"It's so sad Michael Vicks isn't playing football anymore!"

[BroomJockey]

I don't believe in role models.
<snip>
The gamboling issue is legitimate, the rest not so much.

Good for you. That doesn't mean the rest of the world operates by your rules. Sports players ARE looked up to by children, correct or not, thus "image" is important to the NFL, same as it is to any high profile entity.

And are you aware that normally, gambling can get even first-time offenders banned from the sport for life? This guy got less than two years, most of which time was covered by his criminal charges, thus he wouldn't have been able to play anyways?

By suspending him, we aren't giving him any chance to redeem himself and make him into at least a somewhat positive role model. I bet you anything that if he wasn't a pro football player, and say, a cashier or a postal worker or something like that,

Why should he get the chance to redeem himself by playing football? Why can't he go be a good person in a regular job? Why can't he be the guy who turned his life around by working at the corner store? Teach kids that football isn't the be-all, end-all of life. Why does he HAVE to be a pro athlete? You're acting like he's somehow deserving of more, just because he can play a game better than other people. I can tell you that no where would give a person a second chance if the person not only violated a primary tenant of being employed there (no gambling), but committed an honest to god CRIME on top of that. They'd have to find a new job in another industry, most likely, and probably have to move, on top of that.

[Flyndaran]

Good for you. That doesn't mean the rest of the world operates by your rules. Sports players ARE looked up to by children, correct or not, thus "image" is important to the NFL, same as it is to any high profile entity.
...

Everyone cares about image. That doesn't mean they have the right to fire or suspend a bank teller for animal abuse.
Kids admire pimps, wild west murderers, etc. It still doesn't make other adults in any way responsible for thier actions.
This country has far to much difusion of guilt for my taste.

[Peppergirl]

I'm frankly surprised the Bengals haven't shown an interest.

He'd fit right in with most of the shady, criminal assholes on this team.

[Greenday]

No, saying he can't play football is the same as saying he can't work in a particular career. He can go be a pooper scooper or rabies vaccine tester or K9 attack dummy.

So if he was an average joe, would you be saying the same thing, that he shouldn't be allowed back to his regular job?

"We" didn't suspend him; The NFL did. Are you opposing that? They unsuspended him after he served his sentence.

I don't disagree with the suspension. I believe misconduct on and off the field deserves one. It just shouldn't be lifelong unless it's one of the most severe crimes.

I don't really care about football.

I do care about douchebags who sit next to me and act like animal abuse is dandy and should be overlooked as long as one knows how to handle a pigskin.

I agree it's not right to excuse everything he's done just because he's a pro sports player. No one is above the law

Good for you. That doesn't mean the rest of the world operates by your rules. Sports players ARE looked up to by children, correct or not, thus "image" is important to the NFL, same as it is to any high profile entity.

So why not give him a chance to build himself back up the best way he knows how so he can once again be a role model for kids?

And are you aware that normally, gambling can get even first-time offenders banned from the sport for life? This guy got less than two years, most of which time was covered by his criminal charges, thus he wouldn't have been able to play anyways?

If he was gambling on his own sport, yes. But he wasn't, so I don't see how what he was gambling on had anything to do with the sport itself.

Why should he get the chance to redeem himself by playing football? Why can't he go be a good person in a regular job? Why can't he be the guy who turned his life around by working at the corner store? Teach kids that football isn't the be-all, end-all of life. Why does he HAVE to be a pro athlete? You're acting like he's somehow deserving of more, just because he can play a game better than other people. I can tell you that no where would give a person a second chance if the person not only violated a primary tenant of being employed there (no gambling), but committed an honest to god CRIME on top of that. They'd have to find a new job in another industry, most likely, and probably have to move, on top of that.

I don't believe you should be able to ban a person from working what used to be their job just because they committed a crime. If the crime had something to do with their job, then that'd be different. But his job had nothing to do with his crime so I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed back to it at all.

[Mr Slugger]

You know there's the two reason why no one wants him.

1. Gambling
2. He'd be a role model, and reflect the team.

Honestly I think a team will grab him, just not right this moment. They'll wait until things die down, and then sneak him in.

But at the same time people are saying why won't they take him. If you applied for a job at a liquor store and your last job was working at a liquor store and you got fired for not checking IDs how likely do you think you'll be at getting that job? In the liquor store's case there's always going be a chance you'll just continue the cycle.

In his case the teams that even think of bringing him into the team will always have to be concerned about him going back to the same thing. Or throwing games, etc.

[Boozy]

I bet you anything that if he wasn't a pro football player, and say, a cashier or a postal worker or something like that, anriana wouldn't be quite so against Vick returning to his job.

The difference is that an animal cruelty charge would not affect a postal worker's ability to deliver the mail. But it does affect Vick's ability to do his job. He is an entertainer, and that is a job dependent on popularity.

Despite popular belief, a professional athlete's job is not to excel at sports. There's no money in being good at football unless someone wants to pay you for it. And the only way someone will pay you for it is if your presence on the team fills the seats and sells the merchandise.

Good players sell the most jerseys -- usually. But few people will be purchasing Vick's jerseys with the reputation he has now earned himself.

Winning is still important to increase the popularity of a team, and his price will have dropped, so I agree with Mr. Slugger that someone may eventually sign Vick. But they'll be forced to keep him under the radar, which means that his value as team member has plummeted. He's generally a lousy investment.

[AdminAssistant]

If he was gambling on his own sport, yes. But he wasn't, so I don't see how what he was gambling on had anything to do with the sport itself.

So, basically, keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame, but let Michael Vicks go back to earning millions per year for throwing a ball and selling merchandise...right?

[Nyoibo]

I don't know how it is in the US, but in Australia lots of sports have codes of conduct, which includes things that they are to refrain from doing while representing the club, which they are taken as doing while they are signed to said club.

[BroomJockey]

That doesn't mean they have the right to fire or suspend a bank teller for animal abuse.

Uh, yeah, they do. I dunno where you got that idea, but pretty much any job can and will fire your ass cold if you're convicted of a crime.

[Peppergirl]

So, basically, keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame, but let Michael Vicks go back to earning millions per year for throwing a ball and selling merchandise...right?

Hmmm - a Pete thread might be in order.

But I'm not entirely impartial about the hall-of-fame situation, being somewhat connected to certain members of the family...so I don't know that I could behave about it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I don't really care about football.

I do care about douchebags who sit next to me and act like animal abuse is dandy and should be overlooked as long as one knows how to handle a pigskin.

I agree 100% with this.

And I also agree with the "fuck him" part of the OP.

Is all the stuff happening to him "fair?" Well, I don't know. Probably not. If life were fair, this fucker would be dead from being torn apart by dogs.

[Boozy]

If life were fair, this fucker would be dead from being torn apart by dogs.

Amen to that.

[protege]

Uh, yeah, they do. I dunno where you got that idea, but pretty much any job can and will fire your ass cold if you're convicted of a crime.

Where I work, it's actually in the personnel manual. You get busted for any crime...and you're out of a job. They don't care what it is--there's simply too much at stake, and having the firm get fined (and trashing its reputation) simply isn't worth the risk. In the financial world, it can mean a company going out of business--would *you* invest your hard-earned cash with an individual with a shady reputation?

[Greenday]

So, basically, keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame, but let Michael Vicks go back to earning millions per year for throwing a ball and selling merchandise...right?

I know Pete Rose gambled on baseball, but I also think as long as you don't gamble on your team, it doesn't matter. Because if you do bet on your own team, you may be throwing games which is against the spirit of the sport.

[Flyndaran]

Uh, yeah, they do. I dunno where you got that idea, but pretty much any job can and will fire your ass cold if you're convicted of a crime.

That is probably why so many return to a life of crime. They can't get hired doing anything else.