Ok, I'm finally going to say something

I am sure that anyone who might happen along this little blog in cyber-space knows about the whole Micheal Vick situation. Somethings that have come out and I've been itching to say something, anything, but for the most part I've bitten my tongue. Before I say anything I want to be up front and say that I have never been very favorable in my opinion of Micheal Vick. The man is a gifted athlete, there is no denying that. Although I have never met the man in person, and I must admit that my bias has to at least be in part due to media coverage (since that has been my only exposure to him), I have just never developed a good opinion. I feel that he is (or was) a proud, boastful man. A point has been made that these crimes have been against dogs. That it's not like he hit his wife or anything. And I agree. The public out cry has been extremely disproportionate. What if he was raising roosters? Sure some groups would be up in arms, and he still might be facing charges, but I don't think the public opinion would be as emotional. One thing I think this whole thing has really done is show that profesional atheletes really are treated differently than us commoners. I'm not saying that Mr. Vick is receiving any favorable treatment, or that the government is not coming down hard enough on him. In this case it really seems like things are being handled in an even hand. What I am referring to are things like when an athelete does hit his wife. Or an athelete is caught possesing drugs or is drunk. Most of the time these crimes are brushed under the rug in the court of public opinion - wether or not the crimes are handled evenly or not. Why? Because we've become dull to these kinds of offenses. The judicial system does not work the same way in Arizona as it does in Virginia. Where this case really sticks out is that it is just a rare one... at least one that is not reported in the media all that often. What brought the spotlight so bright was the fact that Mr. Vick was involved. No one except the defendents in these cases are really going to know the extent of the involvement. I never said in my mind that he was absolutely guilty, but what I saw on the news did not look good. I probably think a little more severely at the man now that he has back tracked and pled guilty - and maybe that is a way to save some skin because he feels that he has already lost despite his innocence, maybe it's a way to prevent the full affect of his crimes from falling on him - I don't know. What I do know is that it should not matter if this was a crime against dogs, or a man hitting his wife. The penalty should at least be proportionate. Mr. Vick - I respect you as a man, and a gifted athlete. God knows you owned the Panthers for a time. They couldn't win against you and the Falcons. I do not know what the judge, or the NFL has in store for you. But I would like you to know that I am praying for you - not as an enemy, but as a fellow man. May you find your way through this storm to peaceful harbors, and may you rest in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know you, or know much about the hardships you faced. But I do pray for you to be restored in time to a place where young men and women can look up to you once more. Verse for today: Job 33:23-30, ESV If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’; then man [3] prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’ “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.