Michael Vick and Courage not so Ironic

If you played in the National Football League on the same team as convicted dog fighter Michael Vick would you consider him courageous? One step further, would you vote to name Vick the recipient of an award which symbolizes professionalism, great strength and dedication?

The Ed Block award represents the essence of sportsmanship and recipients are voted on by their teammates. Each team in both NFL conferences gets one selection for the award and the Philadelphia Eagles chose a man who, due to his own indiscretion, spent 18 months in federal prison for his involvement in a dog fighting ring. One morning sports show derided this choice implying that Michael Vick is grossly undeserving of the award because he said,

You ask certain people to walk through my shoes, they probably couldn’t do. Probably 95 percent of the people in this world because nobody had to endure what I’ve been through, situations I’ve been put in, situations I put myself in and decisions I have made, whether they have been good or bad.”

I agree with Vick however. There are 30 other men who received this award, one of whom was shot 14 times. It’s easy to say Vick endured only what his own hands wrought. There’s no disputing that but during this Christmas season, especially, much is said about redemption and restoration. The polarized forces of good and evil collide more readily at years end as people cry out for “good will toward men”. Humility is finally esteemed in December but can shrouded by condemnation as in the case of Vick. He is an arrogant man turned self-effacing teammate. Vick did what most people never do – resisted defending himself against the onslaught from critics who’d love for him to be unemployed and still in prison. We know that he will spend the rest of his life labeled by animal activists as a vicious monster. But the guys who practice with him thought that he deserved an award for courage.

It’s one thing to be caught doing wrong; it’s quite another to decide to be proactive once you agree with those who caught you. Sure he has $1 million in reasons to rehabilitate but the influence of a reformed Vick is far more powerful than that of a reformed man who makes $10/hour. Vick is no better than the latter but should he continue to accept his mantle of second fiddle to Donovan McNabb, should he continue to expose the cruel sport of dog fighting and should he ignore the jeers of an unforgiving public, he will have done what most refuse to do. Owned up. It takes courage to do that last I checked. Maybe if more of us get caught doing the things we shouldn’t be, we’d exemplify a bit more courage too.