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I recently blogged about the Philadelphia Eagles and its decision to nominate its dog-killing, beating, electrocuting, shooting player Michael Vick as its example of courage, deserving of the Foundation’s award.
There is a petition up gathering signatures to let the Ed Block Foundation CEO Sam Lamantia know that the Eagles organization is misguided, and that Vick in no way represents personal or professional courage by serving time in the clink for profiting off of the torture and mistreatment of animals.
The Ed Block Foundation is dedicated to promoting awareness and assisting in the prevention of child abuse. That objective is combined with the Foundation’s commitment to celebrating players of inspiration in the NFL. Each year, every NFL team votes for one of its players to receive the Ed Block Courage Award. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in the NFL, and heralds the winner as an example of inspiration, spirit, and bravery.
This year, the Philadelphia Eagles have voted Michael Vick as their recipient of the Courage Award. For several years Vick promoted and financed barbaric dogfighting activities and was convicted in 2007 of felony dogfighting charges. Reports of the investigation revealed the heinous torture, abuse, and murder Vick himself imposed upon innocent dogs. His reinstatement to the NFL was unprincipled in and of itself; giving Vick the Courage Award is another attempt to diminish his atrocities and weaken the public memory of his brutal behavior.
In no way does Michael Vick represent courage and inspiration. Rather, he exemplifies cruelty and inhumanity, and is not deserving of reward or recognition. We the undersigned strongly encourage the Ed Block Foundation to demonstrate the true substance of bravery, morals, and ethics. Deny Michael Vick the honor of the Courage Award.
This isn’t about denying Michael Vick employment after serving time for his deeds. The Eagles made the decision that his talents on the field outweigh any negative publicity he might generate. This is about making sure that the word “courage” does not become yet another word dumbed-down into uselessness, attributing the word for someone paying their dues for crimes committed.
It’s clear that had the federal bust at his home revealing the dogfighting operation not occurred, Vick would be blissfully continuing the immoral slaughter. It’s particularly 
galling that the victims of his and his friends violent entertainment were often the pit bulls that refused to fight, or were simply bait dogs ripped up by the ones willing to fight. This is sick behavior he’s sorry he was caught doing, not courageous personal redemption to be rewarded.
What Mr. Vick represents is yet another high-profile individual who has given the American Pit Bull Terrier (as well as any dog mix or breed that looks remotely like one) a bad name, and has resulted in thousands of this type of dog — even ones temperment tested and ready for adoption — left to languish, die, and encourage more breed bans that result in an ongoing pit bull holocaust (left) such as what now takes in place in Denver.
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No, the cultural damage done by Vick and people like rapper DMX is significant, by encouraging breeders to produce a larger and more fearsome-looking dog, by crossing APBTs with Bulldogs, Mastiffs and other breeds to produce a massive canine with a huge oversized head broad build they call the American Bully, which is not an AKC recognized breed (neither is the APBT). Ironically, it’s the more slender, smaller, human-loving pit bull that is actually used for fighting, and what was found on Vick’s property.
The vast majority of biting dogs (77%), regardless of breed belong to the victim’s family or a friend. Studies have confirmed the obvious to people with experience with dogs — the dogs most likely to bite and kill (and this cuts across all breeds) are male, unneutered, and chained. That’s also a dog that has not been socialized, trained and is a time bomb, not a family pet. Those are much better predictors of behavior than breed alone.
“There can be few greater thrills for a genuine dog lover than to take a homeless dog off of life’s refuse pile, add love and care, and then see that dog, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, become the great dog it was meant to be. Training such a rescued dog may require a little more time, a little more patience, and a little more skill, but the end result is a dog that has been given back its life. A dog owner can ask for no better companion.”
– Joe Stahlkuppe, Training Your Pit Bull
Related:
* The conundrum of Michael Vick’s reinstatement in the NFL
* “The Healing Touch: What happened to Michael Vick’s dogs?”(December 29, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated)
* Rapper DMX faces time in the clink for animal cruelty
* The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression (Author Karen Delise compiled actual statistics of dog attacks)
* CDC statistics on breeds of dogs involved in human dog bite-related fatalities (DBRF) in the United States (chart)
5 Comments
Thanks for the linkWell for what it’s worth, here’s my comment I added to the petition, I don’t have much confidence it will be read or that the petition will be effective. But hey, at least we spoke up.
“Sir, I am certain that you would, with all due diligence and ease, find a more suitable candidate for the Courage Award. Michael Vick is among the least deserving of an award for courage. His vile and contemptible torture, abuse and killing of animals for sport would not have ceased had the federal raid not occurred. His conviction and time served may absolve him of his legal debt to society, however, his past actions speak volumes about his character. Please do not strip a more deserving candidate of this award by giving it to Michael Vick.”
Thanks Pam for your efforts.
MoneyIf Michael Vick didn’t generate profits no one would have any use for him.
has michael vick changed?is the nfl trying to reward a change from dog fighter to someone that now gets it? i think they are rewarding him for taking all the punishment, for taking every hateful judgement and insult, for losing tons of money, for going to jail, for wanting to play football and not giving up. they know that public reaction is hard to endure, especially for something like this. from their perspective that might take courage, this is men voting on other men. admittedly dog fighting is a hard thing to ‘come back’ from as most people will not ever consider forgiveness for you. you will be this label for life. if he hasn’t changed then perhaps he should still wear the label. however, if he has now gotten a light bulb moment and is not a dog fighter any more, will that get recognized as growth that is good? i don’t know if he has changed but i do agree that a better selection could have been made. this is the old dilema of being labelled or does one get to self label. i guess this pushes a button for me. [if i could get mental health care from the va i could probably deal with it better ;-]
i have been volunteering with the coalition to unchain dogs here in durham and most of the dogs we build fences for are pits and pit mixes. many of the people that chain their dogs grew up where everyone did this and it is their normal. my mom grew up on a farm and she never would have allowed a dog in the house. ’get that filthy animal out of this house!’ often we find that folks love their dogs as much as anyone. so many of us are so low income that we will never be able to afford a fence. folks are so grateful for the spay/neuter and the fence and we see the relationship with the dog change over the course of time and it breaks the cycle. nonjudgement is the key and what keeps me with this group, also the helping improve the dog’s life helps me with my depression.
Signed.Wish I could do more. NOTHING gets my blood boiling more than the abuse of children or animals.
A local Philadelphian’s perspective…Now, I don’t pretend to know what Mr. Vick may or may not be doing in his private life. BUT whatever he may or may not be doing is not hitting the papers and newsmedia, and appears to be the bare minimum, at best. When Vick was first signed, he made the news for 1 closed-door appearance with an SPCA or other organization, and 1 talk with public school kids. That’s IT.
Oh, and he’s played half-way decent ball.
His interviews have not displayed a “light-bulb” moment, he has yet to my knowledge say WHY what he did was so wrong (other than a simple “it was wrong” i.e. it’s against the law… not MORALLY wrong) and if he really cared, he should have made a statement saying that he didn’t deserve an award for “courage” becuase what he did wasn’t “courageous” in the least.
Yeah, he paid his time in jail. Bully. How many other convicted felons do you know who had good jobs before prison get their old job back with full pay and bennies? Who aren’t politicians?