It's Not About Race

OK, I've had it. All of you, shut the f@ck up right now. All you clowns who have been filling talk radio with your garbage about how the Mike Vick case is racial, how you won't watch the NFL because it puts dogs ahead of black men, how sports talk hosts are racist because they spent weeks talking about and even cracking on the disgraced Falcons QB. I'm sick of hearing from the NAACP, Stephan Marbury, Jamie Foxx and anyone else who wants to waste my time trying to explain the reasons behind Vicks charges or why the NFL should let him back in. Mick Vick killed dogs, viscously. He beat and tortured them to death with his buddies if they failed to live up to whatever depraved standards dog fighters have. Go away and stop bothering me.

I'll admit I've indulged myself watching Vick career fall apart in the last two weeks, but not because he's a successful, wealthy and famous black athlete, but because he's a criminal who thought he was above the law. He was participating in dog fighting as early as 2001, in his parents garage for Christs sake! This is the highest paid football player in history, believe me, it has more to do with that then the colour of his skin. And despite what some race baiters might tell you, the NFL is coming down on Vick because of the former, not the latter.

Get real people. Vick is a marketers glass slipper, a fantasy football geeks wet dream and a fans wish fulfilled rolled up into one. He's athletic, exiting, handsome, modern and hip. He can throw touchdowns, run for hundreds of yards in a season, pass for thousands and isn't afraid to take a hit. He listens to popular music, dresses like a new-age Tony Montana and drives cars most men can't even afford to dream about. He is everything the NFL wants to sell to it's fans of every age and racial persuasion. It is no stretch to say Vick has been the face of the NFL for years, because he has been. In another era(mainly Paul Tagliabues) Vick would have been pardoned for his sins almost before he committed them because of his enormous money making abilities.

But this is a new time for the NFL. Roger Goodell has seen to much for his taste and made it clear he will not stand for it. I still take issue with Goodell for not trying to get Tagliabue to stiffen up and start cracking the whip, but at least he's made it clear under his watch things are going to change. No, the Vick arrest, plea bargain and suspension has nothing to do with race, so stop bringing it up.

You want racial issues? Fine, go read Anthony Prior's book The Slave Side of Sunday and learn of how coaches treat Black players, particularly those from the south. Get the inside story of players getting benched for talking to white women or missing Bible class(Bible class?), or how Black players are called "boy" and "Jemima". Those are racial issues the NFL needs to address. Those are problems that need to be brought into the public eye and dealt with, severely in my opinion. Those are also actions that relate to the game and the league itself. What Vick did relates to him and his friends, not the NFL, not the owners and certainly not the colour of his skin.

And for the last time, this is not a cultural thing. This is not some "ghetto reputation" bull-sh@t. Dog fighting has been around for decades. Hell, the KKK used to hold dog fights to raise money and somehow I doubt Vick is in anyway associated with those cross burning illiterates. This was about thrills and gambling, nothing more. Believe me, if this had been Tom Brady or the Manning brothers I'd be on my roof dancing an Irish jig along with every sports writer talk show host in America because they could finally say that no one in sport is untouchable(and have something to yammer about for months on end without any prompting).

Vick is going to jail because of dog fighting. He's going to lose potentially hundreds of millions of dollars because of it. His football career is in all probability over due to his actions. And those actions alone are the reason why. Not his skin colour, background or old neighbourhood. So shut up, I;m getting tired of turning my radio down every five minutes because one of you morons wants to try and make this a racial debate.

I Go Away for Two Weeks.....

Sheesh, I go camping for two weeks and the whole damn sports world goes to hell. OK, granted that's nothing new. One sport or another tends to hit the lower levels of Hades on a yearly basis these days, but never have I seen so many serious problems pop up in so many different sports in such a short amount of time. Barroid Bonds get the home run record, Jason Giamboid comes clean and only gets slap on the wrist, Mike Vicks so-called friends bail en masse and start coughing up information, Rick Tochett gets four years of probation for his part in a gambling scheme and now Tim Donaghy is reportedly getting ready to name as many as 20 other NBA officials involved in gambling, both legal and illegal. I could spend a month on just those alone, but I'll spare you and just roll it up into one giant bitch session.


Let's start with the juicers. Bonds hit 756, Guess what? Nobody outside of the Bay gives a crap. There's your record Barry, put down your ever enlarging helmet and unnecessarily massive elbow pad and go away. I'm glad I don't have children because I'd hate for them to look up to you. And now Jason Giambi has come clean and explained all those needle marks on his ass. So what does he get? What does the new and improved Bud Selig do? Nothing. Jack squat. All Giamboid had to do was talk to a hand-picked politician(and former member and MLBs Board of Governors) and fork out less then 1% of his yearly contract to some local youth charities and that makes everything hunky-dory again. What a great message to send. We'll hit minor leaguers and marginal big leaguers with 50 or 100 game suspension, but the former MVP only has to open his wallet. I wish I could hit the heights of hypocrisy that Selig does, the view must be spectacular.

And then good old Vick gets to watch his so-called buddies go crawling to the Feds and start giving up the goods. No sooner then that, and the Feds are waving a deal under Vicks nose and hinting if he doesn't take it they'll really hit him hard. No sooner does he turn it down then Abracadabra!! up pop the reports that not only was Vick betting tens of thousands on the dog fighting matches but he also on hand and participated in the killing of dogs that lost. I don't know if these reports are true, but one thing is certain, even if he takes a deal now, he'll never play in the NFL again. Herpes, water bottle, dog killing. What are three things Micheal Vick will be remembered for.

To go along with Vicks increasing troubles on Friday, Rick Tochett plead guilty to several counts involving an illegal gambling ring that included a New Jersey police officer and several members of a Philadelphia crime family. Tochett received a total of four years probation as part of his plea agreement and has been suspended indefinitely from his job as Assistant Coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. There has been no word on whether or not Tochett will be fired or permanently banned from the NHL, but frankly it should be the latter. Bettman needs to do some good during his tenure, and ensuring that hockey will never have a Pete Rose in it's ranks will go a long way to ensuring the integrity of the sport. The fact that Tochett is so closely linked with Wayne Gretzky makes it all the more important to show that no one is above the law in the NHL.

So now we come at last to what everyone has been waiting for. Tim Donaghy is apparently ready to start naming names, a lot of them. MSNBC and ESPN are reporting that the disgraced official is in talks with prosecutors to name as many as 20 other officials who are involved with gambling at some level, both legal and illegal. That would account for roughly one third of the NBAs referees. It would also cast a serious cloud over the legitimacy of countless regular season and playoff games over the past few years. Yeah Stern, that was just one "rogue, isolated criminal" in your ranks. If you thought the post-game shows over the last few years were bad, just wait until the other shoe drops and a few more whistle boys end up in the slammer. If I wasn't such a big Chris Bosh and Steve Nash fan I wouldn't even watch next season. In fact, outside of Raptors and Suns games, I won't. Man, what I wouldn't give for a good Little League parents brawl right now.