Beware of Dawg

Yo. Iz time I speak to m'peeps from da heart 'bout dis Micha'Vick nonsense. No mo sittin' roun' da crib an' bein' all quiet, yo.

I like Bill Cosby, and no, not because he's black and I feel the need to compensate for this rant on Michael Vick. I like what he said about the worst beating he ever got; paraphrasing, it was something like: ". . . the worst beating I ever got was when my mother said 'I am sick' and I added 'AND TIRED'. . ."

Well, I am sick . . . AND TIRED . . . of hearing about this multi-million dollar waste of flesh and his fall from grace. First, we all have our opportunities in the sun, usually followed by our proverbial (or literal) fall from grace. Heaven knows I've had mine. So the man can run. So the man can throw a football with a sniper's accuracy. But at the end of the day, if that's all that can be said good of him, dare I suggest that there isn't much to discuss? Once again, I can show you 130 million reasons why money does not change people's hearts. Mike Tyson. Paris Hilton. Lindsay Lohan. That Bay Watch dude. OJ Simpson. Show me a celebrity with lots of money and I'll show you someone who basically got lucky at the ol' Game O'Life. Sure, there's a few good eggs out there, like, um, well, hmmm, ok, gimme a minute . . . well, any way, I hear now that Michael is sorry for his "mistakes" and I have even heard rumblings that he, like Paris, has found Jesus. I think that's a reference to the Messiah, the Christ, and not the Mexican drywall contractor from Loma Linda. At any rate, I didn't know that Jesus was lost much less in need of being found. Quite frankly, I'm thinking that Jesus might not be too happy with the way Vick has treated His canine creations. But He probably wasn't too happy with Paris' after-jail afterglow party either. (I'm not saying I'm on the A-list either, folks, but at least I'm not a poser.)

I need not go into the gory details of how Vick disposed of his poor performers in the dog fighting ring, nor of how his partners in crime rolled over like $10 crack whores when confronted with the sins of their brother. Nevertheless, it would be amusing to see how quickly his fans and defenders would be up in arms if other human athletes were eliminated in a similar fashion. Psychologists have long said that the way we treat animals is how we are capable of treating fellow humans. To suggest that this is just a "normal" activity for the black man is akin to saying that bum fights are "normal" for the white man. Or cock fights are "normal" for the Hispanic man. Call a spade, a spade, people. It's animal cruelty being exacted by someone who is at least paid enough to know better. Ah, but therein lies the rub: no amount of money changes the heart of a man. Therefore, he is nothing more than an overpaid thug. And his supporters need to look beyond his performance on the football field and the color of his skin and denounce his barbaric behavior. Period. Set a positive example for your children - at least this time.

As though the Ron Mexico debacle was not shameful enough, stop glorifying this clown's bad behavior.

Oh, and a few role models have come to me: Ronde and Tiki Barber, Mike Alstott, John Lynch, Peyton Manning, and Tony Dungy. My apologies to the countless others I failed to mention. Sadly, these folks don't get the air-time that their misbehaving contemporaries receive. But, a wise young woman schooled in broadcasting taught me something very telling about the media: "if it bleeds, it leads." Which is really too bad . . .

But there again, if it were any other way, then it would mean that Common Sense isn't extinct.