Michael Vick does not make the Madden 12 cover
This is a small meaningless thing compared to so many other things happening right now, but none the less, this news makes me glad. If you did not somehow already hear, EA Sports decided to have a fan vote to determine who would adorn the cover of their decrepit franchise which only survives with life support in the form of an exclusive licensing deal with the NFL. They started with 32 candidates, 1 from each team, with Vick representing the Eagles. As the rounds progressed, so too did Vick and I felt a slowly growing horror as I contemplated the possibility that Michael Vick might win this glorified popularity contest. Most of the sports media has forgiven Vick for the things he did to innocent animals in Virginia, he won the AP’s comeback player of the year award. Still, while it was easy enough to recognize the appeal of that narrative, I have reservation. Vick himself has said he would not do anything differently if he could do it over, because it got him where he is today. It’s a lot easier moving on from torturing animals when you can make millions of millions of dollars and be a star. I still can’t help but wonder about a guy who doesn’t wonder what life would have been like if he hadn’t been the kind of guy who’d torture and murder dogs. Okay, so maybe the fact that my own gut isn’t comfortable with him is not, in reality, a reason to wish he wasn’t on the cover of this video game. Not a rational one anyways. I’m just not sold. But more importantly, what does his story say to the generations of children about his choices? If you’re phenomenally talented and show remorse at some point, at all, you can overcome being a sadistic brute that bullies and hurts anybody within reach? Even if we assume that Vick is truly reformed, his story of redemption is not fit for the youth. There are plenty of age appropriate fictional alternatives that don’t include a “role model” who has “learned his lesson” and wont, again, torture and murder another living being. Vick is right when he says some people will never forget. They shouldn’t. Neither should he. What he did is wrong, and unlike so many of the other people who do the things he did, he has a shot to go on to public love and incredible financial security. I imagine most people with his rap sheet might have a hard time finding a job in a call center these days. I don’t care if he truly has reformed or not, I’m just glad he’s not going to be on the cover of Madden.
April 30th, 2011 at 6:02 am
I know that’s a ugly block of tl;dr text, but I just didn’t want to think about it anymore. Glad he missed the cover. Grats to Hillis, hope he didn’t win because of the “Madden curse.”