THROWING KNIVES: ISN'T IT IRONIC?

by BD, Staff Writer

Don'tcha think?

Today Michael Vick received his sentence after accepting a plea deal in the dog fighting case that's ripped Atlanta in half ever since the story broke. And tonight his former team will take the field with Chris Redman running the show and you'll be able to hear ESPN's executives crying from Seattle. The game, which features last season's darlings, the Saints, against the Falcons is virtually meaningless after the Saints fell to Tampa Bay last week. Thus, it's pretty reasonable to assume the majority of the second half will be littered with discussion of the Vick sentence by the often unlistenable trio in the booth. So maybe we're lucky the game is unwatchable and the majority of us will skip it anyway.

Vick probably deserved the high end of the (reportedly) recommended 12-18 months, but it baffles me just how many people contend that Vick is a victim in this situation. A thought that rings of such ignorance it's sad. Pathetic even. It seems as if many have chosen Vick's defense with the contention that they're just dogs and it's not as if he killed a human being. Arguments so trite and ill-conceived I almost feel sorry for those that utter (or type) the words.

Even worse, this argument has become (for the most part) divided along racial lines. Which to me is as much an indicator of how far this nation has to go as anything. You see, we're all American for the most part, it's about time we stopped sticking up for our race and started sticking up for each other, no matter the color, as fellow Americans.

(If you're wondering where this came from, it was something I'd wanted to discuss before, but the Americans rooting for Hatton on Saturday pretty much broke the camel's back. I felt like it was another sad indicator of the state of the race issue.)

NOTE: As I was finishing this Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison. Seems about right given the 18 and 21 months his co-defendants were given.