Sportswriters Rooting For The Wrong Team

Michael Vick

It's as pathetic as it is predictable: Jock-sniffers across the country, content to hold their silence until after Michael Vick's guilt on dogfighting charges was firmly established, are sallying forth to make the case for why the Atlanta Falcons quarterback should be welcomed back to the NFL once he's served his time.

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: "[W]hat would be accomplished by ending Vick's playing days?"

Mike Freeman, CBSSportsLine.com: "To be truthful, it wouldn't be fair to permanently ban Vick."

Patrick Reusse, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Everyone involved in dogfighting is a sick puppy -- not just Vick. He'll have a year in a cell to think about that. And then [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell should forget the grandstanding and allow Vick to return to the NFL immediately."

Et al, ad nauseam.

These and other pro-Vick columnists are largely relying on two arguments: that other NFL players charged or convicted with similar or worse crimes have been allowed to return, and that allowing people to redeem themselves is what this country is all about.

Jean-Jacques Taylor articulates this second line of logic in the Dallas Morning News: "[O]nce he's served his time and paid his debt to society, then he absolutely should be allowed to continue his NFL career. Anything else would be un-American."

Sorry, but no. Not allowing an ex-convict to vote or to rent an apartment is un-American. Not giving him a job that pays tens of millions of dollars a year and makes him an idol to millions of little kids—that's another story. The NFL is not the government. It has no obligation to treat a criminal who's served his time as equal to a non-criminal.

"What would be accomplished by ending Vick's playing days?" How about sending a message to other players? Seems like a useful thing to do, considering the vogue among NFL players for vicious fighting dogs.

As for the claim that Vick should get no worse punishment than other players who've broken the law, that sounds convincing only if you begin with the premise that Vick should be allowed back and work backward from there. If you want to clean up the NFL, you have to start somewhere. And if sportswriters want to shed their reputation as star-struck fanboys who identify way too closely with their subjects, they should stop making excuses for a guy like Vick.

Photo Credit: Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated