Another Vick-diculous Moment

By isak, December 26, 2009

“The Philadelphia Eagles announced that convicted felon Michael Vick’s teammates have voted him the winner of the Ed Block Courage Award, whose recipient exemplifies ‘commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage’.”

I feel I am being played by one of the greatest marketing campaigns to date: making Michael Vick look like an underdog in the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal. And while I hate giving him any mention at all, I also feel I do a disservice to the dogs he killed and the dogs he abused in HIS dog fighting participation to not make mention of this ridiculous ploy. Many years ago, there was a book published called “Brain Power” in which the power of advertising was credited for many of our present day problems, a power that exists beyond belief today in ads that tell us we should have “this” and need to do “that” and must get “the other.” Further, it tells us what drugs we should tell our doctors to prescribe for our ailments. Get it? By the daily bombardment of ads, we are subtly being guided in our thoughts and opinions. It’s called marketing.

So enter the current round of marketing used to make an evil man look like a saint: the decision of the Eagles to make quarterback Mike Vick the recipient of the team’s Ed Block Courage Award. Here’s a little background on what the Ed Block Courage Award is about:

The Ed Block Courage Award is named in honor of Ed Block, the longtime head athletic trainer of the Baltimore Colts who was a pioneer in his profession and a respected humanitarian.

The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of neglected children and ending the cycle of abuse. The purpose is to raise Awareness and Prevention of child abuse. That objective is coupled with the Foundation’s commitment to celebrating players of inspiration in the NFL.

Since its inception the Foundation through its charter with the Courage House National Support Network for Kids, and an affiliation with the National Football League and Professional Football Athletics Trainers Society has helped to provide hope to countless children and raised millions of dollars.
………………………………..
source: The Ed Block website

As an aside, I mention this which is incredulous to me, too: this award is peer issued, meaning the other players on the squad nominate the recipient.

Just before the news came on last night, a preview mentioned Vick’s award. I thought, “Well, isn’t that just great… and I have to listen to some sports anchor tell me how great this is.” I live in Texas and Texans love their sports! However, I was most pleasantly surprised when the sports anchor showed photos of a scarred up Pit Bull making the rounds at various elementary schools to show kids that Pit Bulls are good dogs, family dogs. At one point, they interviewed the mother that had adopted this particular Vick dog. During the interview, she held the dog in her arms like a baby and he just laid there with his head danging off her arms… perfectly content with just being held. The sports anchor’s comments were that the surviving dogs so victimized by Vick’s actions are the courageous winners of abuse and neglect, improving the lives of their fellow Pit Bulls… and thus should be the recipients of this award.

It was on point and tastefully done. I am glad I watched it.

Here is a post I read on a Texas forum that just smacks of stupid, but the writer just doesn’t see it:

“I love the holier-than-thou attitude of some people. It may just be the inability to have sympathy with those born in to bad situations. Michael Vick was born in to poverty and was raised to see nothing wrong with fighting dogs. I personally don’t see anything wrong with it either, but that is not the point.

The guy spent a year in a federal prison and made it back to the NFL. If you can’t appreciate the hardship he has been through then you are the one with problems.”

Oh, please… do you really think he did not know this was inappropriate — not to mention illegal???

A few minutes later came this response on the forum:
Your response is like saying: “My old man used to smack my mom around, I don’t see any problem slapping my wife around either”. Just because someone was raised to believe that something isn’t a crime doesn’t mean that they should go unpunished. These guys knew they were doing something wrong, they just didn’t think they’d get caught. I’m by no means an animal lover but I put vick squarely in the scumbag column. I agree with others that said this is an insult to others who’ve won the award. Suffering the consequences of your own mistakes is not courageous, it’s justice.”

The only remorse I have seen from Michael Vick is that he got caught. Everything else coming out of his mouth seems to come from his PR company hired to put a positive spin on an evil man to get him back into his former overpaid lifestyle.

The dogs that were rescued from Bad Newz Kennels have been worked with through various rescue groups and are doing very well. Want to see the progress of some of the dogs sent to BAD RAP from Vick’s business?

In closing, I echo the sport anchor’s comment that these are truly the ones who should receive the Ed Block award… and wish them continued good lives.