Michael Vick's letter to the judge

Reading that made me very sad.

 

That's the part that got to me. And the part about his daughter asking him when he's going to be home to play Dora games.

If my dad turned on me to the media in an effort to get some money, I'd either be stoned or drunk for awhile after. And if my daughter was asking me when I'd be home to play games with her, and I had to tell her "I don't know," I'd be even more crushed.

I may be naive, but I think he was pretty sincere. I think it's a young man that realizes he fucked up. On one hand, I'm glad he understands that. On the other, I can see the blind loyalty he had to his friends and family and the misunderstanding he had with some of the problems with dogfighting and his life.

 

I don't know how I feel about this. It's easy to feel sympathetic to Vick after reading the letter. But he's writing to the judge, so obvioulsy he's going to sound regretful and include sob stories. And maybe I'm cynical, but I highly doubt that was the only time he smoked dope.

Also, I understand fully his point about growing up in Newport News, where police spent more time on drugs and murders than dog fighting.

But he's also an adult who did a horrible crime. He's old enough to realize killing dogs is unacceptable, regardless of where he grew up. What he did was wrong, and it's horrible his family has to suffer. But he broke the law and deserves to suffer the consequences. It's not the judge's fault his kids will be without a kid.

Plus, everybody finds God/humbleness/etc once they face jail terms. That is nothing new. I am unmoved.