About Michael Vick
 

He pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him on Friday.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/st...cons-vick.html

Like we didn't see *that* coming. Doing it this way will only make the hammer come down on him even harder. At least that is my hope.

If only one of these ego driven millionaire athletes would just once admit guilt and be done with it. Guys like Vick make the good guys look bad too. I hope he gets the maximum sentence for what he's done.

If he makes good guys look bad in your eyes, you have some warped perception.

Lawyers tell him to plead not guilty. They always do this to try to get better deal. He is looking at years in prison but i can see him getting very little time. I hope he gets the maxium time they can give him he has no excuse for any of this.

You don't understand what I meant?

He makes all athletes look like they could be the next pit bull trainer in the eyes of our kids. These guys need to realize that playing a pro sport and getting paid that much to do it is a privilege and not a right.

I think it's wrong to cast an eye of suspicion on people that are simply associated with someone or working in the same profession. The two exceptions naturally being lawyers and mechanics.

I don't look at Lennox Lewis or other boxers as potential rapists just being Mike Tyson is one. I don't look at former NFL'ers as potential murderers just because OJ is one. I don't think of everyone with grey hair as jackasses just because you're one...etc. etc.

Oh, and I'm sorry. Being paid that much to play professional sports IS a right and NOT a priviledge either imho. They're human beings playing a game that people want to watch and pay a great deal of money to see. If they've trained to play and people are willing to pay to see them play, they've earned that right.

What PARENTS need to get a grasp on is that these people are NOT paid to be role models. Neither is Britney Spears and her ilk. If you like her music, fine, buy it. But we shouldn't expect her to lead a perfect life and be an example to our kids just because we buy her music. Parents need to stop making excuses and raise their kids with THEMSELVES as role models. Noone else.

Why we as a society seem to feel celebrities should be held to a higher standard is beyond me. They're people like you and I...only with more money and in most cases, UNWANTED notoriety. Film Britney on stage. Film Lennox in the ring. Why there is a market for pictures of them buying their groceries and/or walking in the park, speaks volumes about what's wrong with society, NOT with the celebrities themselves.

Ooops. Politicians belong on that list too of course.

Of course you are correct there but the fact is that the little ones look at pro athletes as their heros, and they emulate them. They want to be like them.

lol, that's when the parent has to step in and do their job. I didn't have the greatest parents in the world, but I can honestly say had this happened back in the day, I NEVER would have thought, "Cool. Michael Vick's a great quarterback. I'm gonna train hard to make the NFL so I can be just like him. Hey Dad, can I have a pitbull?"

Nope. We'll see if it's a right or not. Vick has lost all his endorsement deals, and whether or not the mediocre US legal system finds him guilty, people aren't stupid. He'll never be what he was. If it was a "right" to play then he has lost it. Sounds more like a lost privilege to me.

It's true, these people aren't paid to be role models. They are paid to be athletes, actors, singers, etc. But what comes with that fame is responsibility. Responsibility that many of them take lightly and eventually they lose it due to their own stupidity. Celebs become role models automatically. I don't agree with it, but there it is. As a parent, I have never and will never make excuses for anything. I am my child's main role model but I cannot shelter him from the world. There are idiots out there like Vick, and it's up to me to help our son realize that he should not emulate their actions.

Unwanted notoriety? Give me a break. Out of the limelight, out of the money.
They want, need, and love the attention. There are very few who completely resist the attention.

Freedom is the right he's lost. With that obviously, the ability to play pro football. Once he's free again, assuming he's young enough and still has talent, he'll play again.

This argument pisses me off so much. I don't see celebs as role models in the least. HOW can they be role models when the ideal role model for every god damn citizen is different? Is that fair to them? They smoke, they got married too young, they got pregnant out of wedlock, they got drunk, they don't go to church and on and on and on. There is NO possible way to make everyone out there happy which is why it's the parents job to instill values.

Of course you can't shelter your kid and you shouldn't. Like you said, as a PARENT, your job is to make sure they understand that the person they look up to is fallable just like you and I. You moreso of course. The kid's that ARE going to emulate those actions are the one's that haven't been given that guidance...from their parents.

Some of them sure, I agree. Most of them? Want to perform their trade and make a living. Some loss of privacy is to be expected of course. If you get caught driving drunk, (like THOUSANDS of other regular people do every day with the luxury of virtual anonymity) yeah, your mugshot is gonna be posted all over the papers and the internet. If they don't know that, they're just plain stupid.

But I can't imagine a single one of them wants to or DESERVES to be filmed on their honeymoon, sunbathing topless in the Caribbean.

Guilty or not guilty, Vicks career is totally screwed. Pissed off fans and animal rights activists will hound him at games until the team and the NFL want no association with him.

What freedom has he lost? He's not in jail (yet). With the track record for athletes and the law, unfortunately he'll not do any time but I doubt anyone will take him on in the NFL again, Ron. Would you?

You're stressing the obvious. Of course good parenting makes all the difference but this goes without saying. Fact remains that athletes and celebs become role models as a matter of coruse due to all their media exposure (TV, movies, product lines, endorsements, etc.). There is no getting around it. They are role models whether they like it or not, and they need to like it or at least get their minds around it because they are getting paid to be what they are.

If you have a problem with your parenting skills, there is help out there Ron. ;)

That will all change in a minute if he is found 'not guilty'. The NFL will take him back, and he'll slowly climb back up. His true fans will never hate him. PETA will never get off his case though regardless of the outcome.

IMO - he has responsibilities to know what is going on at his properties if he is letting other people stay at them.

At the end of it all, I'm glad the NFL is stepping up. With Jamal Lewis, they let him slide pretty much until he was convicted. I hope they follow suit with Pac-Man Jones. That dude never deserves to come back into the NFL.

If he's found guilty I think he will do time. If he's found NOT guilty or even placed on probation, he's too good to not have a team take a chance on him. The only way someone wouldn't would be if the NFL banned him for life.

They're not getting paid to be role models. Period. You and others may think that's an obligation they have. I disagree. They're paid to play football or sing or whatever it is they do, not teach your kids right from wrong. That's your job. Unfortunately it sounds like YOU'RE unsure of your own ability to parent if you're worried about your kid modeling themself after someone they see on TV. Just don't let him watch Leaf games Chris, and he'll turn out just fine...believing he has the ability to succeed. Unlike the Leafs.

ha... hey, you're the one who seems to doubt their parenting skills. For me it's an obvious ingredient here. One that need not even be discussed.

But, I think you misunderstand. I never meant for you to think I said that celebs are paid to be role models. What I am saying is that they are. Without choice. The media has made them that way and if one is to become a celeb, be prepared to have your every move scrutinized.

i agree with chris on that one. like it or not, they become larger than life to kids. the media makes it so. as cyndalie said, his career is done.

i'm also of the mind that most athletes are over paid. i'm all for enterntainment. i work in adult. i know this may sound contradictory but there's something about teachers in the US making bogus money and falling health care systems vs 1 individual who gets paid millions of dollars to play a sport that just doesn't sit well with me.

Vick is a dispicable individual who deserves to rot in jail.

Terrence

cant wait for him to go to Jail either



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