Goodell says Vick needs to show remorse
Just to expand on Mr. G from two posts below, the commish told USA Today that Michael Vick would need to show remorse before even considering his reinstatement into the league.
Said Goodell: "I'm not going to make a judgment until I know all the facts on Michael Vick. I think it's clear he's paid a price, but to a large extent he's going to have to demonstrate to the larger community — not just to the NFL community and to me — that he has remorse for what he did and that he recognizes mistakes that he made. Everyone makes mistakes, but he has to show that genuine remorse in his ability to be a positive influence to correct the things that he did wrong publicly."
A few observations on these comments:
1. Aside from the pension thing Mr. G mentioned below, what other facts does Goodell need to know about Vick's case? Hasn't all the dogfighting stuff been uncovered? I know that's the standard line in these situations, but it makes the NFL either look oblivious or like it knows there's other info that hasn't come out yet.
2. The fact that he referenced the public at-large leads me to believe that his decision will be based more on the public relations aspect than the NFL's feelings on dogfighting. This is pretty obvious, being the NFL is very image conscious and more concerned with the bottom line than anything.
3. It seems to me like Goodell will reinstate Vick after serving his time. Thus, should Plaxico Burress be exonerated of his gun charges, I would expect the same judgment from the NFL, even though the NFL's plight against weapons is more of a smoking gun (no pun intended) than dogfighting.
-Chris Mascaro
(Photo by John Bazemore/The Associated Press)
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Comments (20)
Chris, just like Bertuzzi in the NHL, Vick needs to face punishment from the league where its supposedly a "privlage" to play in.
Bertuzzi was only suspended 18 games for ruining a mans life and breaking his neck. Then the lockout came and he was treated like a hero in his return.
Here, Vick paid his duty to the public, but not the league. He needs to serve at least a year suspension for what he did. And personally, any team that even brings him in to an interview, is dead to me.
So I guess in this day and age a humans life is second to an animal's. I guess the feds cares more about Lassie getting killed than a little girl that went missing. I guess the government cares more about dogs than the drug epidemic that keeps growing. So Richie a mans life is worth 18 games but Vick should serve a year for dogs? Bottomline is Vick was a target way before dogs just because he wasnt the "Traditional" pocket passer like Peyton or Tom. People hated him because he had a gift of speed and used it, if he was going 0-16 like the Lions then people should talk but if he got the Falcons who at the time had middle schoolers for recievers to the playoffs not to mention the NFC Championship lay off of him. Its obvious racism and everyone knows it. When have you ever heard of something like dogfighting go to the feds? Judge Poindexter in VA who presided over the Vick state case said the same thing. Theres bigger problems in the US than this. Bertuzzi (a white man) breaks a dude's neck gets a slap on the wrist and 18 games, Vick ( black man) does evil to a couple dogs and gets 23 months, bankruptcy, job taken, and a negative image that will last forever. Vick was absolutely wrong but he paid his debt leave him alone.
To follow up on Ryan's comment (well done sir)
Larry Csonka is living comfortably in Alaska right now slaughtering fish, wildlife and birds so he can reap the financial benefits that come with his NAPA sponsored weekly TV show.
Not that I have a problem with it.....but haven't things gone just a little bit too far with Vick?
Doesn't Brett Favre harvest, indeed MURDER animals?
If Brett Favre was raising pit bulls would anyone bother to sniff around his house?
What's so different about Vick?
Draw your own conclusions.
And yes, unlike "sport" hunting, I realize that dog abuse is illegal, but like Ryan said..Vick has done his time.
Move on, give him his life back.
And Richie, Bertuzzi never did any jail time for his violent assault on Steve Moore.
Comparing his 18 game suspension for paralyzing a human being to Vick's HARD TIME time for abusing dogs and expecting the NFL to pile on with more penalties after doing HARD TIME is pretty friggen ridiculous to me.
There is absolutely no comparison between the two deeds.
BERTUZZI'S WAS FAR WORSE....and all he got was an 18 game suspension.
My point in the last comment....
If Larry Csonka was convicted of taking a moose out of season, or Bret Favre was convicted for wearing alligator shoes that he harvested illegally, would either of them be held to the same post jail time microscope that Vick is currently undergoing?
I DON'T THINK SO.
See the blog entries about the football player in Dallas who couldn't get to the hospital to visit his dying grandmother.
Torture is why Vick is a horrible "human being".
Hunting is for clean kills.
Torturing animals, and taking pleasure in it, is disgusting and a sign of a truly screwed up "human being".
"Torturing animals, and taking pleasure in it, is disgusting and a sign of a truly screwed up "human being"."
Oh please....as much as I despise PETA, let me take a line from them...and admonish you to think about that statement the next time you order 10 Chicken McNuggets for $2.99.
Ever been to a chicken farm?
You think existence in those mass factories is not torture?
How 'bout them "baby back, baby back, baby back ribs"?
Ever been to a pig farm?
You think there's no torture there?
And the manufacturers of those items take great pleasure on the bottom line every time you part with your money.
The bottom line difference is... There are well documented incidents of "animal torture" in every area of hunting and food production.
But hunting and food production are LEGAL.
Dog fighting is not.
Vick got caught, he was convicted of violating a crime and he did his time......move on.
Meanwhile, we have a dead hockey player from an on-ice brawl in Canada this year, and the assailant is not only still walking the streets, but he is still playing hockey. (And I bet the fans at the game took GREAT PLEASURE in watching Spartacus fight).
I wonder if his parents feel tortured in anyway.
And where did everyone get the idea that "death", in and of itself, and no matter how "clean" it is.... is not "torture"?
It's the highest form of torture.
And we all take great pleasure in it 3X every day.
I respectfully disagree with your conclusions, Islander505.
But as your mind seems solidly made up, I will no longer try to convey my thoughts towards you on this issue.
OK, you guys need to CHILL!! First off, I think Bertuzzi should have had SERIOUS jail time. And if I was Gary Bettman, I would have said, Bertuzzi, you are suspended indefinately. I will look at your case when Mr. Moore comes back. That's when I will decide your suspension. And it will be at least a year after he returns. So in other words, he'd be suspended for life.
And Ryan...before you call me a racist..maybe you should know me. Just because Vick is black doesn't mean he's a great guy...just as it doesn't mean he's a criminal/thug. He just happens to be a thug and is black, just like Bertuzzi is a thug and is white.
Vick deserves all the negative press and jail time he gets. Black people that commit crimes deserve to spend time in jail, just like every other color.
Richie,
No one is questioning whether Vick deserved jail time, regardless of his color or race. He was guilty of a crime and sentenced.
The issue is.....now that he has served his time....where do we go from here?
You expressed the opinion that "any team that even brings him in to an interview, is dead to me. "
And I daresay that you are not the only person in America that feels that way.
Fair enough. Understood.
But I ask you....
If the Detroit Tigers brought Denny McClain into the media booth to do play by play and color for the Tigers.....would the Tigers be dead to you as well?
How 'bout Pete Rose?
What IF baseball returned him to it's good graces?
Would MLB also be dead to you?
Islanders, no they wouldn't be dead to me. Because what Rose and McClain did while wrong, wasn't evil. What Vick did is evil. Just like what Bertuzzi did. I will never root for any team Todd Bertuzzi is on. Or any team that a wife beater or rapist is on.
I also think you should read what Ryan said more closely. He seems to be crying racism and seems to insinuate if Vick was white he wouldn’t have served this much time.
BTW, you can ask Davidoff if I always rail against wife beaters like Brett Myers.
So, I assume Joe DiMaggio is on "your list"?
Read "Joe DiMaggio, The Hero's Life" by Richard Ben Cramer.
"DiMaggio, as Cramer lays out, was a fairly lousy human being. A jealous wife-beater, a neglectful father, a cheapstake and a friend of known mobsters."
Here's the book review....
http://paulkatcher.com/archives/000721.shtml
And what about THE YANKEES Richie, and the sports media of the era?
They condoned via silence, indeed, were in effect conspirators to DiMaggio's unpunished crimes with their silence, shouldn't the Yankee organization "be dead to you"? Do you still watch "Old Timer's Days" and revel in the nostalgia of Joe D's history?
Based on that book Joe D certainly fit your definition of "an evil man", yet Dimaggio was never even charged for his crimes, much less punished.
At least Vick has done his time.
I am not suggesting that any team in the NFL , or the NFL for that matter, is obligated to give Michael Vick a second chance.
They're not.
But anyone who thinks that there are no double standards when it comes to treating "certain" athletes in professional sports, even today, is naive.
And the fact that Vick's misdeeds against animals are treated with such apparent vile and revulsion by a huge segment of the population is simply MIND NUMBING AND EVILLY HYPOCRITICAL to me.
Hurt Animals? BAD...Harm Two legged homo-sapiens?....eh, it's okay, depending on WHO you are, or WHAT team you are on, or, more importantly, WHERE you come from.
And no forgiveness for paying the penalty for abusing animals.
Just my opinion....from two time zones away....with a happy dog at my feet.
The Yankees are dead to me anyways Islanders...I was a Mets fan!
But yes, if Joe D. committed those crimes then he is dead to me.
Here's one. I always loved Pete Carrol. Loved the guy, loved his passion, his energy. Just loved him. Then he invited OJ Simpson to watch practice and said something to the affect of, "We treat ledgends with respect at USC." I still to this day hope OJ dates one of his daughters. Lets see how happy Coach would be then. I've rooted against Carrol and the Trojans ever since.
So I think I'm pretty consistant. I love dogs. Love them. I also love humans. And I dont want to see a dog or a human hurt. However what Vick did is disgusting and he can serve his time to society, but much like a rapist or a murderer, he can never truly serve his time to his victims. Sorry if you are not a fan of my forgiveness ratio. But I want Vick to die. I want OJ to suffer. I laughed when Johnny Cochrane died. I will laugh when Michael Jackson dies. I will be happy when all these cop killers die. The white guy who killed his wife and stuffed her on the side of the road in Nassau. I want him to suffer.
You may want me to forgive Vick, or just not hate him. But I wont and I do. Along with a lot of people that have hurt humans. And if you can find me where John Stearns beat the crap out of his wife and raped a girl, I will very begrudgingly wish harm upon Stearns as well.
Do you sorta see where I'm coming from?
And I loved Dwight Gooden btw. He was one of my all-time favs. I can forgive him for doing the drugs, but not punching his wife. So even though I really want to get one of those classic Met jerseys with his name on it, I cant.
Wife beaters I dont want to die btw (depending on the beatdowns). I want them to get help, realize how wrong they are and change. But if its too severe, then yes, death.
Fair enough.....nuf said...
(Enjoy your vegetarian lifestyle...I'll enjoy my meat...even the Mongolian "Beef" with Snow Peas served by the greasy ethnic restaurant down the street)
;)
I understand what they do to animals is bad. And yes, maybe its hypocritical. And I will never eat at KFC because of how bad the food is, but also because I saw a video of what they do to the chickens.
But what Vick does is unforgivable, and he was caught.
Do you want to let all murderers run free because not everyone was caught?
;)
No more crab fro you Richie.....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090327/sc_livescience/boilingmadcrabsfeelpain
Yo Richie G....
Time to pull Yanni off of your Ipod...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/07/entertainment/main1375992.shtml
Good Day. Listen. Do not have an opinion while you listen because frankly, your opinion doesn?t hold much water outside of Your Universe. Just listen. Listen until their brain has been twisted like a dripping towel and what they have to say is all over the floor.
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Regards :-( Magdalen.