By Lee Leibert
Staff Writer

When you think of football, what is the first thing that you just think of? Trading cards, cheerleaders, sitting on the bleachers and maybe enjoying the game with friends and family are a few things that come to mind.

Well sometimes when I see a football player, due to certain experiences in my life, they seem to emphasize arrogance, ignorance, un-reliability, immaturity, immorality and all together irresponsibility. They are known to become role models, not the “poster child” of prison life or “job security,” as some police officers have said.

This is how I feel about Michael Vick. He was looked up to by children and adults as a role model; someone they respected and admired.  He was a very good athlete, but morality should be placed before the ability to run “touchdowns” and “tackle” the opposing team.

When Michael Vick was indicted of dog-fighting in July of 2007, people were shocked and in disbelief, but the facts didn’t lie. Michael Vick was convicted of the crime in December 2007 and his sentence was up to 23 months in prison. He was released from federal custody as of July 20^th 2009. Since then, he has been doing public service announcements and working to gain momentum to return back to the National Football League (NFL) as a football player.

Now that he has accomplished such and worked to fix his mistakes, does that mean he deserves the chance to become a football player again? No, absolutely not. He really messed up and he should have to atone for that. Yes, he has been working on it, but there is so much more he can do. Plus, he is looked up to as a role model for children. Children will think it is okay to harm/hurt animals if their role models do such, so why would he deserve the privilege to become said role model? I think… nothing.