I know. I know. Just hear me out. First of all, I want to say that by no means do I condone Vick’s actions. So PETA, don’t come after me. My title is directed toward him being a victim of society on two fronts. The first one being that there is a growing, if not full grown, Anti-Pro Athlete sentiment that is rampant across the US and the second is the accepted social lifestyle of the urban areas in the South.

Let’s start with the Anti-Pro Athlete attitude. This is the most bizzare of them all given the way Americans love their sports, but for the past five to ten years, there has been a widespread disgust with professional athletes. Once upon a time, pro athletes were thought of as role models and upstanding citizens. Now they are generally perceived a overpaid cry babies. Every little ounce of an athlete’s life is more scrutinized in today’s society than ever before. Everything from their on the field behavior, dating life, social life, friends, where they spend their money, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. No longer does everyone “Wanna Be Like Mike”. Nowadays, people “Wanna Beat Mike”. So, of course whenever an athlete gets into any type of legal issue, it will make every headline imaginable. The War on Terrorism is even playing second fiddle to the Mike Vick Dog Case. The public will try and convict the athlete just with a hint of some sort of unacceptable behavior. And these are the very people that are supposed to be capable of fairly judging the accused in the case of a jury trial. Vick’s situation has exploded from a “routine” drug raid which there has been no mention of since day one, to the felony charges that he faces. And to add insult to injury he has the gambling issue looming over his head. In today’s world, athletes need to be more saintly than not or they risk the possibility of having their beloved livelihood being taken away from them.

The second social issue is the more or less acceptance of dog fighting in the South. It is fairly common to find dog fighting throughout most urban and rural areas of the South. In “fact”, a fair number of people believe that dogs are only good for fighting other dogs or attacking humans. Nothing more, nothing less. Assuming Vick grew up with this notion, it is understandable for him to not be aware or consider the felony charges that have come about. I grew up in the south and since a child have always seen or heard about dog fights and kind of thought that it was “normal”. Not saying that it is OK, but just always seeing this type of “sport”, it can easily become thought of as being acceptable.

Regardless of the outcome of this case, this is another example of a professional athlete that has his life pulled from beneath him due to a lack of judgment. The outcome will not be good for Mr. Vick, but perhaps it will open the eyes of every athlete so that we can get back to the days when our beloved entertainers are again role models and upstanding citizens.