Consequences

by JasonO

We've all heard the saying "to err is human, to forgive is divine." Athletes are human, and seem to prove this time and time again by making their share of mistakes. When someone like Michael Vick makes a mistake by breaking the law, he should be forgiven, even if the facts disgust us. But he should not be excused. It is the opinion of most analysts at this point that Vick will be spending some time behind bars due to his plea agreement accepting responsibility for his lead role in the dog-fighting scandal. Michael Vick is not going to be excused.

While it is sad to see a person with so much potential squander it all in such a senseless manner, the truth of the matter is that this type of thing happens all of the time in life. How many of us don't have a friend or relative who broke the law and had to pay for it with a bright future? Consequences are at the core of humanity. None of us are perfect, and all of us have, at times, had to pay consequences for misguided actions we have taken. But we live in a society where "important" people often don't have to pay consequences. Crooked politicians are pardoned by their powerful friends. Law enforcement sometimes looks the other way or "takes it easy" on a famous person when they become entangled in a legal problem. Our media makes excuses for important people, explaining to us that they face such extreme pressures, that it's hard being famous. But most all of us unimportant people have to deal with pressures and hardships too. And yet we often nod in the agreement with the media, we agree that famous people should get favorable treatment in prisons because the general population would be too harsh on them, when in fact the general population is harsh toward any prisoner. Money buys most things in this world, and excusal from consequences is often one of those things.

I have never been a fan of Michael Vick the football player. But Michael Vick the human, despite my shock at what he did, I am sad for him today because his career is probably over, and yes I know he has millions of dollars in the bank and will land on his feet once he pays his debt to society, but it does not make his fall enjoyable to me. Yet a part of me is happy. Happy to know that Michael Vick is going to pay a consequence. Roger Goodell has taken a strong stand against poor player conduct since he became commissioner and this goes in tune with what is happening to Vick. In the NFL there will now be consequences. Let's hope other professions follow suit.

(a brief note about the author JasonO: JasonO is Jason Opdyke, an avid football fan, a less-than-avid writer, and founder of and contributing developer to SearchQB.com, THE football search engine.)