Though the New York Times’ William Rhoden previously thought the feds’ case against Michael Vick “had the earmarks of overzealous federal prosecutors taking on a high-profile athlete,” the ugly details surrounding the Falcons QB’s indictment have led Rhoden to conclude “we have to embrace the presumption of innocence, but the sad truth is that no matter what happens now, this indictment has thrown Vick for the greatest loss of his career.”
For the decidedly less-skilled Gregg Doyel of CBS Sportsline (above), that’s not nearly enough. Doyel openly professes to hating Vick, “and he hasn’t even been found guilty yet,” because after all, “only the scum of the earth take part in such atrocities.” No need for a trial, folks!
Don’t give me “due process.” Look around you. Do you see a court of law? Do you see a judge, a jury, a lawyer, a bailiff? The NFL is not the U.S. judicial system, and for the sake of this argument, Michael Vick is not a defendant. He’s a football player who has been accused of something so serious, something so heinous, that the NFL cannot in good faith allow him to represent the most popular sports league in this country.
Don’t give me “innocent until proven guilty.” Michael Vick has no inalienable right to play football this season or any season for the Atlanta Falcons. Our colonial militia didn’t throw tea in the Boston Harbor so Michael Vick, some 230 years later, could play football for the Falcons. U.S. soldiers have not died in wars all over the world, and are not dying right now in the Middle East, so Michael Vick can throw a football.
Since Doyel brought it up, I’d be fascinated to learn exactly why he believes U.S. soldiers have died all over the world. Presuming there’s ever a greater imperative than merely protecting American business interests (and I’d like to think that on a couple of prior occasions, that might’ve been the case), isn’t preserving the right to due process something worth fighting for? I realize this might be beyond the grasp of a simpleton like Doyel, but precepts like “innocent until proven guilty” are doubly important when taking into account an accused that (pretrial, anyway) appears to be 101% guilty.
Indeed, the NFL is a private institution. It’s already been established that Roger Goodell, hoping to curry favor with advertisers and hysterical columnists alike, might well share Doyel’s opinion about the worthlessness of letting the legal system play itself out. Note to all future sports commissioners : if you wanna set yourself up as the anti-David Stern to middle America, you’d be well advised to make sure the Players Union in question is as toothless as the NFLPA.
I heard at least two sports yacksters on the radio yesterday who seemed to concur with Doyel, both of them wondering just how they’d explain to their kids that Michael Vick was allowed to play football after being accused of such sickening acts.
I’m loathe to give out much parenting advice, but I suppose you could tell ’em that we live in a country where lynching is (usually) discouraged and even the creepiest of persons are entitled to a full defense before a jury of their peers.
If that seems like a tough concept for a 9 year old (or Gregg Doyel) to absorb, I bet it’s easier than explaining why the Falcons got rid of Matt Schuab.
I sure as hell didn’t watch my buddies die face down in the muck so that Michael Vick could electrocute pit bulls!
Boston Tea Party? What the fuck?
“Our colonial militia didn’t throw tea in the Boston Harbor so Michael Vick, some 230 years later, could play football for the Falcons.”
That might be the dumbest sentence I’ve ever read. It’s so stupid I almost admire it. Well, not almost. It’s actually not very close at all.
Somebody’s angling to guest host while Nancy Grace is on maternity leave.
You need to read the indictment, Gregg. You need to educate yourself. Michael Vick is a monster. I don’t need a OJ jury to tell me he is guilty.
The acts this man perpetuated on helpless animals is beyond belief.
Speaking as as a Georgian, I don’t want this scumbag associated with anything in this state.
I am still hoping the NFL or the Falcons will rid us of this monster.
Your column is bunk—-what a joke
Marsha,
if you’d like to write to Gregg, this is not the place to do so. Furthermore, a) it would seem he agrees with you that Mr. Vick “is a monster” and b) what exactly, is an “OJ jury”? OJ managed to find one that found him innocent.
“The acts this man perpetuated on helpless animals is beyond belief.”
Correction, the acts this man allegedly perpetuated on helpless animals are beyond belief.
I’d like to ask all the people who continue to defend Vick’s horrible behavior, did the animals he “allegedly” beat and shot and electrocuted to death – did they receive a fair trial?
Really, I’d like to know. I’d like to think that, if they did, it would be in little courtroom with a doggy bailiff and a all-dog jury and a doggy court stenographer with a little stenography machine. Ooh, and maybe the judge dog would be one of those wrinkly dogs – what are those things, sharpeis? You know, so it looked like an old dude?
I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t really know very much about how these underground dog-fighting clubs work. Is there anything on wikipedia about this?
Jason, illegal dogfighting is a “cultural” thing, don’t you know. Even Clinton Portis said so.
The problem is, you have a mental midget like Michael Vick, who comes from a poor neighborhood where there is no concept of ethics, morality, or character. It’s simply a power struggle to see who can sink to the deepest depths of depravity. You give one of these creatures millions of dollars and they don’t change their ways. They just sink even deeper into their disgusting culture.
Of course this is an issue of race or class (in multiple senses of the word) because even if dogfighting is not exclusive to poor (intellectually, in Vick’s case, or otherwise) people, it’s very significant that there are articles out there interviewing the people that grew up in similar situations as Vick telling us, “Oh, dogfighting? What’s wrong with dogfighting? It’s cultural.”
There are actually people out there who say “Let him have his day in court!” when they all know all too well that rich athletes can do nearly anything and get a slap on the wrist. In fact, I’d love for CG to tell me the last time he can remember a star athlete, black or otherwise, receiving the “fair trail” he glorifies. I can’t think of any.
If we’re lucky, Michael Vick will get hit by a bus tomorrow and die and real justice will be served and the world will be a much better place. African Americans should certainly hope he dies soon: he’s setting back their progress every day he exists.
JN,
lemme get this straight — and with your references to “CG” and “fair trail” (sic) that won’t be very easy —
“creatures” like Michael Vick don’t deserve the benefits of our judicial system (one which, by the way, manages to convict and imprision an awfully high number of black males) because he’s a rich athlete? ”
wtf?
Was Mike Tyson’s rape trial fair enough for you? How about Rae Carruth, did he get off easy, too?
If this “isn’t an issue of class and race” what could possibly compel you to write “if we’re lucky, Michael Vick will get hit by a bus tomorrow and die and real justice will be served and the world will be a much better place. African Americans should certainly hope he dies soon: he’s setting back their progress every day he exists.”
I sincerely hope Dick Cheney and Tom Sizemore aren’t setting back the progress of white people, or I’m totally fucked.
Ah the old typo comeback. Good game, sir.
By the way, I said it *is* an issue of race and class. And when Tom Sizemore and Dick Cheney fuck up, I don’t see a bunch of white people getting on television and saying, “Oh, it’s a cultural thing.” When I do, I’ll feel bad for the white people as well.
Rae Carruth — not a star, not even close. Mike Tyson — a star, yes, and he served a whopping three years for raping someone. I wonder where that ranks on the continuum for rape sentences. My guess it’s pretty low, especially given his violent lifestyle and his tendency for sociopathic behavior.
I guess I wasn’t clear, though–star athletes never get fair trials or sentences. You think Vick’s been convicted already and people say he doesn’t deserve a fair trial. I’d love to see, for once, an athlete of Vick’s caliber treated like a normal human being in the court of law or otherwise (especially with his job–we would have all lost ours by now). Even though it doesn’t appear he’s all that human.
JN,
sorry to harp on the typo thing, but if you’re gonna call someone else a mental midget, you might wanna work on your own spelling first.
Clinton Portis was ridiculed in this very space — more than once — for his cavalier take on the Vick charges.
Rae Carruth, not a star? Dude was a first round draft pick, made the all-rookie team in his first season, and might well have gone on to serious megastardom had he not, uh, killed someone.
As far as Iron Mike is concerned, you asked about star athletes receiving fair trials. If you wanna talk about fair sentencing, that’s a different matter entirely. But I would submit there’s all kinds of sliding scales for justice in America. At least that’s what Scooter Libby and Paris Hilton were saying at the party last night.
I think Vick’s been convicted in the court of public opinion. And I’m neither surprised nor particularly sympathetic about that. But I still think he deserves a fair trial, regardless of my personal feelings. There’s something absolutely chilling about a supposedly rational adult like Doyel demanding the NFL ban Vick from the league prior to conviction.
Doyel’s argument was the flimsiest thing I’ve read on the subject. Until your comments, which go a step further into the realm of “he’ll just skate, anyway.”
Apologies for the typo of my own. Indeed, you consider this to be a matter of race and class, and thus feel justified in claiming “African Americans should hope (Vick) dies soon.” If those aren’t the most utterly despicable words composed in the CSTB comment section to date, you’re certainly in the top ten.
Michael Vick is obviously a very disturbed individual. His entire family is incredibly corrupt and disgusting. His little brother couldn’t make it a year at VA Tech, because of drug dealing and who knows what else he did with all those girls. If Goodell actually lets him play, no mater what happens, it will probably be the largest mistake of his carreer. i truly believe that Goodell has good intentions, but I strongly think that he should go ahead and suspend him indefinitely. The Falcon need to finda new quarterback, becasue they are goingto loose a lot of fans and they need all the support they can get.