Vick's $10,000 Fingers

Michael Vick Fined $10,000 for Gesture
29 Nov

Michael Vick has been fined $10,000 by the NFL for an obscene hand gesture toward fans following last week's loss to New Orleans. The fine was confirmed Wednesday by Reggie Roberts, the Falcons' vice president for communications.

Wait a minute--a pro athelete, and a really big-name one at that actually showing contempt for a crowd, or for individual fans? What? It has come down to this? For shame, for shame.

But seriously, ten G's for the finger (or here, more correctly, double fingers)? It's not really infringement of his First Amendment freedoms, because it's a condition of employment in the NFL. That kind of behavior is not allowed, so sure, take the hit and shrug it off. After all, $10,000 is less money than he makes in an equivalent minute of actual game time. That's walking around money for a guy like this.

Vick rushed for 166 yards in the 31-13 loss, just 7 yards short of his own NL record for a quarterback in a game. But that didn't make up for a dismal performance by the Falcons, who were booed loudly following their fourth straight loss and he showed his unhappiness by making the gesture with both hands.

Vick said he heard an especially disturbing insult from a male fan as he walked off the Georgia Dome field.

Yeah, so what? I learned to ignore verbal insults by the time I was a sophomore in high school. And since that was close to 30 years ago, I've been called a lot of really nasty things since then, and they really don't seem to bother me. More than anything, they actually entertain me, the depths to which the shallow, ignorant, and more than anything impotent idiots will sink--and quickly too--when they think they have something vital to say. I'm smarter than that, a lot smarter than that, and I know it. I'm better than that, and I don't care what they say about my mother, my kids, me, anything, it really doesn't matter a bit. To react to that kind of childish taunting takes me down to where they are, and I'm better than that.

Also, since Vick makes an obscene amount of money a year to play professional sports, can't he take some solace in the fact that he could buy and sell the unidentified name-calling yabbo for a fraction of his per-game income? Couldn't Vick just stop in the tunnel, give the guy a long, hard look in the eye, smile knowingly and just move on? Isn't that the most punishing thing you can do to a needy bully, just ignore them? That's always worked for me, and usually angers them even more, which is the true and immediate indication that you've won.

"He just said certain things I won't say in front of this camera," Vick said at a post-game news conference. "It was very inappropriate. I was down, upset, frustrated. I just did one thing I've never done through all the games I've ever lost, no matter how frustrated I've been after a game. I don't know where it came from, but the people who know me know that's not me and that's not my character."

But it is your character. You heard the criticism, took it on board, thought of what to do about it, thought of the gesture, and then you chose to do it. It may have been in haste, but it was you who reacted to the provocation you were given. Regardless of circumstances, your words and actions are who you are--ask the dumbass frat boys in "Borat" and Mel Gibson about his views on Jews--and this action now defines you. There is no way to duck it, no matter how deftly and arguably eloquently you describe the situation in which it took place.

I also notice here that there is no apology. There's the admission of guilt, tinged with the hollow excuse. There are the mitigating circumstances, the explanation of context and past behavior, which are both very convincing and well presented. It's the perfect lead-in to a sincere and meaningful apology, but we don't get that satisfaction. I take that to mean, Michael, that you aren't sorry for the action. That's okay, if that's the statement you wish to make. That is most definitely one way of taking responsibility for your words and actions, something that Charles Barkley was always the absolute king of doing, whether he was being politically correct or not. I don't have a problem with speaking directly, even if it's unpleasant and goes against what's expected. But don't tell us in the same breath that this is not who you are; that's just a lie.