My take on Michael Vick

I love my dog.

You love your dog. My mom loves her dog. My dad loves his dog. My sister loves her dogs. My friends love their dogs.

And I like Michael Vick.

And it displeases me to see people giving Vick such a hard time about his past when all he's trying to do is put it behind him by returning to football. He could have easily given up on the game, like so many athletes do when they run into trouble, but at least he's trying to live up to the potential he was once slated to have.

What makes me even more disgruntled with this whole situation is the identity of the anti-Vick groups that have conjugated around the Philadelphia Eagles organization. Go on ESPN or Google some pictures of these groups. Do they really look like a bunch of die-hard football fans that have the knowledge of the league to understand that there are former criminals that have done far worse things, actively playing?

No, they don't. They look like a bunch of mindless animal rights activists that will jump on any case that involves an abused animal (see PETA's approach to Obama killing a fly during an interview).

So how many of these people would still be out there, picketing and bitching about Vick's past, if they knew about Dante Stallworth, Pacman Jones, or even Plaxico Burress to an extent?

Leave sports-related protesting to sports fans. Vick is not a dogfighting organizer anymore. He's a FOOTBALL PLAYER.

Now, I don't condone animal abuse by any means. I've owned lots of pets over the years and would never considering harming them. But I'm also not saying that what Vick did was right. But it is right that Vick came back to football, where he belongs.

Welcome back to the NFL, Mr. Vick. May your NFL career thrive, stress-free from here until retirement.

-Mitch