EVEN SNOOPY WOULD APPROVE
Until last week, Michael Vick had lost all opportunity to earn a living at the two talents he possesses.
In his public life Vick was a bullet passing quarterback who could run like a halfback. In his private life Vick was a mogul in the netherworld of illegal dog fighting. His conviction for the latter talent cost him just about everything: his hero sports status, his multi million dollar contract and freedom itself during his 600 days in prison.
Having paid his societal debts, Vick has, at age 29, been given a rare opportunity to come all the way back to the ranks of premier NFL quarterbacks with his two year Philadelphia Eagles contract. A lot of folks are upset by Vick's second chance and want to keep him down forever. Their lack of mercy and forgiveness is a big reason America has the shameful distinction of having the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population in the world. At the start of 2008, we had 2.3 million souls behind bars, 800,000 more than China which has four times our population.
I, for one, will be pleased to see Vick piling up yardage again instead of dead dogs. I hope he succeeds and if he does he will have come full circle: from top dog to dirty dog to under dog and back up to top dog.
Now, that's something to bark about.
Origianlly published in Glen Ellyn Sun, August 21, 2009
Also published in Chicago Tribune, August 23, 2009
In his public life Vick was a bullet passing quarterback who could run like a halfback. In his private life Vick was a mogul in the netherworld of illegal dog fighting. His conviction for the latter talent cost him just about everything: his hero sports status, his multi million dollar contract and freedom itself during his 600 days in prison.
Having paid his societal debts, Vick has, at age 29, been given a rare opportunity to come all the way back to the ranks of premier NFL quarterbacks with his two year Philadelphia Eagles contract. A lot of folks are upset by Vick's second chance and want to keep him down forever. Their lack of mercy and forgiveness is a big reason America has the shameful distinction of having the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population in the world. At the start of 2008, we had 2.3 million souls behind bars, 800,000 more than China which has four times our population.
I, for one, will be pleased to see Vick piling up yardage again instead of dead dogs. I hope he succeeds and if he does he will have come full circle: from top dog to dirty dog to under dog and back up to top dog.
Now, that's something to bark about.
Origianlly published in Glen Ellyn Sun, August 21, 2009
Also published in Chicago Tribune, August 23, 2009
posted by Walt Zlotow at 3:50 PM
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