I'm With Ookie

I love dogs. Really, I do. And if Michael Vick turns out to be the Don King of dogfighting, he should be punished. At the very least, this whole episode should encourage every professional athlete to hire one guy to say, "you know what, let's just make it a Blockbuster night" whenever bad ideas are put out in the open. (I'm free!) At this point, however, universal condemnation is not in order.

Just today, former prosecutor Michael Nifong admitted in open court that he had no hard evidence against the Duke lacrosse players before he ripped their lives to shreds. No qualifications, just a pure admission of guilt. Were it not for bloggers like William Anderson over at Lewrockwell.com and the large purses of the player's families - they would be on trial right now, and still universally condemned in the court of public opinion. Let's not forget Kobe Bryant, while not the picture of perfect husbandry, he has no reason to force himself on easy white girls either. He also faced universal condemnation until the facts began to show us the way from the darkness of innuendo to the light of truth.

Michael Vick is no Pacman Jones. Pacman is suspended for a full season because for whatever reason, the man is constantly arrested, is always on a police blotter, and because of his actions another man may never walk again. Michael Vick has never been arrested, and while he has made some bad decisions off the field as of late - he has not, even now, helped to bring down the overall image of the Atlanta Falcons or the National Football League. He is no saint, but he is no super sinner either.

The worst is that any attempt to salvage his good name by his fellow players and other writers is immediately shouted down. Peter King's abuse of the great athlete and well liked Emmitt Smith was uncalled for, and the fact that he cited former Klansman and top KKK recruiter Sen. Robert Byrd in his attack was violently offensive.

I love dogs. But ruining the career of a living man for the sake of dogs long dead before a conviction is morally wrong.