The madness never ends...

I can't believe the Eagles, my local football team, voted Michael Vick as the 2009 winner of the Ed Block Courage Award

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/Vick_wins_Ed_Block_Courage_Award.html

Now, even if you take my feelings about anyone who fights dogs out of this discussion, you have to still wonder WHY Vick was given this award especially given his cowardice in handling his whole life up to NOW?

Can anyone tell me what courage it took for him to don a uniform, take a million dollars and go back to playing the sport he wants to play without ever really apologizing or taking measures to make amends for what he did? Yes he went to jail -- on racketeering charges. He went to jail -- and was treated like a hero while in there because he was a STAR and people in jail didn't take what he did to be anything that horrible. He should be made to spend the next 50 yrs of his life having to give 2 days a week at a shelter picking up poop and washing dogs as an addition to his punishment.

I mean really -- how courageous was it to go back to playing football? In fact, he should have had to pay the Eagles to take him on as a player, considering the harm he did to his former team and the slap in the face he gave to the NFL Commissioner when he bold-faced lied to him about not having anything to do with dog-fighting -- its obvious that TEAMWORK and LOYALTY mean nothing to this man. And shouldn't an award about courage in the face of adversity be adversity you didn't cause YOURSELF by being selfish, greedy and vicious?

Take away my outrage over the dogs he killed, maimed and tortured. How about how he lied to his teammates, tried to pass the blame on to other people; how about the shame he bought to his fellow players, his family, to the sport of football itself? And how about his acceptance speech for this award -- still all about ME ME ME and I, I, I -- the other teams' award winners gave wonderful speeches about what team spirit and helping others meant to them -- Vick instead said "I've had to overcome a lot, more than probably one single individual can bear." All of your making Vick, no one's fault but your own!

And more about ME ME ME: "Take a look at what I've been through. You ask certain people to walk in my shoes, they probably couldn't do it -- probably 95 percent of the people in this world. Because nobody had to endure what I've been through.."
The arrogence, the selfishness of his comments show he hasn't changed at all, has no remorse for what he did and the same smugness is still part of his personality. No humility at all.

I know football players aren't known as the smartest group of people -- but come on, surely a whole team should have had more sense than to vote for this loser to win this award. There had to be so many better options!

Once again, I am ashamed of the Eagles. First for bringing him to my hometown; second for making a hero of him by giving him an award for courage -- a word that should not be used in the same sentence as the name Michael Vick.

One small victory that does make me happy however -- the passing of tougher dog fighting laws here in NJ:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20091228_Tougher_dog-fighting_laws_proposed_in_NJ.html

Even LESS tolerance for animal-abusers/dog-fighters like Vick in MY state now!!