I had moved on with my life but for some reason the Summer of Scandals seems to be breathing life into a whole new season. While Tim Donaghy is threatening to rat out 20 fellow refs in exchange for a reduced prison sentence, though his revelations could prove to be very minor, a highly ranked tennis pro is accused of fixing a tennis match and a doping scandal during the Tour de France which resulted in multiple raids of team headquarters, from the disqualification of multiple riders including the overall leader following the 12th stage. The address on 1915 Moonlight Road has cast a shadow on Vick's legacy and-- on my summer. Instead, the Most Exciting Player in the NFL has provided us with the final(hopefully) riveting melodrama in his celeb-reality public life and tumultuous year.
By pleading guilty to “conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activates and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture”, Vick is admitting to a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
However, a more likely sentence is a year to a year and a half in prison, as prosecutors said they will recommend that the judge sentence Vick "at the low end of the applicable guideline range" if he "cooperates fully and truthfully." Judge Hudson could choose to reject the plea deal, and he does not have to follow the recommended prison sentence, which has been reported as 12 to 18 months.
Despite all of the negative publicity this is still Vick's first offense. albeit a serious one and even if he admitted to gambling, he is not Pete Rose and he did not bet on the NFL.
Has the government ever had evidence against a public figure so damning against one individual. The only way a jury would be even more sure of his guiltiness is if the prosecuting attorney uncovered his online dogfighting fantasy league, then caught Vick with the aid of an ESPN broadcasting crew while Mike wearing his drivers license on a keychain around his neck personally escorted his prized pitbull into the ring wearing an official #7 Falcons jersey, officiated a few matches with his grandmother and Jim Mora Jr. there to identify him.
Another interesting perspective which hasn't been explored by anyone has to be his brother Marcus' potential involvement. You can't tell me that sometime in between serving up liquor to minors, pistol whipping teenagers and doing his best Captain Morgan impression on All-American defensive ends, he surely had time for a late night diet of illegal dogfighting? He went to Virginia Tech and has publicly acknowledged living with his brother for a period time while he was suspended during the 2004 season from the Hokies football team. Do you honestly believe he kept Marcus out the family buisness the way Vit did Michael?
"I'm never there. I'm never at the house," Vick said. "I left the house with my family members and my cousin. They just haven't been doing the right thing. The issue will get resolved."
"It's unfortunate I have to take the heat behind it. If I'm not there, I don't know what's going on. It's a call for me to really tighten down on who I'm trying to take care of. When it all boils down, people will try to take advantage of you and leave you out to dry. Lesson learned for me," Vick added.
If Vick was any less unscrupulous he'd simply deny eyewitness accounts of his being at dogfighting by revising one of his earliest statements and offer up his brother as the sacrificial lamb. They look so much alike and Marcus has such a terrible reputation amongst law enforcement he'd probably be able to pull it off.
Our nation's correctional facilities are in an apparent arms race with Mark Cuban's upstart United Football League to stockpile talent and rival the NFL. All I know is that yard time in various prisons and penitenturies across the nation needs to be broadcast live on ESPN 2. Cuban's plan for his new league was to target prominent college football players drafted past the 2nd round, however he should be appealing to United States penal system which just released Tank Johnson, retains the playing rights to Maurice Clarett, former Panthers receiver Rae Carruth, Michael Vick, and is in the process of acquiring a star cornerback in Pac-Man Jones. They also have an illustrious history with the jerseys of Jim Brown, and former Super Bowl MVP Timmy Smith just to name a few hanging over their barbed wired fences.
The most elusive quarterback in the NFL seems to have found another loophole to dodge a potential lifetime suspension from the NFL. Sinced his indictment Vick seems to have manuevered the system to come out with the best possible outcome. By implying in his plea agreement that he provided the funds for the gambling but was never actually involved in the act itself, he distinguishes his actions from those of his fellow co-conspirators he is stil able to save face in the eyes of the NFL. The crafty part of this agreement is that the prosecuting attorneys probably agreed without much hesitancy because the gambling was a minor allegation in the grand scheme of things. Their ultimate goal is to put a stop to dogfighting not to end his career.
Essentially Vick comes out with a SuperFriends type association with the U.S. government by agreeing to be an informant in other criminal related cases. One can only hope he also has to co-star in an animated Scruff McGruff commercial and agrees to help take the bite out of crime.
Why should I care any more? Because nobody from Congress, CNN, ESPN or Dave Chappelle will let me forget it.
Sports has become so broad and vital to our nation that it should have it's own agency in the Department of Homeland Security with David Stern, Roger Goodell and Bud Selig serving as advisors to the president along with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman back at his old job serving coffee to Stern. The only problem would be Bud Selig's reluctance to show up to important engagements such as cabinet meetings.
In the wake of the tragic Minnesota bridge collapse, the most heated debate to emerge was whether or not lawmakers should siphon off taxpayer money to fund the Twins' proposed new ball ballpark. Let's see: Does public safety outweigh building a park which would allow Joe Mauer to hit more home runs? Next on the docket should whether the location of the Giants and Jets new joint stadium should be in New Jersey or on top of Ground Zero.
"Let that word resound from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain, from valley to valley across this broad land," he thundered in reverance "May God help those poor souls who would be so cruel. Barbaric! Hear me! " "One is left wondering," he said. "Who are the real animals: the creatures inside or outside the ring?"" Those were the over dramatic the words of the Senate's longest serving member last month in a teary eyed speech on Capitol Hill in front of Congress. May Spike, Lassie and Old Yeller rest in peace.
On the ther end of the spectrum, however, I understand the universal support from athletes better than most fans seem to. For all the backlash from envious fans who use the unwavering support from athletes as another excuse to express their thughts on the elitist, arrogant attitudes of athletes thinking they are above the law, where was the outcry from fellow Congressmen when Gary Condit was implicated in the suspicious disappearance of a female aide he was having an affair with? That's because athletes just like politicians, actors and members of any other occupation are part of a select fraternity.
How exactly do fans feel betrayed by Vick's trangressions? Are they betrayed that he won't be able to help their despondant franchise anymore or because he committed a heinous crime? He may be the face of the team, a celebrity and a iconic figure but outside the football field, he is still a human being and priority number one was to mount a defense or manuever the system to whittle his jailtime down to as few time as possible.
While the reaction to his apology has been mixed and has been analyzed and debated on by fans, reporters, columnists and Public Relations consultants as well as apology experts, one thing has stuck out in my mind though. Has anyone ever noted his apparent inclination to refer to himself as Michael Vick? During an interview following the news of his indictment "Every where around the world, people still support loves Mike Vick." Then during his contrite apology on Monday morning he referred to himself in the third person on three occasions which makes one wonder how much more he has to be be humbled.
Now Michael Vick has a lot of downtime for self reflection to redeem himself in the eyes of Charles Dunson and fans everywhere. In an act of cruel symmetrical irony the Falcons will host the New Orleans Saints, December 10, on Monday Night Football, the same day Michael Vick's immediate future will be decided by an unforgiving judge in a Virginia courtroom.
If anything this summer has opened my eyes to the varying levels of sports controversies. In this era of intense scrutiny and intrusiveness into the lives of athletes it's important to know what your dealing when you hear breaking news, sound bites from an exclusive interview taped yesterday or an excerpt from a soon to be released novel. Scandals are a lot like an exclusive club, everyone might not get in and even if you do there's no guarantee you'll gain access to the VIP section. Just think of the codes like you would if you were ordering hot wings; atomic,hot, medium, mild and apply them accordingly.
Code Atomic: Transcendently Scandalous(Kobe Bryant's Rape Accusation, Michael Vick Interstate Commerce, Floyd Landis Testosterone Levels, BALCO, Jose Conseco's "Juiced", etc.)
The Ebola virus of scandals latches itself onto every aspect of our society, provokes a response from everyone and things can get ugly. These usually stem from a single event which branches into a full blown disaster and it's impact extends beyond ESPN and into other non-traditional sports networks. The beauty of these scandals is that they don't even have to involve a high profile athlete as long as it threatens to hang a black cloud over the the landscape of an entire sport.
Characteristics of these sports scandals include a bevy of live press conferences which involve a lot of reveal nothing we didn' t already know except giving us another grasp of the gravity of the controversy at hand. They usually cause normally rational people to become irrational, overreact and to side with either the radicalists or the pacifists. In Vick's situation, there were the extremists who used the details in this case to vent against the ahem... sociopathic, criminal thuggery in professional sports today meanwhile, the pacifists tended to overlook and ignore overwhelming evidence in order to blindly follow an iconic quarterback. Most often, the participants become infamous figures synonymous with their respective scandal no matter what they've accomplished before or after.
Hot:Code Black: (Patrick Dennehy Murder, Punter Stabs Teammate)
Though usually underreported by the media, these are brought about by the most tragic of events and sometimes can reveal an even darker secret or a deep underbelly of more illegal activity. The most infamous example of this type of scandal was the Baylor Basketball Scandal in 2003, which was set off by the disappearance of junior basktball player Patrick Dennehey. Soon after teammate Carlton Dotson was implicated in the murder, Bliss confessed to a major violation of NCAA rules school investigators by making payments to Dennehy, estimated at $7,000. After Bliss resigned, it emerged that he had told players to make up a storyabout Dennehy being a drug dealer in order to pay for his tuition as a cover-up for Bliss paying Dennehy's tuition.
Medium: The Faux Pas(tennis match fixing scandal, Jose Conseco's "stuff" on A-Rod, Reggie Bush's Illegal Benefits)
This type of scandal is usually a diabolical creation of the media's which usually fizzles out after the media realizes they've jumped the gun. This usually occurs when the media sees smokes, senses fire and chooses to fan the flames while their reporters disperse to warn the citizens of the forthcoming catastrophy. In the end though, the flames usually promptly simmer out, but not before burning down their entire camp. Kinda like when Gerald Rivera hosted a live primetime special to open up Al Capone's vault and instead of finding Jimmy Hoffa's body or great riches they uncovered a dirty tub and illegal moonshine. Whatever happenned to the uproar over Jose Conseco's "stuff" on A-Rod's steroid use or the fallout of Reggie Bush's illeged illegal benefits while at USC?
Mild: The Sheffield(Rush Limbaugh, Kobe Shaq's media sparring, anytime Gary Sheffield speaks, Irvin's Romo comments )
Named for the King of Controversy, The Godfather of Mouth Diahrea himself, Gary Sheffield who creates a controversy everytime every time he gets in front of a mic. These are usually the foot in mouth stuck in cow maneur brain freezes which often possesses people when they get too comfortable behind a microphone and forget that they are on television not at one of their klan meetings or in a confessional with their priest. There are variations of the Sheffield ranging from the conspiracy theories ffered up by the Godfather of Controversy, to the entertaining verbal sparring between teammates such as Shaq and Kobe using ESPN's Jim Gray and Ric Bucher as their personal relationship counselors. These can best be avoided by not using tv personalities as your confidants or by avoiding the bar during happy hour for a little buzz to take the edge off when your about to sit down for a light hearted interview with Stephen A. Smith. Don't do it reporters, can small weakness... and alcohol. If your a racist rehearse the racial equality questions, and if you hate your star teammate don't call Chris Mortenson at 3 in the morning to vent because he has the World Wide Leader on speed dial . The end result is that these guys become pariahs and the bud of everyone's joke as a result of their respective comments until the outrage eventually subsides.
-- D.J. Dunson Jr.
No comments:
Post a Comment