after the verdict was announced. That case ended up having more to do about the racial divide than it did about the actual murder! It was more black man vs. white woman than it was human on trial for double homicide. Can’t think back that far?

(O.J.’s verdict. Picture says it all.)

Kobe Bryant accused of raping a white girl. I don’t even have to go into detail about this because it’s still fresh for most of us. Think back to those who were bashing him and those who were supporting him. The court of public opinion was racially divided. Don’t remember the details from that? Here’s the most recent one.

Duke Lacrosse. White rich kids vs. poor black girl. The town of Durham was so ready to explode, due to the racial element to the story that they had to have police onsite for months. Not days or weeks. Months people. This is what I have a problem with, but there is really no quick solution to it. When anything major happens where someone famous is accused of a crime, race becomes a factor. We stop looking at the facts of the case and we start forming positive or negative opinions, innocent or guilty verdicts about the person based on race rather than substance. It’s within most of us even if we don’t realize it. So to think that race has nothing to do with the court of public opinion is not only preposterous, it’s being blind to the obvious.

I don’t know what the future holds for Mike Vick. I really don’t because something like this is unprecedented. I know he’s potentially in a lot of trouble, emphasis being on the word “potentially”. I do know that this case is not going to go away anytime soon and as we move forward and more facts come out, unfortunately, you will see even more of a divide among the races regarding the way things are being handled. You will hear bad things said about blacks and their culture. You will hear bad things said about white prosecutors, judges and their bias. Atlanta, a racially diverse city, is in store for a bumpy 6-12 months. It is unfortunate that in 2007, we are still not at a place where we can look at facts as facts and people as people, instead of classifying each other as racists without having any concrete knowledge.

(You thought Durham, NC had racial elements? Welcome to Atlanta.)