ALSO KNOWN AS "OOKIE": I'll try to be calm about this and just state that I strongly disagree -- for football and moral reasons -- with the decision of my preferred football club to name a new permanent starting quarterback. In lieu of a rant, I will refer instead to
the quarterback's 2007 plea agreement and
statement of stipulated facts:
12. In or about the summer of 2002 at various times, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYOR, and VICK "rolled" or "tested" additional "Bad Newz Kennels" dogs by putting the dogs through fighting sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road to determine which animals were good fighters. VICK was aware that PHILLIPS, PEACE, and TAYLOR killed a number of dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions around this same time period. VICK did not kill any dogs at this time. . . .
32. In or about April 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, VICK, and two others "rolled" or "tested" additional "Bad Newz Kennels" dogs by putting the dogs through fighting sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road to determine which animals were good fighters. PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK agreed to the killing of approximately 6-8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road and all of those dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning. VICK agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts of PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK. . . .
Okay. Vick served his time, and has a right to participate in society again. He could earn a living doing any number of things that do not restore him to a position of glamor and celebrity. I don't have to forgive or forget, and I have not and don't plan to. But
as chinmusic suggested last year when we discussed Vick, Roman Polanski and John Phillips, it's hard:
[T]he separation of artist from art is more difficult in sports, or at least team sports. I can watch Chinatown and block out Polanski, but how does an Eagles fan support the Eagles without supporting Vick? Support for an athlete is largely public. Sure maybe you don't buy his jersey or cheer for him when his name is announced, but when the team runs out of the tunnel or Vick throws a TD to Kolb in some wildcat nonsense, how can you make it known what you are and are not approving with your high-fives and fist bumps?
