Re: Vick accepts plea deal
I think the NFL is doing exactly what they should, not screwing up their long term options to effectively deal with the situation as it evolves. And you misinterpreted Schefters comments on the dog - without him none of this would have ever been uncovered. He's wasn't lamenting that, just commenting on it's incredible irony.
I said this a while ago, and now Jason Whitlock has articulated it from a black man's perspective. While I don't agree with his undertone that Vick only did this to keep it real with his boys, his daddy makes it pretty clear that this was Mike's thing from the get go, he makes the point that Emmet missed. If they won't follow, absolutely you leave them to their own devices. But first you try to lead your crew out of the life football allowed you to escape. Unless of course you never really wanted to escape the lifestyle, so much as to live it with lots more money...
Vick lacked the courage to help
By JASON WHITLOCK
So let’s go ahead and redefine “keeping it real,” shall we?
We might as well, now that Michael Vick kept it real stupid and probably is headed to a federal penitentiary, the vacation destination of choice for men who believe criminal behavior and a lack of education are cultural benchmarks.
This column will be about the lesson we all should take from Vick’s dramatic fall. Not long ago, the man did have the world by the tail. He owned a $130 million contract in a city, Atlanta, that adored him, and he was labeled a “franchise” quarterback.
He threw it all away because he bought into the self-destructive, immature, hip-hop model of “keeping it real.”
The Atlanta Falcons and owner Arthur Blank introduced and ushered Michael Vick into a brand-new world, a world that required Vick to carry himself in a more mainstream manner, a world of wealth, privilege, responsibility and the appearance of ethics and morality.
Vick wanted to do things his way. He wanted to customize the position in terms of style of play and off-field demeanor. He wanted to keep it real by keeping his feet in the seedy world he once knew and the new world that demanded a squeakier image.
The worlds don’t mix.
Michael Vick should not have abandoned his boyz from the hood, the gentlemen who predictably and quickly accepted plea agreements and squealed on Vick. He should’ve demonstrated the courage to demand that they join him on his new journey. He should’ve forced them to abandon him.
You follow?
It’s my belief that if Vick stayed involved with dogfighting, he did so primarily because it was a way to stay involved in an activity in which his “boys” still participated. It was Vick’s way of keeping it real. He was fearful of being labeled a sellout, fearful of having his blackness questioned.
This is a burden we’ve created for ourselves. We fight our own evolution. This must end. We need to redefine keeping it real.
For athletes and other people who experience professional success, keeping it real should mean offering your lifelong friends and family members an opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to join the mainstream.
This may sound naïve and a bit comical, but it’s the truth: Rather than financing dogfighting, Vick should’ve paid for educational opportunities. He should’ve tried to help establish his cousins and friends in a legitimate business.
If they were uninterested in that, Vick should’ve informed them that he had nothing but love for ’em. Vick, to me, is a coward. He wasn’t man enough to define for his friends what was in his best interest and what he would and would not tolerate.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/240088.html