Michael Vick, the Quarterback for the Eagles, who was jailed for more than a year for participating in a dog fighting ring has sold his house.
Guess who bought it….a rehab center for dogs!
“Dogs Deserve Better” purchased the house, which was previously the site of Vick’s “Bad News Kennels” dogfighting operation, for approximately $600,000. The 2010 NFL Comeback Player of the Year owned the five-bedroom home until 2007, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to dogfighting charges. He began working with the Humane Society of the United States soon after his release to try to stop organized animal fighting.
Thayne, though, says she doesn’t think his efforts have been sincere.
“I would like to see that he’s really remorseful, and I personally don’t feel that I’ve seen that because actions speak louder than words. I haven’t seen him really put effort into making amends,” she said.
I kind of agree and disagree. If Vick hadn’t been caught, would he be remorseful then? There’s a side of me that thinks the only reason he is remorseful now is because he has to be in order to play a sport he loves.
However, I’m open to the idea that Vick has been changed. Many of us don’t change unless something causes us to change. We get caught in the act or perhaps we think more deeply about our actions on our own. Whatever the case remorse doesn’t depend on one or the other. The cause of someone’s remorse is something I’m much less interested in. Perhaps we should be glad that Vick isn’t saying that his arrest is unjustified and has stood up and admitted that what he did was wrong. Unlike the hordes of baseball players who have used steroids without an inch of remorse oozing from their huge forearms. (Cough: Bonds, Cough Palmiero, Cough, McGwire).
In any event I’m glad that the house will finally be used for some good. One thought: couldn’t Vick have donated the house to the charity? They had to plunk down $600,000 for it. Maybe Vick should pay the mortgage? Maybe then folks might get serious about how bad this problem is and we won’t see any more dogs that look like this:
