The Sporting Life: Michael Vick’s saga is for the dogs
Stop it. No, really. Just stop it.
Stop pretending you care about Michael Vick and his alleged involvement in a dogfighting ring and his cruel execution of numerous canines. I know you really don’t. (Especially if you’re reading an MP3 blog for your sports commentary.)
My typical Monday afternoon of watching Around The Horn was ruined after Michael Vick’s lawyers announced that Vick was going to plead guilty to the charges brought against him. As a result, it was three hours of non-stop SportsCenter coverage where we saw the same ridiculous Vick montage (including a 2002 interview in which he revealed that he “loves animals”) and had the same discussion with Chris Mortensen about how this issue transcended racial lines because his white teenage son had friends who supported Vick. I wish I could say I was joking about that last part. [Continue reading…]
Ever since April, when allegations of dogfighting first arose regarding a property Vick owns in Virginia, my reaction to this story rarely ever went beyond “Oh, Vick’s in trouble and the Falcons will continue to suck.” The media blitz surrounding this story had gone way beyond the point of oversaturation that I found it hard to believe anyone outside of PETA picketers would have any interest in it anymore. My hope for America was further dashed as ESPN, CNN, and other mainstream media outlets continued to put this in our public consciousness. Before I could hardly remember that the owner of the Atlanta Falcons is Arthur Blank; now I could pick him out of a crowd after seeing his weary face on TV 24/7. And I thought Paris Hilton was overexposed.
Where was the media blitz of this magnitude when Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson, or Chris Henry all soiled the good name of the NFL off the field? The “making it rain” incident at a Las Vegas strip club left a bouncer paralyzed for life and somehow we care more about Michael Vick because football fans decided all of a sudden they were animal lovers? Going back even further, don’t forget Rae Carruth or Ray Lewis.
C’mon everyone (I’m especially looking at you, ESPN), there’s other things going on in sports right now. The Little League World Series! (Which was unfortunately rained out yesterday, so I had to deal with the same Vick coverage on both ESPN and ESPN2.) The Yankees are back in playoff contention! The football season is coming back! As Roger Goodell said himself, we really are just excited for September to roll around more than anything else.
Hopefully by then the dog days of this summer will be behind us.
Dr. Dog – “Worst Trip”: mp3
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The Sporting Life with Carman Tse: Real talk. Click below for more.