Mike Vick's Vexing Situation

See what I did there? I wrote my very own Woody Paige headline. I am not proud of it by any means, yet I did it anyway. I have only mentioned Mike Vick a couple of times in reference to his coming back to the NFL but Gregg Doyel wrote an interesting column and JemeHill wrote a "we are in denial" type column about Vick's current situation and I wanted to discuss them.

I still can't believe that shot LeBron James hit last night at the buzzer. A great shot and probably a series saver for the Magic. I think they can win in Orlando but they were in some trouble if he doesn't hit that shot. It completely covers up the fact that Orlando came back from being down 23 points and have generally outplayed the Cavs in the series, but a win is a win I guess.

Gregg Doyel actually has an interesting perspective on Mike Vick. Usually he rips athletes new assholes and then taunts his readers who dare to respond, but I guess he changed it up for a day.

We need Michael Vick in the NFL.

I am not a Falcons fan. I have missed him zero percent since he has been gone.

Also, if you clicked on the link, you can see that skinny little white kid there holding up a sign that says "Vick didn't do it," that's the type of denial some people were in when he went to jail...this irritates me. Yes, he did do it you skinny little fuckhead, sit the hell down and eat your nachos and drink your Diet Coke.

His return to fame and fortune would be galling, but we'd just have to deal with that and recognize that Vick's return to the NFL serves a greater good.

He would be a humbled, humiliated advertisement against the crimes he committed.

Basically he is saying that if Vick came back, he could serve as an example of why crime doesn't pay. Everyone can see the talent he has and how it was all taken away from him because of what he did. It's sort of reverse psychology I guess.

You could also argue that by Vick coming back to the NFL and succeeding others could see that even though he did get punished for his crime, in the end his jail sentence and bankruptcy proceedings were the only price he paid. He is now able to play in the NFL again and do what he loves to do. Of course he also lost ton of money in endorsements and salary but I don't know how many people are going to pay attention to that.

As if me or you or anyone else needs a reformed loser like Michael Vick to tell us that dogfighting is evil. We don't need Vick to tell us that. Unlike Vick, we never had to lose everything to come that conclusion.

Apparently there are a lot of people like the skinny white guy at the top who needs Mike Vick to tell us that dogfighting is evil. That's what concerns me. There is a group of people like whitey beanpole in the picture who are going to support Vick no matter what and think he has already paid too high of a price for his crime. They probably don't think what he did was overall that wrong. These people have nothing to do with this situation, but they are idiots and idiots always bother me. I am stubborn so part of me wants Vick to not be let back in the NFL just to show these people that what he did was wrong, but they will never understand no matter what anyone says or does, and I really think Vick deserves another chance.

We don't need to hear Vick -- we need to see him. See what dogfighting can do to a person. See how far a person can fall.

I understand this reasoning, I really do. How the hell can anyone see how far Mike Vick has fallen if he is allowed to play in the NFL again, just months after being released from prison? He will have literally gone to jail and then began to play football again as soon as he could. Sure, he will have lost a lot of money, but how many people are going to think about this? If he comes back to the NFL with no suspension, he will come back almost exactly where he was before...except he is not a starter in the NFL, and he very well could end up doing that soon enough.

Vick lost it all. That's a more powerful message against dogfighting than any stupid speech he could deliver.

Vick lost a lot of money, there is no doubt about that. He may end up like Ricky Williams and join the league again and very little will be heard from him negatively and he will end up being a model citizen. That would be great, but Gregg Doyel has this idea that Vick is going to be paraded from town to town and treated like a pariah. I don't think that will happen because people see what he lost, but they also see that he is still playing the sport of football at a level few ever achieve. Except for the fans, who I have no idea how they will react, I think the media will paint it as a picture of redemption rather than focus on all he lost. Maybe I am wrong.

Every city he visits, there will be protests about his cruelty. There will be news stories about his staggering fall. People will boo him on sight. The lesson would be impossible to miss.

People are incredibly forgiving and I really think he will end up getting cheers from the fans as well. The reaction he receives depends on which team he plays for and which city he plays in each given week.

I think the lesson people will get is that he paid his penance to society and now he is back in the NFL. I am afraid people are too stupid to understand the depth of the message that Gregg Doyel wants them to understand.

If Vick gets out of prison and fades forever into the background, he misses out on whatever money and fame he could recoup as an NFL player. But we would miss out on an animal cruelty message that could only be delivered by one of the most naturally gifted men ever to play pro football:

There goes convicted dogfighter Michael Vick, the dumbest there ever was to play this game.

I have read Gregg Doyel's article three times, not including when I just copied and pasted lines out of it, and I sort of get the message he is trying to say. I just don't know if everyone will get the message he thinks Vick's return will send, because people are stupid. There's a reason "According to Jim" and "Desperate Housewives" are on television and David Spade still gets to appear on sitcoms.

I wish everyone got the message Doyel wants Vick's return to send, and it is a powerful message that he broke the law and has paid a high price for it, but I think it may be lost on a lot of people. I think Vick deserves to come back to the NFL and get booed very hard by large groups of fans and I think he deserves some sort of NFL suspension, but not too long. I think I would be happy with 4-8 games. He has done his time already.

JemeHill talks to the Vick apologists, which irritates the animal lover in me.

Yes, the Falcons have a promising, young team, led by the 2008 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Matt Ryan. The fans have accepted Ryan and the Falcons' surprising success. But it's not the same. It may never be.

It will never be the same because the Falcons teams with Mike Vick relied on his legs a whole lot for points and had some trouble passing the ball effectively, while the Falcons team under Matt Ryan is incredibly balanced and can run the ball or pass the ball with effectiveness. They are a better team now in my opinion.

As Vick is released to home confinement, a lot of Atlantans (or ATL-iens, if you prefer) are still pining for Vick as if it was 2001 -- the year the Falcons made him the first black quarterback chosen No. 1 overall.

Really? Because I know a lot of Atlanta fans who are very excited about the future for that team and are looking forward to this upcoming year. Many of the Falcons fans also really enjoyed watching Mike Vick play football and run around the football field but were never really convinced he could throw the ball very well...but he was exciting to watch and he also sold a lot of jerseys.

"I'm rooting for him," said Chea Smith, a 33-year-old Tennessee transplant and ardent Vick fan who has lived in Atlanta for the past decade. "I just feel like he got a raw deal."

This is the type of denial that really pisses me off. I don't want to get into any sociopolitical debates or anything, but how the hell can you actually believe he got a raw deal? He committed a federal crime, his friends and dogfighting co-horts were the ones who turned him in for this. There is no doubt that he was guilty of the crime that he committed, no matter how many times he tried to lie and say he didn't do it. There is going to be no 48 Hours Mystery about this situation. There is no doubt he was guilty. The dogfighting "equipment" was found on Vick's property and people testified that Vick was present and engaged in dogfighting, and he tortured the dogs when they did not perform well.

He did not even get an excessive sentence for the crime that he was convicted of. He got 17 months for a federal crime, I bet there are tons of drug offenders who wish they got that sentence. He got punished for a crime he committed and if you think that is a raw deal I don't want you living in the same society as me because you are a fucking idiot.

Vick certainly had his share of white fans in Atlanta, but it's no secret his fall was especially personal and painful for Black Atlanta. Atlanta has the seventh-largest black population in America.

Sure it was painful for Black Atlanta. I don't doubt that. He was a hero and one of the shining examples of a Black athlete who could revolutionize a position in sports. It doesn't mean he did not commit the crime or should not be punished for the crime. It's just fine to be disappointed and not completely support the person who committed the crime. Denial is not fine though.

This was the home of Martin Luther King Jr., and over time Atlanta has been characterized as fertile ground for black success.

I hate it when people talk about Mike Vick being from the home of MLK Jr., as if for some reason he would have supported dogfighting, or thought that Vick should be found innocent of the crime. Martin Luther King Jr. was for equal rights for minorities in America and attempted to achieve it through civil disobedience, he did not advocate the complete disregard of federal laws and physical abuse of animals.

The Falcons made him the league's highest-paid quarterback, and even the most staunch football purist had to admit Vick was special.

He was special at running the ball. He also had a good arm and if the ball actually went where he wanted it to he was impossible to stop. That's all I am saying nice about him. I still have nightmares of his exploits against my favorite NFL team.

"We're going to root for him to succeed because his success is another example of how African-Americans can overcome," said James Powell,

Overcoming something seems to indicate that there was an obstacle put in your way NOT of your own doing. He may prove he can overcome his own idiocy, now that could be true I guess.

"It will prove we're not all dogfighters, thugs or drug dealers.

Mike Vick IS a dogfighter. I am not sure anyone thinks every single African-American is a thug or a drug dealer. Vick's failures don't reflect poorly on anyone else but him...at least to me.

It's another image of the black man in the media that will be more positive than negative.

See? Gregg Doyel's hopes for Vick being a negative example is never going to happen.

The Falcons fans continue to root for their team. Many of the Vick fans do not.

Smith is one of those Vick fans who stopped supporting the team. In fact, she was so mad about how the Falcons treated Vick that when she attended games last season, she wore opposing teams' jerseys.

I don't get how the Falcons treated poorly. The Atlanta Falcons are a football team, but they are also a business, and they did not want to be associated with dogfighting. It's as simple as that. I worry about the world if someone thinks that Vick got a raw deal and the Falcons treated him poorly. They made him the NFL's highest paid quarterback ever, built the entire team around his talents, built their marketing around him, and then he went out and violated FEDERAL LAWS, LIED ABOUT IT, AND THE VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW INVOLVED PHYSICALLY ASSAULTING ANIMALS. (I had to put it in all caps in case someone did not get the actual severity of the crime)

Only the crazy denial nut jobs who think Vick got a raw deal can be combated by the crazy nut jobs of PETA. You don't want to fuck with those people.

A football team can get rid of a player at any point for nearly any reason. It was the right of the team to disassociate themselves from Mike Vick and they chose to.

"I can't support a team that threw a player under the bus."

He threw himself under the bus you idiot. Why can't anyone take responsbility for their actions anymore? There always has to be an "out" where someone did them wrong. He did the crime, he paid the punishment and now everyone is square. He may be free to practice his trade of playing football again now. Don't want the punishment? Don't torture dogs. I feel like I am an old man lecturing others but there was no throwing and no bus. Just dog cages and torture chambers...all done to Mike Vick by Mike Vick.

Right or wrong, he was their guy. But one day, they'll realize letting go of Vick doesn't mean they've given up on him. It just means they're stronger than they realize.

I am not going to lie, I actually liked this last sentence and thought it wrapped up the column well. JemeHill's articles are not so bad when she doesn't actually type anything she thinks and she interviews all of the idiots she knows, so they can be the person and not JemeHill, who makes no freaking sense.

I am going to try and put MMQB up Monday but because of Memorial Day if I don't have the proper time to do it right, I may put it up Tuesday.