Michael Vick

It's not often you'll catch me reading a sports blog, or commenting on a sports person, but I read an article today that compelled me to make a comment.

It was a sports bloggers response to the statement Michael Vick made recently when he stated that one day he would like the opportunity to own a dog again.

The blogger in question chided Vick for daring to make a statement that was simply (in his opinion) too soon to make, and that he should have waited.  Many of the comments on the blog article insulted Vick and made comparisons to letting a pedophile baby sit.

Here's my take, for what it's worth; I think he should be allowed to have a dog or two, and here's why I believe this.

There is a tendency in America to lean towards revenge style punishments rather than rehabilitating criminals and trying to put them back on the path to proper citizenship.  Here we have a case of a man who was fired, spent 19 months in jail, spent a fortune on his legal bills, fines etc.  A sports person like this could have earned insane amounts of money during those 19 months of jail time and a few good bits of publicity during that time could have led to endorsement deals paying the kind of money most middle class families can only dream of saving for retirement in a lifetime of work.

In short Mr. Vick has paid a heavy heavy price for his transgressions, both in loss of freedom and loss of money.  We may never know the true extent of what this man has lost as a result of his conviction.

Now our PETA friends may well point out that this man allowed some horrific animal cruelty to go on, and this should make him ineligible for dog ownership any time soon (or ever depending on who you ask).

But the reality of the situation is that the Pitbull is our nation's favorite dog to kill.  The Humane Society believes that some 100,000 Pitbulls are slaughtered every month in this country.  So let's not pretend that if those dogs had not been fighting over at Vick's house, they would have been living it up in some fancy mini mansion eating caviar and truffles.

Vick has paid a heavy price for his crimes, and now the next phase of his rehabilitation should be to learn to treat dogs with respect.  I'd say he should be allowed to rescue one or two of the Pitbulls that are going to be euthanized in the next month or two and adopt them into his family.  He should be forced to pay for the Humane Society to pay regular visits to ensure the dogs are being treated properly, and he should be asked to make some fat donation to a dog related charity.

Under those conditions, I don't see what the problem is.  Telling him no, when we are only going to kill the dogs anyway, is completely irrational.  I'm pretty sure that given the choice between living with Vick, or certain death, most Pitbulls would take the Vick option.