Dave Zirin is a sportswriter who writes "The Edge of Sports" website. Tuesday morning he appeared on msnbc television and waxed poetic on how wonderful it is that Michael Vick got a new $100,000,000 10-year contract from the Philadelphia Eagles (professional American football team).
Zirin believes everyone who makes a little mistake -- like torturing dogs and raising them to fight to the death for profit and sport -- deserves a second chance.
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Dear Dave Zirin --
While the torturer and murderer of dogs for profit and pleasure plays NFL football, I will not spend one cent on anything which will bring profit to the NFL. I will not watch one second of its games, I will not buy its crap.
Through his own choices, Michael Vick gloried in subhuman and bestial behavior equivalent to genocidists and war criminals. The more innocent animals suffered, the happier he was.
Now, for one hundred million dollars, an industry displays him as a hero and role model for children.
I validate your passion for sports.
But I really think you need to consider the price you are willing to pay to love sports.
Have you ever seen -- and heard -- a dog hung from the ceiling by hooks? Would you praise and forgive Vick if you had spent an hour watching what he did in his dog-torturing farm?
I think it's sick to sweep Vick's perversions under the rug so you can keep enjoying the NFL. Where do you draw the line? What act would a talented athlete have to commit for you to object to his playing pro sports?
Football's just a game. Animal torture is not. Vick is a psychopath and a pervert. The NFL wants to get rich off him, and you're helping.
Robert Merkin
Massachusetts USA
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8 comments:
Vick's plea bargain agreement had him pleading guilty to dog fighting charges in exchange for having the charge(s?) of cruelty to animals being dropped.
He was never charged with running an illegal gambling operation or tax evasion.
Only $40 million of his new contract is guaranteed and he is required to pay 40% of his income over the next few years to pay his depts (now around 15mil?) under his bancruptcy agreement of 2008.
This is his second 100mil contract which along with his kid glove treatment by the feds should make him one of the luckiest men alive. But he may yet wind up where he belongs, broke and on the street.
Go Pats!
I've wanted to write about another NFL elephant in the bathtub, the fact that players live 20 years less than average American non-football player men. One sports journalist recently talked about attending the NFL Hall of Fame dinner, and the obvious neurological damage among NFL veterans was very spooky. Starting at the junior-high level, the game is intentionally evolving into players with greater mass running faster to smash into opposing players.
Force = Mass x Acceleration
Everyone can sustain one or two concussions in his life, but consider the consequences of a life with 30 concussions. NFL football is intentionally being steered not simply toward winning games, but toward gladiator-style arena violence.
We'd certainly need to define our terms, but is NFL a game? Is it sport?
Or is it becoming Rollerball (the original, I didn't see the re-make).
I care what it does to the players, but I care more what it does to the whole society. We're paying huge sums and making huge profit to evolve into America the Mega-Violent. I just can't see the Up Side of this.
This is much more to the point than your initial reacton to the rewarding on low-life Vick.
Hits to the head in the NFL are tollerated and encouraged. They had been ignoring concusions for decades and instructing the teams to do so also. Why they haven't been investigated for such reckless behavior is beyond me.
The NHL was copying the changes in NFL rules until the recent Stanley Cup Finals. A week after that series ended they took the "defenceless" clause out of their rules and have outlawed all hits to the head. Bruins center Marc Sevard has missed most of the last two seasons, including the playoffs, with two concussions and will not play at all next year, if ever.
If the NFL is becoming Rollerball, then keep an eye on NASCAR. They are suffering in this economy and they're starting to talk and act a lot like pro wrestlers. Fist fights and threats are becoming more common. Maybe they'll become a cross between Roller Derby, Demolition Derby and the WWF.
Thank you thank you for your letter i was horrified that the nfl even allowed him back but this contract? terrible!! shame on us if we continue to support any nfl team. not another dime to the nfl. would like to boycott it's advertisers too. i can't believe there aren't others who are horrified at this contract as well, but no one, certainly no one in the media, is willing to speak up.
Hello Anonymous --
Vleeptron has One Rule: No anonymous driveby comments.
(Even though you said nice things about my letter. Thanks!)
But anyway -- who are you, where are you, what are you? Do you have your own NFL boycott plan while Vick plays?
You know, it's funny -- I'm not PETA, I'm not a full-time animal rights activist. I'm just a guy with 5 cats. (This month we adopted 2 stray kittens.)
You can ask any cop. Almost all violent adults began as kids torturing animals. So that's what the NFL is doing -- holding the dog-torturer Vick up as a great hero to America's kids. The whole community will eventually get "dividends" from this "role model."
The NFL is as sick as Vick to reward and enrich him.
ok so i won't be anonymous - i'm also a cat lover - i have 4, all rescues - our 5th died a few months ago from cancer very sad we miss him a lot. i'm not a peta member either but seem to be getting closer each day. at least if the nfl gave him that contract he should be forced to give the bulk of it to animal shelters - there's something very wrong with our society when someone like this can money like that with so many others (animals and people) in want
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