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.