It's a dog and pony show

By - Errol Louis: It's a dog and pony show Thursday, August 23rd 2007,

While Vick gets ripped for animal cruelty, the jocks who beat their wives get a pass

For the life of me, I can't understand why the public outrage surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick doesn't extend to other pro athletes and entertainers who would rather hurt people than dogs."

For the life of me, I can't understand why the public outrage surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick doesn't extend to other pro athletes and entertainers who would rather hurt people than dogs.

If, as expected, Vick pleads guilty to conspiracy charges next Monday, he could wind up doing prison time, forfeiting tens of millions of dollars and perhaps ending his football career forever.
I have no problem with that. Vick is not the first man to face terrible consequences for whatever combination of folly, arrogance and pure evil led him to pour gasoline on his charmed life and carelessly strike the match.

But the parade of people and institutions condemning and shunning Vick have set a modern standard for selective outrage.

The same sports execs falling over themselves to sever Vick from the sport have been downright lenient when it comes to other offenders.

Three years ago Michael Pittman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced assault charges after his fourth domestic-violence arrest. He'd rammed his Hummer into a car carrying his wife and infant son and their son's baby-sitter.

The penalty was a three-game suspension.

Lionel Gates, another Bucs player, was arrested and charged with beating a pregnant woman.
The team made him take an anger-management course.

Lamar Thomas, a former Miami Dolphins player, smashed his pregnant fiancée's head through a window. He was allowed to keep playing.

It's not just a football thing. Brett Myers of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball club allegedly dragged his wife around by the hair on a public street. The team gave him a paid leave of absence.

Bobby Chouinard of the Colorado Rockies was sentenced to a year in jail for holding a loaded pistol to his wife's head - but was allowed to serve the penalty three months at a time. During the off-season.

The hypocrisy even extends to the corporate sponsors who have dropped Vick like a hot potato. Reebok, official equipment supplier to the NFL, sanctimoniously announced it will no longer sell Vick's No. 7 jersey.

"We just find the allegations very upsetting and very disturbing," a Reebok spokeswoman said. "We felt that making this decision now was important and the right thing to do."

This is the same company that proudly sells and advertises those G-Unit sneakers promoted by convicted ex-heroin dealer Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson and his criminal buddies. Reebok apparently finds nothing upsetting about that.

When Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) freaked out on the floor of the U.S. Senate last month, something in me said, "Gimme a break."

"Barbaric!" screamed the animal-loving Byrd, referring to Vick and his dog-mauling pals. "Barbaric! Barbaric! May God help those poor souls who'd be so cruel. Barbaric! Hear me! Barbaric!"

We hear you, senator. Some of us also recall that you're the same Robert Byrd who began his political career in the 1940s as Exalted Cyclops of a KKK chapter, and later opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.

I don't mind in the least that Vick is getting a rougher deal than the above-listed wife-beaters. And I salute animal-rights groups for organizing protests, mass e-mails and threatening to lead boycotts to persuade corporations to dump Vick's endorsement deals.

But count me among the growing army of baffled Americans waiting - somewhat impatiently - for the day when public figures found guilty of domestic abuse, drunken driving, drug dealing and other crimes draw the same level of condemnation as the fallen millionaire of the moment, Mr. Vick.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/08/23/2007-08-23_its_a_dog_and_pony_show.html