I’ve been holding off on talking about Michael Vick.  Mainly because it just seemed to obvious to me what was going on and why should I say what everyone else already was?  Besides, I knew that once things came to a head in court Wilbon would do a better job than I ever could.

I agree with most of the pundits and talking heads that Vick got off to a good start yesterday by talking for himself.  The lack of notes, scripts and handlers was a good way to show that we meant what he was saying.  Not simply saying it for the PR benefit down the road.

What I don’t see being addressed is the fact that the things he killed were only dogs.  Not women.  Not kids.  Not somebody that you or I would know.

Dogs.

Animals that don’t have an immortal soul.

I’m not a big lover of dogs.  I don’t own a dog now, but did has a kid.  I took good care of it, loved it, played with it and was crushed when it died, but in the end it was only a dog.  Not a person.  So pardon me if I’m not as outraged as I’m supposed to be that a professional athlete raised fighting dogs and then killed them.  It bothers me more that the league has allowed wife beaters and drunk drivers to continue their professional football careers.

I want to know where all the moral outrage is for that?  Why are we not seeing protests by Mothers Against Drunk Driving in front of the offices of the Cincinnati Bengals?  When a player is accused of domestic abuse where are all the political activists then?  At home in front of their HD flat screen, or up in the stands chugging a beer?  Kill an animal and the world stops revolving.  To me, that’s a crime too.

I don’t condone what Vick did and do think that the way he raised and killed the dogs is sick. Personally I hope he never gets to play another down in the NFL.  He did something he knew was wrong and then he lied to cover it up.  Both of those things should get him banned for at least a year AFTER he gets out of prison.  And no NFL owner should ever be desperate enough to see the benefit of hiring a convicted felon to be his quarterback.

I just don’t get why the nation thinks that is more important than so many other things in this country that deserve our attention.