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Dogs to rest

Forgiven by the NFL, society should see Michale Vick

By now, we all know the Michael Vick story: he was convicted and served time on federal dog-fighting charges. In lieu of his official Week 3 comeback, I thought I should examine the significance of the decision to reinstate him. His on-field comeback was anti-climatic to say the least. He played a relatively low number of plays and hardly made an impact in the Eagles game. However, off the field, his return had much larger implications. First, The Michael Vick story has garnered attention across different news genres, not just sports. People are legitimately interested to see how his story is going to play out. Second, in coordination with his punishment, Vick, the Eagles organization, and the NFL have begun a partnership with animal rights groups. Third, Vick, once a role model in his own right, is now a different kind of model in that he represents a second chance. Therefore, I can't help but thinking that National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell made the right choice in reinstating Vick.

When the news of Michael Vick's initial arrest broke, the NFL was left with a bad taste in its mouth. Because the NFL is his employer, Vick's actions became a reflection on the league. Some people feel as if he even got off "easy" because of his status as a professional athlete. However, his status as a professional athlete made him more susceptible to a harsh punishment to set an example. Billion-dollar industries such as the NFL generally don't want bad publicity. It would seem that they would want to save the embarrassment of reinstating Vick to have him fail again. Yet, the NFL welcomed him back in the league in spite of the potentially negative publicity. Why? Why take a chance on someone who has let them down before? The point they are trying to make is that if a billion-dollar industry can reinstate a convicted criminal, then NFL fans with an even smaller financial investment in Vick should be willing to accept his second chance too. Some fans are not going to care about the financial stake. They feel that the NFL should have a stronger moral base or more principles. In my opinion, they do have a strong belief in an important principle, the justice system. If the justice system is finished punishing Vick, then the NFL is too.

Since his reinstatement, Michael Vick has been attempting to make amends for his crime by supporting animal rights activism. Whether genuine or not, Michael Vick has become more or less an animal rights activist because of his recent involvement in the prevention of dog-fighting. And regardless of activists' stance on Vick, they are all working together for an important cause. "Activists should put aside their personal feelings about Vick and think instead about the attention he can draw to the issue of animal abuse," said the head of the Richmond Animal Rights League, Susan Kelly. She is absolutely correct - ignorance is no excuse for Vick, but by working and supporting animal rights' activism, he can begin repaying his debt to society. I would have to say that in this situation, the ends justify the means, because even as atonement, Michael Vick is now helping animals and preventing the repetition of his mistake.

The University community is probably a little biased considering our animosity toward Virginia Tech football. Whether we want to believe it or not, Vick was a role-model to many prior to his conviction.

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