Justin Brewer's Page

In recent weeks, the portrayal of Michael Vick by the mainstream press has been modified. Several ESPN commentators claim Vick has “done his time” and that he “deserves a second chance” at his career.

Others, such as Yahoo! Sports reporter Michael Silver (in “Lambeau Playoff Stunner Made Vick a Force”) have portrayed Vick as the victim of ". . . a dogfighting scandal that robbed him of his freedom, fortune and reputation. . ." while also claiming he was an undeniably great quarterback who carved his name into NFL glory with a single playoff win in 2003.

Through these words, Mr. Silver and others have chosen to portray Michael Vick as a victim who was "robbed".

But no one "robbed" Michael Vick of his freedom, fortune and reputation—Michael Vick chose to engage in cruel, premeditated, evil criminal acts on innocent dogs over the course of decades. He admittedly began dogfighting at age eight.

Vick deserves no sympathy or respect; actually, he deserves to be tortured in some circle of Dante's Inferno.

And Vick doesn't deserve a "second chance" at anything. A man who enjoys torturing dogs in brutally inhumane ways for nearly twenty years has had an opportunity to change his life every day—by my math, he's already had roughly 7,300 chances to stop since he started killing dogs. And that's too many.

To magnify Vick's single playoff moment of glory as an indication of his alleged greatness is beyond myopic; it's a comedic display of ignorance. What other "great" NFL quarterback had his crowning glory at 22—by winning a single playoff game?

Let's remember this, Mr. Silver. The Falcons made the Super Bowl a mere two years before they drafted Michael Vick. And now—without Vick—they're a playoff team again (with a rookie quarterback who is already better than Vick ever was.)

All the talent in the world couldn't compensate for Vick's clear lack of character. To overlook his massive failures—on and off the field—and fall for the once-prominent Nike-infused Vick hype machine is to rewrite history, which apparently, Mr. Silver and others would like to do.

To say Vick was "robbed" of anything, to portray him as a passive victim who did live up to the expectations, hype, and contract of being the #1 pick and franchise player, exemplifies the height of irresponsibility on their part: an inability to distinguish between physical gifts and competitive greatness—which, as NFL journalists, must be somewhere in their job description.

Instead of viewing the whole of Vick's career, Mr. Silver has chosen to glorify one moment, to recognize one great game, to circumvent six plus seasons of mediocrity, to forget the airport pot bust and herpes-inspired "Ron Mexico" fiasco.

Because on one cold day in Lambeau, on the frozen tundra, Vick took time off from killing dogs, smoking weed, and—knowingly—spreading herpes to beat the Packers.

And, according to Mr. Silver, we should all worship at the altar of "Ron Mexico" (I mean Michael Vick) for that.

After all, in Mr. Silver’s eyes, that one game was worth a $100+ million team contract, $25+ million in endorsements, many lives being forever changed by Vick knowingly passing on STDs, and hundreds of innocent dogs' deaths.

Preach on, Mr. Silver. Let the young people reading you column know that Michael Vick shouldn't be remembered as a villainous dog-killing, STD-spreading pothead who never lived up to his potential as a player or (more importantly) as a man.

Instead, tell those children to overlook all Vick's flaws and remember the greatness he displayed that one day in 2003 at Lambeau.

And maybe they'll all grow up to be like Mike.