No forgiveness for Vick, says sportswriter

There are plenty of dog lovers who don't care how great a football player Michael Vick is; he's never going to get a pass for what he did to his dogs. And there are plenty of football fans who really don't get why we still care, and some who don't know why we ever did.



Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke isn't one of them.



Plaschke is a National Sports Columnist of the Year, a Big Brothers/Big Sisters Man of the Year, and an Olympic torchbearer. He's also a panelist on the daily ESPN talk show, "Around the Horn." But his column yesterday wasn't about a pro sports team, or a big game; it was about a little dog named Mel:

While Michael Vick was running for glory, Mel was cowering toward a wall.



Every time the 4-year-old dog meets a stranger, he goes into convulsions. He staggers back into a wall for protection. He lowers his face and tries to hide. New faces are not new friends, but old terrors.



While Michael Vick was officially outracing his past Monday night, one of the dogs he abused cannot.



"Some people wonder, are we ever going to let Michael Vick get beyond all this?" said Richard Hunter, who owns Mel. "I tell them, let's let Mel decide that. When he stops shaking, maybe then we can talk."



[....]



Hunter and his wife quickly saw Mel's scars. The dog wouldn't bark, wouldn't show affection, and would spend nearly an hour shaking with each new person who tried to touch him.



It turns out that Mel had been a bait dog, thrown into the ring as a sort of sparring partner for the tougher dogs, sometimes even muzzled so he wouldn't fight back, beaten daily to sap his will. Mel was under constant attack, and couldn't fight back, and the deep cuts were visible on more than just his fur.



"You could see that Michael Vick went to a lot of trouble to make Mel this way," Hunter said. "When people pet him, I tell them, pet him from under his chin, not over his head. He lives in fear of someone putting their hand over his head."

I'm not sure that the dog at the top of this post is Mel, but I think it is. I got that photo from Donna Reynolds at Bad Rap, and she said she wasn't sure what had happened to that individual dog, but that his eyes haunted her. They haunted me, too, and I've used that photo on many of my articles, posts and columns about Vick.



Compare the photo from Plaschke's column, taken by photographer Richard Hunter, at right. It shows Mel hiding behind his new family's other dog, Pumpkin.



As much as my heart breaks at the fear and sorrow that still live in those eyes, I like to think the two dogs are the same, and that some of his scars are aching less these days.



And yeah, don't sign me up for the Michael Vick Comeback Express any time soon.



Or ever.



Plaschke says thatVick's success -- and as he points out, his performance on the field might send his team to the Super Bowl -- "is raising one of the most potentially costly and difficult perceptual questions in the history of American sports."



It's a question his column does a pretty damn fine job of answering. Read it.

Comments

[Susan]

What a great response to this lamentable article by WaPo's Sally Jenkins:

http://wapo.st/bXYQZH

[Deb]

Mel, you break my heart. Vick, you turn that same heart to stone. I hope there is such a thing as Hell, so that when you die you go there and face eternity cast in the role of Aktaion to be forever torn apart by Artemis's hunting dogs.

http://tinyurl.com/25c7jb5

[David S. Greene]

I was cringing when I saw the numbers Vick and the Eagles put up against the Skins on national tv. Just waiting for everyone to yell "he's back to his former levels of greatness. All hail Mike Vick". I was then SO happy to read Bill Plaschke's piece. This was one of the better columns of his I've read in years. Meanwhile, I'm very surprised that Sally Jenkins took the bait. I thought she was much better than that.

[Teri and the cats of Furrydance]

Excellent post, very well done...I will never forget or forgive Michael Vick.

[Cindy Steinle]

Christie, you always say it nicer and better than I do. My passion and anger mess with my words.



For Mel, For the others in that house, for the little red dog and those that did not get out, and for my little girl, who got out, away and safe. No I will never forgive him. And I will never forgive those like him with less fame. I hold the same venom for my Cleo's owner (who's name I know) as I do Vick. Mike, Lavone, Steve, Eddie, I do not forget or forgive.

[vida]

A really well done post, and a great article that I was really glad to see. I'm in the 'never forgive' camp myself. I'm so glad Mel has someone to love him now, I hope someday he can be healed enough to love them back. If Vick had any remorse I'd hold out some hope for him but he never has shown a bit of it.

[mary frances]

Richard and Sunny Hunter are heroes, Mel is a hero - the writers who write about these dogs and those that use their lives - time, money and energy (heart and soul) to save those that were tortured - all heroes.



the one who caused the pain - dead and nameless to me.

[H. Houlahan]

Mel's eyes are so much like Barry White's.



Tell me again that a dog can't talk.



And yes, I believe those photos are of the same dog.

[elaine]

Plaschke said, "...Many others believe that cruelty to animals isn't something somebody does, it's something somebody IS."



I believe this too. I just didn't realize it until I saw it in these words.

[perkysmom]

Those of us who love animals or hate cruelty must keep reminding people of what Vick did. He says he's done his time, but he left animals that are still in prison (mentally and emotionally)- animals that may never know how to love or live without fear. I don't care how well he throws a football. His cruelty lives on in those dogs.

[David S. Greene]

Dear Leslie- For the foreseeable future, the only way Michael Vick will be entering the NFL Hall of Fame is if he buys a ticket.



The media that cover the Eagles commonly suffer from a staggering lack of perspective (I'd say that about their fans, too, but I'm not going there in this particular forum).

[Liz Palika]

Kindred Spirits had two of the Vick dogs come through our classes with their foster. Those were two very sad, very damaged dogs. And we see a lot of pit bulls.

[EmilyS]

great article but Bill is wrong on one very critical point. Vick did NOT admit to or apologize for the drownings/beatings/electrocutions or any other cruelty he personally inflicted on the dogs (we need to remember his conviction was for racketeering charges not cruelty). And THATS why we think of him as a sociopath. If he ever had stood up like a man, acknowledged his real crimes and apologized to his victims, then we might forgive him. But he never has, and never will. "Making himself available" for some HSUS dog and pony show is hardly adequate.



As it is, it's clear that society is letting him get away with it, because he can throw a football and run.. and make lots of money for his team and the team's sponsors.



Like most of the others here, I prefer to remember Mel.

[Leslie K]

It makes me sick to listen to the news.The Eagles are our local team and you hear now is that Sick Vick is headed for the hall of fame. maybe his former dogs should be there instead ? As far as I am concerned ,he's a psycopath[sp?] And although I used to be a big football fan, I don't even watch anymore. Let alone attend or purchase merchandise. Anyone listening at the NFL ? I am glad Mel has a loving home and family now, hopefully 1 day he will have justice for the crimes done to him.

[David S. Greene]

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he's proud of Vick...as hard as this is to read, his reasons for saying this are obvious: Goodell personally gave Vick his blessing to return to the field, and so now his dramatic resurgence on the field makes the Commish look good. It doesn't hurt that it translates into big bucks both for the league and for a visible, big market franchise.



Vick's crimes are quickly disappearing in the rear view mirror in the public's mind. Memories are short. People who CARE about the damage the sociopath did are going to be minimized and scolded even more as "needing to get over it" -- dammit.

[Kate]

As long as we have a legal system and a society that condones this behavior the animals (children, elderly or any innocent being) will most often be the losers. Until the laws are changed we will continue to see this kind of injustice. I wrote letters to my political reps, the NFL, the commissioner of football, as I know thousands of others did. HOW DO WE GET SOCIETY TO UNDERSTAND?

[Leslie K]

Thats what bothers me, Its like all is totally forgotten & forgiven as long as he throws td's. And you are right about the majority of sports fans in Philly unfortunately. Meanwhile for all of his "talks" to kids at schools, the dog fighting & animal abuse in the area is up not down. And an awful lot of it is being done by teenagers who look up to sports figures.I can honestly say I have never wished harm or injury on another person,but everytime I see Vick being glamorized on the local news or in the papers I get some nasty feelings.

[Donna]

Sorry I'm so late on this. The dog in the topic photo was named 'Charlie,' and he was adopted through the Georgia SPCA. We're told he's doing well. There was no evidence that Mel was used as bait, btw. If he'd been pitted, he would've been dug up from the ground with the rest of the "losers." That doesn't make Vick any less of a psycho-prick. Mel was still a very frightened, very unsocialized little dog who's been terribly stunted by his past.

[Elayne Tulliani]

The entire situation was heart-breaking. I was touched by how many people and great organizations stepped forward to open their hearts to these dogs. As a certified trainer and owner of a www.pitbulls-fighting-for-their-lives.com I had countless opportunities to speak to dog owners and was so surprised and pleased at how many people who prior to this rescue had negative opinions of "pitbulls" and ended up opening their minds and began demanding justice for the dogs and stiff penalties for Vick. There is no way to remove the suffering these dogs endured but I am thrilled that it did not get swept under the rug of "fame".