ESSAY- Sports rules: Why Vick should have beaten a woman

National Football League superstar Michael Vick is in trouble, serious trouble. Federal prosecutors charged the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback with animal abuse for his role as the alleged leader of a dog-fighting ring and, after denying it for months, Vick just pleaded guilty. He faces stiff sentencing.





What could possibly account for this bizarre situation?

Part of it is that it's the dog days of August– the notoriously silly season for news– so the Vick story has attracted tremendous press attention. But it's been all over TV as well during the past four months, since Vick's indictment in April.

Animal Lobby Attacks


PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which received almost $30 million in contributions last year, according to its website, and other animal rights organizations are demanding a boycott of companies that continue to sponsor Vick and are bombarding the NFL with letters demanding a no-tolerance policy when it comes to cruelty to animals by football players.

On blogs, the outrage continues on and other sites, with comments like "let's give #7, 7 to life," or "let's make Michael Vick into dog food."

A cottage industry of anti-Vick merchandise is out there. You can buy a chew toy for your dog with a likeness of Vick, a "hang Vick" hat or even an eye-for-eye justice t-shirt that says "Stick Vick in the Pit."

Vick has already lost most of his sponsorship deals worth millions of dollars, and he deserves to lose a whole lot more.

But the disproportionate punishment of Vick– while athletes who commit violence against women are let off the hook– has to be questioned.

Might it be that domestic violence and spousal abuse are so pervasive in sports that it's simply too costly for leagues to suspend so many men? What would happen after all if those poor dear teams couldn't fill their rosters?


A three-year study published in 1995 by researchers at Northwestern University found that while male student-athletes compose three percent of the population, they represent 19 percent of sexual assault perpetrators and 35 percent of domestic violence perpetrators.

There are even website chronicles that treat the steady stream of offenders as if it were a joke. Check out or Or, on second thought, don't. It's enough to make you sick.


In April, Goodell introduced a new conduct policy that stiffens penalties and holds franchises responsible when their players get into trouble.

Just recently Goodell suspended Tennessee Titans' troubled player Adam "Pacman" Jones for the 2007 season.






Last summer Philadelphia Phillies' pitcher Brett Myers assaulted his wife on a public Boston street and was charged with assault and battery. Major League Baseball did not penalize him, shrugging it off as an off-field incident. Are they saying a player needs to abuse his spouse during a game to be sanctioned? If so, just how does that work?

Don't expect anything better from the National Basketball Association.


Was he punished by the NBA? No.

The Sacramento Kings' Ron Artest was suspended last season for 72 games for fighting in the stands. In March he was arrested for domestic violence. For that he got what amounted to a hand slap: an immediate two-game suspension and a $600 fine for a player who makes several million a year.

Artest pled no contest to the domestic violence charge and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, a 10-day work project and mandated extensive counseling. The NBA did nothing here too. Maybe if he had committed the transgression on national TV– as with the fan brawl– more would have happened.

Maybe if he'd hurt a dog, he would have been benched for the season.

Sandy Kobrin is a freelance writer for many publications including Women's eNews, the online magazine in which this essay originally appeared.



This argument is invalid and is a "false dichotomy". People don't have to choose between anger about the torture of animals and the mistreatment of women. We should be outraged when any living being is made to feel unnecessary pain.

Not to mention Vick isn't in trouble for *beating* dogs, but killing them.

Unless the author thinks Vick could go out and kill a couple women and still be allowed to play in the NFL, this is a awful comparison.

Poorly thought out article, poorly written. Clearly an author with an axe to grind...

Why didn't you mention Iraq, Darfur, abortion, etc, etc like Vick's other apologists like to do? Aren't these "worse" than spouse abuse? Cruelty is cruelty and we shouldn't allow it towards people or animals. Whatever crimes these athletes committed they should pay the price in the courts. The leagues are private and can do what they want. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't crack down on all types of criminal activities that their players engage in, they should. Animals are innocent and defenceless, while people have choices. I am prooud of the outrage that the American people have shown over this 6 years worth of torture and killing. The Humane Society and PETA have done a great job of mobilizing their forces, now you and other women's groups should go do the same thing for your causes.

What a lame article. Human beings are capable of defending themselves in ways that chained animals are not. Make your point on its own merits, Sandy, and not by downplaying a truly horrendous case of animal cruelty.

I AGREE AMERICA IS SAD! I Think people wouldn't have made it a big deal if this happen. Our Society needs help.

Bravo, Sandy! The fact that the USA has been soft on spousal abuse since its inception is legendary. Would that women had a lobby as strong as PETA.