Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Have a low IQ? Lack common sense? Pro sports is the career for you!

Turns out that being involved in big time sports doesn't require much in the way of brainpower, IQ, or common sense.

I know this is Marcus Vick, but it's a hysterical pic, and considering the genius moves made by the Vick brothers, it's proof positive that the Vick gene pool is on the shallow side...

Look at that most prominent example of upstanding citizenship, Michael Vick. With the God awful decision making skills Vick has continually shown, combined with the fact that most anyone with even a below average IQ would know enough to NOT risk their long-term, multi-million dollar Atlanta Falcons and endorsement contracts by involving themselves in activities that are frowned upon by federal prosecutors, it begs a question.

How on earth did Vick manage to get into a school of higher learning? In his case, that august institute was Virginia Tech. They must be so proud. Vick comes off as if he'd have scholastic trouble at your local community college. He sure as Hell wouldn't pass Logic 101.

Oh yeah, he's an elite athlete. The education bar is lowered considerably.

Still, you'd think that someone around him would have enough synapses firing to bring up the fact that animal brutality is not an activity that a person with so much at stake should be involved. That in fact, if he had any modicum of sense, Vick should stay far, far, far away from such brutality. Even if much of his entourage felt otherwise.

Think Vick, think! Should I raise pit bulls to fight to the death, while killing off the weak ones, or keep my image and money intact? Killer dogs FTW!

That lack of sense tells me that his low rent entourage / posse / so-called friends aren't any brighter than Vick. If those "Friends" did have the normal amount of brainpower, they'd have keep their meal ticket's hands clean of dog blood.

You know, it's not all that hard to tell from right and wrong. Dog fighting is as wrong as it gets. So what if it happens all over, that it's part of a certain segment of society, that it's not enough to make you distance yourself from your "Friends."

Bullshit. Dog fighting is disgusting. Any sane person would agree.

Deep down, when you look inside yourself, you have to know that the barbaric act of training dogs to fight, then having them do so to the death, let alone betting on the result, is NOT A GOOD THING.

If you do think that this is a natural and acceptable activity, you're either dumb as a rock, or have no soul. I'm not sure which category Vick fits yet. Maybe both.

I know that Vick and his cronies are "Innocent till proven guilty" in a court of law. But where's there's smoke, there's fire. In this case, it's a raging inferno. The feds don't screw around. Vick is in deep with the federal prosecutor for a reason.

The general consensus is that for Vick, prison may be unavoidable. To be honest, that wouldn't exactly break my heart. If the feds would go for a deal, the smart thing for Vick to do would be to plea, ASAP, and hope to avoid serious prison time. But from what we’ve seen of Vick, being smart isn’t one of his strong points.

It’ll be a race to the prosecutor’s office between Vick’s dog fighting cronies to see who can flip on Vick first. Some friends, huh?

Then the other paragon of virtue in sports is disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy. Today, David Stern all but confirmed that Donaghy bet on, and fixed, NBA games. The college educated Donaghy, making well over 6 figures to referee NBA games, somehow got himself in so deep in gambling debt, that the mafia took notice, and took advantage.

When the mob first reached out to him, you'd think that Donaghy could have gone to the FBI then and there. Considering the odds great are that the FBI already knew anyway, considering wiretaps, it would have been the prudent thing to do. It sure as Hell would have been the smart thing to do.

But it bears repeating, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make it in pro sports.

If Donaghy had done the smart thing, (Other than not gamble to begin with) he would have lost his NBA job, but probably avoided jail time. Losing your NBA job in disgrace is infinitely better than having to endure death threats from the mob, and spend several years in PMITA prison.

It's bad enough he's going to the joint. Donaghy has David Stern pissed! Now that's the true kiss of death...

It makes you wonder though, did Donaghy honestly think he could get away with point fixing? He had to know that as he kept betting, and got deeper in debt, that even if he did manage to win enough to get himself out of debt, the ending was not going to be pretty.

You either have to be an idiot, or self delusional, to think otherwise. I vote idiot.

Once he took that step in cooperating with the mob, that was the end. Much like the government, when you give the mob an inch, they are going to take a yard. Unlike the government, the mob will then take a mile.

Donaghy did the wrong thing, the stupid thing, and ended up fixing games for the mob. Thus ruining his career, his reputation, his entire life. and took NBA down down in the muck with him. Just because he liked to gamble. Because he was too dumb to stop.

You know, I love to gamble. Las Vegas is one of my favorite places in the entire world. I could sit at a blackjack table for hours on end. In my mind, a sports book is a wonderful place to hang out. I'll never deny that betting is fun!

But being on disability, I no longer have that kind of discretionary income. I can't afford the risk. So guess what?

I DON'T GAMBLE ANYMORE.

Donaghy knew he wasn't supposed to gamble. He had so much at risk, more than most people, and yet he gambled anyway. He ended up losing much more than his shirt.

Just like Vick, deep, deep down inside, Donaghy had to know that what he was doing was extremely wrong. Bad wrong. Fuck up your life royally wrong. Stupid wrong.

Thing is, we all know right from wrong.

That's why I don't feel sorry for Donaghy, same for Vick. It's impossible to feel sorry for such stupid people.

1 comment:

  1. You are correct, people do stupid things that could ultimately land them in jail. This is not limited to high profile athletes or referees. EVERYONE has.

    Do I feel bad for Vick? Not in the least. Dog fighting is disgusting. I would say inhumane, but how then would you explain boxing and ultimate fighting?

    The ref, I feel something for him. Gambling is addictive. It's too bad for him that he didn't recognize his problem, nor did the people around him, before it was too late. He made mistakes, true, and he should have to pay for those mistakes.

    My last comment was regarding your thought on the lowering of the education bar for elite athletes. That is a very wide sweeping comment to make, especially when you are talking about one person in particular.

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