NFL superstar quarterback Bubba Whitebread , having spent 18 months of a 24 month sentence for charges stemming from a barroom altercation has been conditionally reinstated in the NFL by commissioner Roger Baddell. Sounds innocuous enough, doesn't it? But what if the facts of the case and the circumstances surrounding it were a little darker? What if a slightly creepy "character flaw" had been exposed? What if, as Paul Harvey would say, "But now let's hear . . . the REST of the story."
On the evening of August 8th, 2008, Whitebread was involved in an altercation at the Cloud 9 Bar and Grill in Princeton, RI. After spending the evening chatting and dancing with Celestial Grace, a self described transvestite, in the heat of an amorous embrace, Whitebread discovered that his partner was not what he had expected. He struck Miss Grace at which time bouncers restrained the enraged athlete until police arrived. A small quantity of marijuana was found on his person, and another in his car. This gave police sufficient cause to seek a warrant to search the quarterback's home. It was there that a chilling alter ego was revealed.
For the 6 years of his NFL career, the 4 time All Star had been leading a double life. It seems he had been a Grand Wizard of his local chapter of the KKK in Backwater Bog, Arkansas. When police served the search warrant at Bubba's home , they discovered closets full of hoods and robes, photographs of Bubba officiating at cross burning ceremonies, boxes and boxes of Neo Nazi propaganda pamphlets and a printing press all bearing Whitehead's fingerprints, and at least 9 scorched regions back in a clearing in the woods that appear to have been the sites of cross burnings.
After initially denying any knowledge of the paraphernalia or goings on unearthed at his home, Whitebread eventually confessed after failing a polygraph and being confronted with the photographs. He plead guilty to a count of simple assault and was sentenced to 23 months in prison. After serving 18 months he was released on good behavior and applied through the Players Union for reinstatement in the League...
Now follow the parallel and tell me at what point the situations change.
These are "crimes" in which no human being is harmed. They are reported to be a result of his "cultural upbringing". He was sentenced by the courts to a jail term which he served out and "paid his debt."
Tell me which team do you think would resign him? Which TV networks would give him awards? Which shoe company would sign him to an endorsement deal and give him his own "signature line" of athletic wear?
All of you Vick apologists, please put on your thinking caps and give me you best reply. For full credit please remember to phrase your response in the form of a question. Which is worse - being a bigoted moron, or torturing and or killing dozens of dogs over a period of years for your own personal amusement?
At the very least, are they not EQUALLY reprehensible? Why then do you continue to defend the indefensible actions of Michael Vick? Why do you attempt to perpetrate the hoax that "he served his time" when in fact he served not one single day in state prison for the charges against him that could have landed him there for over half a century? Why do you ignore the fact that the prosecutor who allowed Vick to plea to a single count of dog fighting and recommended a suspended sentence told federal investigators that " he didn’t like the idea of a young African American who had escaped from an underprivileged background and become something of an icon being dragged down, and he certainly didn’t want to be a part of it."?
By word and deed Michael Vick forfeited his "right" to be held up as a sports hero and role model for young people around the country. Yet people continue to defend actions that are far more sinister, depraved and violent than anything outlined in the fictional scenario above. Yet I promise you "Bubba" would never work in or for the NFL again. Yet Vick has become a media darling. And no one can logically explain why. Can you?
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