Vick and the CFL - just on TSN

The newspaper today says smoking pot makes you go crazy…slowly…very, very, very slowly…

:rockin:

ah, sorry. My bad.

True. And yet not really. Because the same stipulation that is inplace now was inplace before and was changed by Mr. Wright. So the rule might just disappear again.

Johnnya:

Why don't you send an e mail to the reporter's station pointing out the stupidity of what he said? Quote some of the replies from this thread.

Hahaaaaa!!! An excellent observation.

Seriously though, I think we should keep things in perspective. Vick is indicted before a US Federal Grand Jury. Ricky Williams committed a misdemeanor for which a fine would have been imposed if he’d even been charged. He was punished by his employer.

If convicted, Vick would not be allowed into Canada.

Despite Williams’ lack of production here, I think the exposure in the US was good. Who knows how many young kids saw/heard about the CFL through the Williams coverage. Kids who one day might be graduating from a US college and looking at pro playing options.

An Argo-Cat fan.

No way I want Vick in the CFL if he is convicted in any way, shape or form for dogfighting. But anyone who thinks Ricky Williams shouldn't have been in the CFL despite being suspended for taking marijuana is totally up someone's you know where. The joke wasn't that the CFL and Argos allowed him to play, the joke was that the NFL suspended him in the first place for simple marijuana taking. That's going too far since while the stuff is illegal, many people agree it shouldn't be illegal, popular opinion. While with soemthing like dogfighting, I don't think you'll find more than about 5 percent of the population who think it's something that should be legal.

I don't think Williams should have been allowed to play in the CFL and in my eyes he's still a criminal (he did break the law and there's no debating that) but there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY any sane person can compare the two. Williams was only "hurting" himself by smoking pot. Vick is a piece of trash and I hope he DOESN'T agree to the plea bargain so they can slap all the charges they can come up with on him and he can rot in jail (although if he goes in front of a jury he could well be acquitted :roll: ) I would not pay a dime to go see any game that scumbag played in.

Williams is a decent guy. Vick is a dirtbag.

borehamgirl, some countries have laws where spitting is a criminal offence. Just because a law exists doesn't necessarily mean in a non-legal sense that someone is doing something morally or ethically wrong in the eyes of many ordinary law-abiding citizens in my opinion.

Just to add a little something to this discussion, and to play the role of devil's advocate:

Disregard what you have heard about the rate of conviction on these charges, and what the media and PETA has done to vilify Michael Vick, lets say hypothetically he decides against a plea bargain and this goes to trial and he somehow manages to prove his innocence.

Would everyone change their attitude towards Michael Vick and his ability to play football in the CFL?

Or secondly, and a more likely scenario, Michael Vick accepts the plea bargain, gets sentenced to jail and pays his fines, pays his debt to society and is released from jail in a year. He decides not to return to the NFL after his year long suspension is up, and is looking to play for a CFL team, would you welcome him to your team?

He has paid his debt to society just as the legal system has wished and fufilled every one of it's stipulations. Is he not allowed to resume his profession just like anyone else who has been convicted of a criminal offence? Whether it is smoking marijuana or driving under the influence which both seem to be in fashion with athletes and celebrities these days.

Thoughts?

  • paul

The views contained in this post are not necessarily my own, but rather things to consider before rushing to judgement.

:)

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

That pretty much will be the attitude and will be wrong. It really depends on why he is not convicted. There is a slim chance that he had no part in any of the goings on but at this point it would be really tough to convince anyone of that

I will give you the first two because their are opinion based, but can you honestly say that about the third point?

In your eyes, no one is allowed a second chance? People by nature are prone to mistakes. Whether in professional sports or for the regular people like you and me.

Say you got charged with stealing satellite signals (which I believe a fair amount of people do) and the judge made an example out of your under a new statute of the law and you were sentenced to a month in jail which caused you to lose your job.

You get released from jail and start to look for work, are you not entitled to that right? I know the crimes are vastly different, but the principle is the same is it not?

Just wondering …

And once again, I am most certainly NOT defending Michael Vick and what he has been accused of doing.

  • paul

The CFL (and most professional sports leagues - with the exception of the NBA, but don't get me started) has an image to uphold. The image of professional athletes being percieved as role models and mentors to youths across the country. THAT is why a crime (if convicted) of this nature should disallow Vick fron EVER playing professional football again.

#3 is definately no IMO. Playing pro sport is much different than being a plumber. Being a pro athlete entails being a good role model and a convicted person cannot ever do that again

Wow - we agree.

Thats what I've been saying all along. If you took off you hate glasses and actually read my posts you'd see that my views aren't one dimensional

There is absolutely no difference between a pro athlete and a plumber or someone working on the line. Both are celebreties, albeit to different degrees. The plumber could be a celebrity and role model for his children and should be. Both deserve to be punished by the law if found guilty of committing a criminal offence and both deserve to return to the jobs they know once they've done their time. If you don't believe that, then maybe living in a democracy isn't for you.

See I agree that their is a certain amount of entitlement that comes with being a professional athlete. We would all love it if the athletes everyone looked up to were great leaders of society. But there have been more than a few examples where that is not the case. One of the greatest defensive players in the history of professional football, Lawrence Taylor wouldn't be considered a great role model due to his off-field exploits and drug-use.

One of best boxers of the last decade Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins is a convicted felon, and has been making multi-million dollar pay days since being released from prison and now devotes some of his time to charities like ones to fight breast cancer which his mother was diagnosed with.

Even the great Jim Brown, who tours the country talking to at-risk children about gangs has spent time in prison over the course of his life.

All I am saying is that people deserve a fair shot after they pay their debt to society. To learn from their mistakes and rehabilitate themselves psychologically.

We would all love it if our kids could idolize a great pro-athlete and have a Mean Joe Green Coke moment, but it isn't going to happen. If you think all pro athletes are going to be saints and great moral leaders, don't hold your breath. History has shown that a lot of the time they are not. (I am sure a lot of people held O.J. is high regard until the 1990's) :wink:

Ask Charles Barkley about his feelings towards being a role model!

  • paul

Living in a democracy is for me and as such I have a right to disagree with your conclusions

Given the state of jurisprudence today during Guantanamo Daze, I would never say a convicted person couldn't play pro football. It depends on the crime committed and the pros and...cons(!)...of having that player on your team or in your league.

I take a very dim view of people who are cruel to animals -- almost as much as I do with toy company executives responsible for lead paint being on toys targeted for young children!

As for finding role models, I think parents have to be the focal point of one's search to find one. Looking for surrogates in this society in the entertainment field is a perilous task -- that includes pro sports. I just want to know that the player involved is fundamentally decent. Test one: can he sign an autograph for a kid without having a meter running?

It boils down to a sense of proportion. I would have Ricky Williams in my league WAY before I would have a financier of a gambling operation that executes dogs, for example. Period.

Oski Wee Wee,