NFL should turn its back on Vick

The Michael Vick saga is a reminder of how sentimental Americans are. Americans love a redemption story. A famous man commits a hideous crime, gets caught, gets thrown into the slammer, has a moral or religious conversion or both and emerges redeemed. Americans love that. Americans love the redeemed man.

American sports fans and some American sports journalists live at the very top of the sentimental meter. They want their sports heroes to be real-life heroes. They want life to be like a children’s novel or a comic book. They want Vick to be a quarterback in the NFL once again. They want Vick to perform mythical acts on the gridiron and be an all-around great player.

Mostly, sports fans want to be entertained. Don’t let anything come between sports fans and their entertainment. That’s what this whole Vick debate is really about, although Vick supporters talk about justice and redemption. Sports fans demand the thrill of watching Vick play quarterback. If some offensive tackle or the center murdered dogs and electrocuted and drowned and hanged them and sponsored dog fighting in which dogs killed dogs, these sentimental, good-hearted fans and sportswriters wouldn’t spend a minute talking about redemption or wringing their hands with grief. They wouldn’t care about a tackle or a center, but they care about a glamorous quarterback who can make their Sundays exciting.

The Vick storyline is relevant today because he just got out of the big house and went home. And now we are faced with a big national debate. Our economy is going to hell and Iran is trying to get the bomb and terrorists are shooting up the Middle East but people are going on about Vick, saying he deserves — deserves? — a second chance to play in the NFL and make millions and recite his story of fall and redemption to an eager public.

Let’s take a moment to examine Vick and the arguments sentimental people present in his defense.

“Michael Vick deserves a second chance.”

This is the key proposition in Vick’s defense and it makes people feel good to say it, makes sports fans feel like dispensers of pardon and compassion. Well, wait a minute. Vick already is getting his second chance. He went to jail, where he belonged, and he paid his debt to society. Now he’s getting a second chance — a terrific second chance — which involves getting out of prison, having the chance to be a law-abiding citizen, interacting with other law-abiding citizens, doing the right thing, not killing dogs. It involves getting a job and living a productive life. It does not by any means involve playing in the NFL. No one owes him that privilege, a privilege he forfeited by being a violent criminal.

On one of the TV talk shows where reporters blabbed about Vick and got emotional about this felon, Mark Schlereth, clearly well-meaning, said Vick “has a right to earn a living.” He sure does, but he has no right to earn an NFL living. Which brings me to the next pro-Vick argument:

“Michael Vick has a right to play in the NFL.”

Really? In our society we have rights to free speech, to freedom of the press, to own property, etc. I never heard of the right to play in the NFL. It is not essential to our way of life that anyone have the right to play in the NFL, certainly not Vick.

I want to bring this debate down to human scale. Let’s say I was arrested for sponsoring a dog-fighting ring just like Vick. Let’s say I went to jail and did my time and came out a “changed” man. Let’s say I went to my newspaper and told the publisher, “I have a right to be a columnist again.” The publisher would laugh in my face or call security to throw the lunatic — me — out of the building. I would have no right to get the job of my choice or any job at the paper. Same goes for Vick and the NFL.

Commissioner Roger Goodell should ban him from the league. Goodell should praise Vick on his supposed rehabilitation — how much of Vick’s change is pure public relations? — and wish him the best of luck as he pursues a career somewhere else. Then Goodell should turn his back on Vick. After what he’s done, Vick would tarnish the brand of the NFL. No league should embrace a man like him.

If Goodell gives Vick the thumbs up, the individual teams should ignore Vick. Can you imagine if he were to play for the Niners or Raiders, all those animal rights people protesting? It would be a nightmare. A few months ago, someone asked the 49er leadership if the team would sign Vick. The Niners hesitated one day before saying they would not sign him, and they were stunned at the deluge of bad publicity they got in that one day. Vick is poison to any franchise, and he brought it on himself.

Barry Bonds, more important to baseball than Vick ever was to football, cannot get back into the major leagues although he wants to. Bonds never was convicted of a felony. If baseball rejects Bonds, football should slam the door on Vick.

I’m not the least bit sentimental about Vick. He deserved justice. He got justice. He deserves nothing more.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at 521-5486 or lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.