Not what I said – I said weak laws. The penalties for dogfighting should be much harsher, not to mention dog-killing and other ills associated with Vick’s operation.
It’s misleading to look at only passing stats in the case of Vick. In that same year in which his passing numbers were so mediocre, he also rushed for over 1,000 yards. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=2549
IIRC despite Vick’s historically mediocre passing numbers, Atlanta took a big hit when he was out of the lineup.
It’s been established over and over again that pit bulls are NOT naturally vicious. Search pit bull threads on this board; there’ve been at least three of them in recent memory. Pit bulls are LESS likely to attack a human being than many other breeds – they’ve been ruthlessly selected for submissiveness and human-friendliness. Pit bull breeding operations (mentioning them here is not granting them approval; a puppy mill is a puppy mill) keep other, guarding breeds of dogs on the premises because the pit bulls are too friendly to strangers and will get into anybody’s car.
The insurance issue is part of the thoroughly-discussed public hysteria. No one needed pit bull insurance riders for the first two hundred years the American Pit Bull Terrier was one of the country’s most popular breeds. The reason you need it now is because people will use the hysteria to sue, not because there’s any objective danger. It’s just like black people used to get charged more for homeowners’ insurance. That wasn’t based on fact either, but on prejudice. Just because an insurance company executive has worried about something doesn’t make it fact.
The urge to be cruel to animals is useless in football. Humans play only against other humans.
deleted.
Did you even READ the links you posted?
:rolleyes:
And:
If you’re trying to prove that pitbulls have been “bred to mean”, you’re not doing a very good job. :rolleyes:
If you really believe that they “beat the crap” out of thoroughbred racing horses, you don’t know what the hell you are talking about.
Do you seriously think that thoroughbred horses run only if they are beaten? After 300 years of being thouroughly bred just for running?
Watch the Kentucky Derby – the jockey doesn’t even touch the winner Mine That Bird with his crop anytime in the last 1/8 mile of the race, which is where he runs the fastest and pulls away from the rest of the horses. And look at the pictures of him in the Winners Circle – you don’t see any whip marks on him, do you?
Amen Brother (or Sister). I live in the Atlanta area. Used to be a Michael Vick fan. I can’t stand him now. What he did was reprehensible in my opinion. HOWEVER, he HAS served his time. He’s been punished. Let him continue to work.
If he were a ditch digger, no one would be saying he should no longer be allowed to dig ditches. For some reason people want him to be punished his entire life.
I hate that he’s probably going to be making millions again… but he’s done his time, he should be allowed to work at the job he’s skilled enough to do; especially when it’s not directly related to his previous crime (IOW, you don’t let a pedophile keep running his summer camp for kids).
I think the uproar is that ditch digging is not a particularly glamorous or highly paid job, while QB for an NFL team is. I doubt that most people want Vick punished for life, but they, like me, have a problem that we think:
- The punishment was too light
- He will return to a job that will get him fame and fortune
If he were a ditch digger and served 19 months, I wouldnt be opposed to him returning to ditch digging. Its a crappy job and pays little and I’d be sanctimoniously smirking that he’s being punished. I cant do that if he goes on to make millions more in the NFL. Most of us, I think, want him to do menial and low paying jobs for the rest of his life in exchange for our perception that his sentence was light. He’ll have his freedom, but without all the goodies he had before
Hell, there’s an idea – let him go be a ditch digger.
If people, like you, think his punishment was too light, that is between you/them and the judicial system. He obeyed the rules, served his duly allotted time, and will soon be released to the world to do whatever it is he is capable of doing. If he subsequently gains fame and fortune after that, than bully for him.
Put me in the camp of let the market decide. If it was truly such an abhorrent crime, he simply won’t gain employment. Barry Bonds taught us that bad choices and bad character WILL trump skills if they are extreme enough.
Its much easier to complain about a guy and the NFL than to get the system changed 
If there’s a lesson we can take from history, it’s not icky if you kill the “right” people. Take that as sarcasm, take it as personal observation, hell, take it as despair, but in a weird way it seems to be true.
Let him be whatever the hell he wants. I’m sure he will be sitting on hi pile of money crying about how tough his life is, and how we just don’t understand, and waaaaaaaahhhhhh.
Forget him. I don’t give a damn if he wins the Superbowl or works as a dishwasher. But he isn’t special, he isn’t ruined for life, and he sure as hell isn’t some sort of martyr. To hell with him. I think he’s trash. I feel no need to feel bad for him, or for anything that will or won’t happen to him.
It has actually been shown endlessly that pits are far more dangerous than other dogs. They bite in a huge ratio compared to other dogs. That does not mean the next pit you see is going to try to kill you. But, you would be a fool not to be wary, if you one across one on the loose.
The ONLY dogs I have ever seen (twice) lunge to attack other (non-pitbill) dogs in public while being walked by their owners are pitbulls. And the really weird thing is that this was done with almost no warning, growling, posturing etc. One moment walking along, then instantly they were at the other dog in full throat biting mode. They did not want to dominate the other dog, they wanted to kill it.
Pitbulls may be loving and cuddly when happy and on their best behavior, but don’t tell me that behaviorally they are just like other dogs, they are not.
Cite?
You know what we say around here about anecotes and data, right?
:rolleyes:
Why are we debating about the characteristics of pitbulls in this thread. There was a pretty recent thread in Cecil’s Columns and huge one in the pit a month or so ago and a huge one in general questions about 2-3 months ago.
It doesn’t matter if it was chickens, tigers, pitbulls, or evil imps from Hell making two living creatures fight to the death is wrong.
Duh. It would be stupid to treat all animals the same. Why? Because they aren’t all the same. Some are more intelligent than others. Some are big and majestic. Some are pests. A couple in particular have a particularly close association with human beings, why wouldn’t we treat them differently then some other random animal.
So how come this is your answer to my assertion that “Pit bulls are LESS likely to attack a human being than many other breeds?” You countered that you saw them attack dogs.
Someone’s beagle will savage and kill my pet rabbit or someone’s backyard squirrel in a heartbeat. Does that make beagles vicious?