Michael Vick was sentenced today to a 23 month term in Federal Prison for his role in the Dogfighting Fiasco he unwisely took part in.
The judge, Henry E. Hudson, told Vick: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you".
And why, may I ask, did they look up to him?
Athletes are mistake prone people just like you and me and should never be viewed as Roll Models.
Where did that even come from? Who started that? Probably the same people who started tipping in restaurants and giving seniors a discount for their purchases.
Let's end all that once and for all.
Professional athletes are people with a specific set of skills that they have worked on very hard to reach the point of excellence. Just like welders or bus drivers or retail merchandisers.
The difference is that many people are willing to pay a lot of money to watch these individuals exercise their skills. That's it.
Athletes have no legal or moral or ethical obligation to live up to anyones expectations. Their only obligation is to perform their skills at a consistently high level.
Trevor Linden of the Canucks has extended his career by a few years, cleverly exploiting his well groomed "nice guy" image to cover up his long past athletic abilities.
I honestly don't care if Linden is the second coming of Mother Theresa. If he can't play I don't have any use for him, "Role Model" or not.
I honestly don't care if the Canucks dressed a line of Hitler, Stalin and George W. Bush. If they could help the team win, I'm gonna cheer for them.
It's not my role in the world to judge or condemn someone else's personal morality. Nor should it be yours.
The only Role Model a child should ever have is their Parents and perhaps a sibling.
Parents are the only ones responsible for developing their child, no one else, good or bad.
Vick is getting shafted. Yes he used poor judgement, yes he must suffer consequences.
But 23 months in prison as well as a ruined multi million dollar profession? Give me a break. He's getting shafted.
Once again the animal hierarchy comes into play. If it was cockfighting, it would be a minor story. Colonel Sanders is allowed to kill millions of chickens a day, but to kill a few dogs (that they eat in Asia) brings the wrath and indignation and hatred of our hypocritical society.
In Vick's case, his fame and extreme skill at his chosen profession became a huge liability.
If Vick was still a nobody living in the rural Virginia countryside I doubt he would even be charged with a crime let alone be given a prison sentence.
