Meanwhile, from the NCAA:

ATLANTA — An NAACP leader said Michael Vick should be allowed to return to the NFL, preferably the Atlanta Falcons, after serving his sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation.

“As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football,” said R.L. White, president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter. “We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country.”

…

“At this point, you’re not looking at guilt or innocence,” White said, referring to the possible harsher sentence Vick could have received had he taken his case to trial and been found guilty. “You’re thinking, ‘What I better do is cut my losses and take a plea.’ But if he saw this as the best thing to do at this point for his future, then I think he made the correct choice.”

White said he regretted that the plea deal will mean all the facts of the case might never be known.

“Some have said things to save their own necks,” White said. “Michael Vick has received more negative press than if he had killed a human being.”

White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.

“His crime is, it was a dog,” White said.

Some quick points:

I actually agree with the NAACP that Vick should not be formally banned from the NFL. I think it’s unnecessary - Vick is probably going to be in jail for a long time (almost certainly more than the year he’s plea bargaining for) and no team would dare take him. I think that formally banning Vick from the NFL would be a power flexing move on the part of Goddell, which would probably cause more problems than it would solve. Besides, we require Vick to have the opportunity to make restitution on this; if he’s formally banned, where’s the incentive, much less the opportunity, to do so?

That said… anyone that thinks that Vick would’ve received less bad press if he killed human beings in the way he allegedly killed dogs is insane. If he killed just one human being by drowning them or coldly executing them, rest assured, the furor would be infinitely louder than what you’re seeing right now. If he paid people to kill other people for him, he wouldn’t be plea bargaining for a year - the feds would try to lock him up for life, while the NFL would try to strike his name from the history books. Also, if Vick, with his legal team and substantial fortune, thinks that the case against him is airtight enough for him to plea bargain, that’s a sign that he’s probably not innocent. He knows that signing that plea bargain will probably mean the end of his professional football career, to say nothing of jail time - why chance it if he knows he’s innocent?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS