Michael Vick among athletes nominated to College Football Hall of Fame faces intense backlash

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The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame announced the nominees for the class of 2024; with Michael Vick as one of the candidates leading the way.

The Hall of Fame placed 78 former players on this year’s ballot with years ranging from 1974 to 2011. Qualifications to be placed on the list includes being a first-team All-America selection during their career. Players become eligible after they retire from professional football. Former coaches are also on the ballot. The voting deadline for ballots is June 30.

Vick had led for Virginia Tech to the BCS championship game against Florida State in 1999. He also finished third in the Heisman Trophy vote in the same year. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, however his football career came to an abrupt and disturbing halt when he spent 18 months in prison for his heinous involvement in dog fighting.

After his release from federal prison for his conviction, Vick became a Philadelphia Eagle and played seven more seasons in the NFL, earning 60 million dollars. He then went to work for Fox Sports as an NFL analyst.

Pro Vick supporters contend the man served his punishment in prison and like other citizens when released have officially paid their debt to society. That may be, however did Vick ever pay his debt for the egregious torture of dogs used to fight and then killed in the most heinous ways if they lost?

A Vick survivor

Vick was never punished for animal cruelty. He may have been convicted of “dog fighting,” and he may have gone to prison, but what he and his friends actually did to dogs is worse than anyone could ever imagine doing to any animal – much less a dog.

Just in case anyone has forgotten the degree of viciousness and inhumanity Vick and his cohorts inflicted on the fighting dogs who lost their fights, the book “The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption” is still available and goes into graphic detail of the torturous deaths the dogs endured.

A  chilling blog entry gives just one example:

THE DETAILS THAT GOT TO ME … INVOLVE THE SWIMMING POOL THAT WAS USED TO KILL SOME OF THE DOGS. JUMPER CABLES WERE CLIPPED ONTO THE EARS OF UNDERPERFORMING DOGS, THEN JUST LIKE WITH A CAR, THE CABLES WERE CONNECTED TO THE TERMINALS OF CAR BATTERIES BEFORE LIFTING AND TOSSING THE SHAMED DOGS INTO THE WATER. WE DON’T KNOW HOW MANY SUFFERED THIS PREMEDITATED MURDER, BUT THE DAMAGE TO THE POOL WALLS TELLS A STORY. IT SEEMS THAT WHILE THEY WERE SCRAMBLING TO ESCAPE, THEY SCRATCHED AND CLAWED AT THE POOL LINER AND BIT AT THE DENTED ALUMINUM SIDES LIKE A HUNGRY DOG ON A TIN CAN.

Book excerpt

And then there was more:

“…MY MIND’S IMAGE OF A LITTLE BLACK DOG SPLASHING FRANTICALLY IN BLOODY WATER … SCREAMING IN PAIN AND TERROR…BROWN EYES SAUCER WIDE AND TINY BLACK WHITE-TOED FEET CLAWING AT ANYTHING, DESPERATE TO GET A HOLD. THIS DEATH DID NOT COME QUICKLY. THE RESCUER IN ME KEEPS TRYING TO THINK OF A WAY TO GO BACK IN TIME AND SOMEHOW STOP THIS TORTURE AND PULL THIS LITTLE DOG TO SAFETY. I THINK I WILL BE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO PULL THAT DOG TO SAFETY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.”

Book excerpt

One must take into account, it is a huge honor to be on the College Football Hall of Fame since more than 5.62 million athletes have played the game and only 1,074 players have been inducted according to NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell.

Being in today’s elite group means an individual is truly amonth the greatest to have ever played the game.

ActionNews Steve Hatchell via Brett McMurphy

It is true that Vick may have paid his debt to society, but to reward him for his egregious acts towards dogs – man’s best friends – is ludicrous.

Read how in 2017, how the opposition protested when  Virginia Tech announced its intention to include Vick as one of five recipients of the schools Sports Hall of Fame.

THE CRITERIA STATES, ‘MUST BE OF GOOD CHARACTER AND REPUTATION/ NOT HAVE BEEN A SOURCE OF EMBARRASSMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY IN ANY WAY.’ MICHAEL VICK WAS AN OUTSTANDING FOOTBALL PLAYER, BUT HIS CHARACTER IS FAR FROM OUTSTANDIng.

Change.org petition

What do you think? Should Vick be included in the College Football Hall of Fame?

Read previous coverage of Michael Vick nominations for awards.

Follow the National Pet Rescue on Facebook for the latest animal related news.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The sports world does not care. Take a knee for injustice and get banned for life. Torture and murder dozens and dozens of dogs and they cheer you. Many men in our society are sick, nothing matters to them and no crime is horrific enough to stop them from honoring men who have no honor. Not even the families and victims of 9/11 can stop the sports world worshipping of men who should be scorned by a civil society.

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