A few hours ago (Sunday evening 2-28) I watched last weeks episode of the Michael Vick Project.  It was sick, and I’m not saying that in a dog lover kind of way, not saying it in what the detractors of this site would claim is a dogs over humans kind of way, not saying it just because I’ve been writing on this site since Michael Vick first started denying that he fought dogs or led a band of merry animal killers.

It was sick because Michael Vick is working to restore himself from his ‘Fall from Grace’ by literally revisiting the scene of the crime and putting hands on the weapons he used to commit the crime.  Oh and he is one of the producers of the TV vehicle broadcast by BET, so he is not only profiting from this sick venture directly, but also indirectly through his sports career. 

This show fully embodied why Michael Vick should not be on a reality TV show, and why he should not have a spotlight in the NFL.

Yes he should have a second chance in life and in a career, but not a second chance thrown back into his old life and career, where he damaged not only his own grace, but the real lives of too many real people, oh and he killed dogs too, tortured them, fought them and worse.

Watching this show, you will be struck by many terrible images, each getting worse and worse as the show proceeds.  It starts off in a benign fashion with Michael starting to speak to another group of kids at an extremely troubled high school Germantown High School at the request of the local chapter of the NAACP.  Now, many people have been quick to criticize the Humane Society for using a criminal to be their poster child for stopping the crime, but the NAACP is no better, as they push Michael Vick in front of kids as a role model who made a mistake and learned his lesson 2 months after getting out of prison.

I personally don’t believe in contrition, I don’t think Michael Vick should grovel and beg or anything like that, but I also don’t think that 2 months after he got out of prison he was suddenly qualified to go speak to kids.  For one thing, his public speaking skills are terrible, and I don’t mean bad, or unprofessional, or stiff, etc, they are just plain terrible.  He does ‘sound’ like he is being sincere and that might possibly get through to kids, but in today’s world, kids are completely immersed in an environment where only the best communicators on the planet can actually reach them and then its usually only through music or maybe tv.  To drop a chump straight out of prison in front of them and then listen to him give a speech that belongs in a sixth grade class stumbling through a poorly rehearsed book report like style is not only painful, but definitely not setting a good example.  Much worse, its probably not getting through at all.

Michael Vick, if you want to help kids avoid your mistakes, go take some serious public speaking classes and then practice your public speaking on a less susceptible audience where the stakes aren’t so high.  Don’t rebuild your career on the grace of kids as you step on their heads to get back on top in the NFL.

BUT THAT’S ONLY THE START OF THIS ATTROCITY OF A SHOW

Soon Michael Vick takes us on an SUV ride with his personal assistant (who apparently knew better and tried to get Vick to stop dog fighting, but really, who listens to their secretary?  I’m sure those kids at Germantown High School don’t listen to their secretaries either).  Now, the camera set up in the SUV is just awkward, and I only mention it because in this third show, all production quality is out the window and it only makes the true content that much harder to watch.

Vick is sitting in the back behind his secretary who is driving, with the invisible camera man in the front passenger seat, which all just adds to the presentation of Michael Vick above it all, rich and being chaufered around the Virginia country side on a jaunt to view his old dog killing grounds for the sake of the BET viewing audience.

They arrive at his old house, which no one will buy.  Its been remodeled a bit and you get a sense that Vick doesn’t recognize much of the house at all any more, from its former bachelor pad days.  It was apparently a boys party paradise, gee, I wonder why no family wants to buy it.

Vick eventually walks out back to the Bad Newz Kennels, the real kennels and the upstairs dog fighting ring in the upper floor of a shed/barn where the rug still smells of dog blood according to Vick.  (Tip for home investors looking to flip a Michael Vick property, MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE THE BLOODY CARPET YOU MORONS!)

As Michael Vick ‘remembers’ all of the crimes he used to commit here, you do feel that he is sincere in thinking that he made a mistake, he wishes many times on tape that he had given the injured dogs to some caring family that would adopt them and care for them, instead of beating them to death, electrocuting them, drowning and hanging them etc.

Maybe it was cut out of the show, but he doesn’t really say he wishes he had never fought dogs, something he had done since he was apparently about 7 years old, took a break when he was 12, and then came back to it when he had some money and was drafted after stopping by a barber shop in his old neighborhood to talk to a guy that had a lot of pit bulls, but he didn’t know the guy fought them.

Frankly that part sounded like a lot of bull shit.  I think he knew what he was doing when he went back to fight dogs again, and that is just another example of why I think he could fall off the wagon again, in the show he said, “we fought dogs like people sold drugs”.  And like like drugs, I think he has an addiction for fighting dogs, if not an addiction for blood.

AND THEN IT GOT EVEN UGLIER

So Vick leaves the fighting barn loft area, gingerly stepping down the steps, walks outside and notices a 2 x 6 leaning against a building.  Look there’s the beam we used to hang the dogs, he says.

Then Michael Vick walks over, grabs this wooden beam and holds it up against the two trees where it used to be nailed and describes how they used to hang dogs  there (to kill them).  You can almost visualize him not only hanging but beating and zapping them as if the poor dogs were a small heavy bag.

He walks by cages in and outside of buildings and I’m not saying dogs are like people, but I’ll be damned if the whole thing didn’t look like someone taking a tour of Auschwitz.  Michael Vick’s crimes are a small thing compared to the atrocities committed in concentration camps under the orders of Hitler, or any of the t0o many death camps that have crept into too many societies, militaries, and governments around the world since.  Some of those sick twisted psychos in Hitler’s day and since got their start somewhere and it might have been very similar to Michael Vick’s days working in the minor leagues of dog fighting before getting called up to even more evil someday, hopefully not.

But there was a reason why they did not have Hitler go tour through the concentration camps and talk about the crimes he ordered.  There was a reason why Hitler didn’t walk on the mass graves of his victims and describe what he felt when he had them killed.  Even if Hitler had been alive, and even if he had expressed remorse, a right thinking person would not put him on TV in a show that he produced and have him talk about his crimes so that he could regain ‘grace’ because THAT IS JUST SICK.

Even if a murderer is sorry for what they did, and they want to express that to the victims family, you don’t take them to the scene of the crime, put the murder weapon in their hand, and have them talk through what they did on their own TV show.  BEYOND SICK.

BET is soooo wrong in giving Vick this platform that it is absolutely ridiculous.  The NAACP made a mistake in having Vick speak to those kids in a troubled school, and the Humane Society made a smaller mistake in using Vick as a spokesperson against dog fighting, but BET and their remaining sponsors, which seems to consist largely of Warner Brothers movies, Dell.com, Lysol (which supposedly kills H1N1, can you say false advertising?) and Woolite, which wasn’t used to clean the dog fight blood out of Vick’s carpets have made the biggest mistake of all.  Hell, even the NFL hasn’t screwed the pooch as bad, they gave Michael Vick a boat load of money again and his old job back (no harm no foul, sorry bout your luck Vick, welcome back and sure you can keep your number, please accept a few million as a token of our stupidity).

This show is just sick, the sponsors are crazy, BET is crazy and all of them together are making this world a very nasty and ugly place.  Maybe if their business model fails, they can do some odd jobs for Michael Vick when he launches his next dog fighting ring on BET DEAD DOG SMACK DOWN.

Michael Vick or anyone at BET that still has some heart or soul left, pull the plug on this show.  I don’t know what is worse, the torture of watching it or the terrible crime that is being committed encouraging kids to follow in Michael Vick’s footsteps, footsteps that just went back to the dog fighting ring on BET, broadcast around the world.

This week the major corporate advertisers were just not present and a second or third string round up of advertisers were cycled by BET in between the shows breaks.  Most of the advertising was for BET shows or for Public announcement spots.  Three upcoming major motion picture releases were the largest ads present, followed by an advertisement by Dell.com.  You can see the full list below, which is likely representative of a rapidly dwindling amount of ad revenue for this show.  I have not heard what the viewership numbers might be this second episode, but the network can’t be making much if anything off this show in its second week.

One comment by Michael Vick stuck out in this episode

Michael Vick blamed his bankruptcy on a financial advisor who ‘did not do the right thing.’  

I have to admit that made me laugh in disgust a bit, as one more example of Michael Vick not really taking responsibility for his own actions.

There were extremely few references to dog fighting in this episode.  They did show what I believe is the first speech Michael Vick gave to a junior high in Philadelphia, where he walked on stage crossing the stage in front of a DJ to an audience of cheering kids.  Not exactly the type of introduction you would expect for an ex felon who killed dogs with his bare hands and was coming to talk to kids at risk of following in his foot steps. (actually the last thing I would hope for for any kids)  Michael Vick is comfortable on camera in the one on one asides, but he has a long long way to go before he will become an effective public speaker, he got by on his celebrity and fame and the message if he had one never really made it out anywhere.

Advertisements on Vick Project week of 2-16-2010

• Movie – Shutter Island with Leonardo Decaprio
• BET TV Shows
• Rap-it-up – Public spot, multiple spots
• Dear World – Public Spot Girls Inc. Spot
• Dell.com
• Movie – Green Zone with Matt Damon
• Centric Network
• Heart Disease awareness for African American women public spot ahealthybet.com
• TaxAct.com  (not sure this might have been a local Cable Spot insertion over top of the BET broadcast)
• Movie – Brooklyn’s Finest Richard Geer, Ethan Hawk and Wesley Snipes
• Lysol
• GoodHairDVD.com Chris Rock DVD
• RuPaul Drag Race on Logo Channel

 Imagine Your a little kid, and your principal tells you that an NFL Quarterback and superstar is going to visit and talk to your school.  Your principal tells you that said superstar did some very bad things to dogs, so bad that he went to prison for what he did after he confessed to being guilty.

The big day comes, and you file into the gymnasium filing into the wood bleachers.  Everyone is excited.  Its not very often that you get to see a person that plays in the NFL, in fact this might be the ONLY day you ever meet someone that has played in the NFL in your entire life.  It is something to remember.

Your belly rumbles a bit because you didn’t have any breakfast that morning.  Lunch starts after you get to see Michael Vick the player that is coming to talk.  You are anxious to see him, but lunch is one of the few meals you get every day.  There’s rarely enough food at home except some chips and things, unless your grandparents or aunt happened to stop by and bring some groceries.  Those are bad days however as it just pisses off your parents and that is never a good thing.

Finally, the adults straighten up a little, your principal announces Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles.  A tall man wearing an expensive suit walks up to the half court circle.  He starts talking about how de did all these bad things to dogs, how he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do, he wasn’t taking care of his family or kids, how he’s going to do better now. 

All of that sounds familiar, its the same thing you’ve heard adults say over and over when ever they are trying to get out of trouble.  They make promises and say nice crap like that to get the preacher, the parole officer, the counselor out of the house and moving on down the block.  As soon as the door slams behind them, they start acting the fool.

All the time this guy is talking you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Hell even if you get rich and famous you still might end up in prison. But look at those rocks that guy has in his ear.  Those diamonds have to be as big as his eyes almost.  Shit, each of those diamonds must cost more than my parents car when it was new.”

…….

I watched the first episode of the Michael Vick project the other night. 

The word "project" in the title indicates that we are meant to take this seriously (its meaningless use in "The Rachel Zoe Project" notwithstanding). It suggests hard work and the possibility of transformation. That the subject of the series is also one of its producers is worth noting but also par for the course in the new reality we call "reality." ~LA Times

I have had to do some pretty nasty jobs over the years, and this was no where near as bad in comparison, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  The whole time I was watching I kept seeing these talking head clips of Michael Vick and Marcus Vick.

Both brothers played in the NFL.  By the accounts of the Michael Vick project, Marcus helped to be the father figure for Michael’s kids while Michael was locked up in prison.

Both brothers wear huge diamond earrings in the ears.  I mean large, Ivana Trump would be envious. 

Now, I could care less about Michael Vick’s money.  I do not care that he was successful, that he made a lot of money, etc.  My point here is not about the money he made nor in this article about how he spent it, even though bankrolling a dog fighting ring comprised of criminals and drug dealers is pretty low.

But I’m watching this show and thinking about what the kids that listen to him speak are going to think when they are watching him, listening to him, weighing in the balance the things that he has done and the rewards he has received.

There’s a reason why drug dealers spend money on clothes, on bling, on cars, etc.  Its marketing.  They are marketing themselves to kids saying, drugs make me money, money gives me power, money gives me things that my parents couldn’t or wouldn’t.  Money makes me cool.  Drugs make me cool.  That is the marketing message that drug dealers convey, re-enforce, and build upon.

So when Michael Vick, ex-con, walks into a school sporting expensive clothes and wearing massive diamond earrings in his ears, he’s marketing himself as successful. 

They say you have to dress for success.  Michael Vick is general is attempting to regain his past glory, glory that was earned at the same time he was committing despicable crimes against nature and dragging his friends and relatives down with him at the same time.  I can understand the dressing up, but sporting the bling at an event where he is essentially trying to teach kids a lesson, teach them not to make the mistakes he made when he is WEARING the SPOILS of his past illicit accomplishments seems like a mistake.  It seems like something that is going to SPOIL THE MESSAGE.

I recognize that Michael Vick probably thought this was a good style.  Hell, it may not be a bad looking style at all.  And after watching him dress slightly on the thuggy side for years before his crimes were revealed, I understand that this may just be an expression of the mental image that he has of himself.

Ergo, He has not changed his own mental image of who he is.  Ergo at least on the superficial level, he has not changed, entirely.  (I do think he has changed somewhat, but I’m not going to go overboard with how much he has changed).

Help the Kids

I do not want to see Michael Vick in the NFL anymore, because I do not want to see him do additional damage.  That said, I hope that I can appeal to his own greed at a minimum.  If you want to be successful again, if you want to make the big bucks again, if you want to earn enough so you can feel like this is behind you at least . . . .

TAKE THE ROCKS OUT OF YOUR EARS, SELL THEM AND DONATE THE PROCEEDS TO HUNGRY CHILDREN

Don’t wear them to events where you are talking about discipline and making mistakes.  Kids are not going to see the mistakes when you are wearing the rewards.

Vick wearing the massive diamond earrings on the ride home from prison.  He must have either worn the diamonds to prison and put them in when he checked out, or his wife brought them to him and he put them in for the ride home, even before he saw his own kids.

Crowd listening to Michael Vick at the Boys & Girls Club of Virginia where he had his first job after prison.

Even at the Boys & Girls Club where he’s been going since he was a little kid himself, he’s wearing the diamond earrings that could probably put one of those boys through college for a year, if not 4.

Appeal to Michael Vick’s handlers, if you want to help Michael Vick, even if you don’t give a damn about kids, dogs, the NFL or Michael Vick, at least fix the image so that the message Michael Vick conveys when he is acting on stage in front of kids is not completely negated.  Go back and talk to Michael Vick’s former handlers during the trial.  He did not sport the diamonds when he went in for sentencing, now is not the time to do it either.

If Michael Vick runs into a burning barn and rescues a few hundred dogs harbored in a dog fighting ring single handedly, things might be different, but so far all Michael Vick has done is throw a few passes and run a few yards.  All of the public speeches he has given so far have been 100% compromised.  He needs to start over again and do it right.  Do right by those kids, don’t reinforce all the things that led Michael Vick himself astray in the first place.

Appeal to Michael Vick’s family, the same sycophants and enablers that surrounded Michael Vick in the past are still present, just not as close.  Don’t be fooled by the mock awards from the Eagles or polls from BET.

That Vick’s Philadelphia teammates recently voted him the Ed Block Courage Award, for players who "exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage," seems to indicate that it is, as does a BET online poll in which 85% of those responding agreed that the quarterback had already done enough to "repair his image." It also indicates that the likely audience for this show is already on the star’s side. ~ LA Times

True enough, I’d prefer that Michael Vick would just go live a hermits life somewhere where he can’t do more damage.  Short of that, I’d prefer he work as a monk traveling the earth doing good deeds, but that’s not going to happen, is it?  So please help him see a new image of himself, or at least convince him that he needs to portray a different image publicly.  Just because Michael Vick has influence over kids, it doesn’t mean that he should USE that influence.  If Vick can’t do right by kids, at least help him to fake it.  Doing no harm, should be the first goal.  So far he is doing it wrong.