Your thoughts: Should Michael Vick get a second chance with the Chiefs?
The Star’s editorial board weighed in on the Kansas City Chiefs’ bringing Michael Vick to join the team as a coaching intern, writing: “If the Chiefs don’t want to contribute further to the idea that the NFL is chock-a-block with abusers of women as well as animals, they should reconsider.”
The editorial stirred a lot of good debate on The Star’s Opinion Facebook page at facebook.com/
Here are some of the best comments.
Justin Peripheral: Will we get to bet on dog fights in the parking lot? I need to make some of my tax dollars back for these stadium costs.
Chris Sullivan: What’s the big deal? He screwed up. Got convicted. Served the time the law says. Paid whatever fines he had. Got out. Paid off all his debts rather than declaring bankruptcy. And has become a productive member of society.
Tyler Hardwick: People just want a black cloud to follow him the rest of his life. They would feel great if he was homeless and starving; they can’t stand the idea that he’s a changed man and bettering himself and his community. It’s sad to watch.
Andrew Badgerow: The Star’s editorial board has a huge history for being wrong when history plays out. This is a prime example.
Tyler Hardwick: They have put out many articles from the flip side of this; it’s just an opinion piece and a lousy one at that.
Ian Stevenin: Regardless of the extension of American blind justice, he fulfilled his obligation to the court a long time ago. I don’t know about anyone else, but I would like to see the Chiefs go to a Super Bowl.
Jim Casey: Do any of you who think Vick should not be hired have any feelings about Donte Stallworth (who killed a man while driving drunk)?
Grace Walters: Excellent editorial. Thanks.
Shannon Thomas: He doesn’t belong here. Great article!
John Boland: He paid his debt. That’s his profession, so he’s got the right to work.
Janet Beasing: You do not get a second chance on abuse to people or animals. Paid his “debt”? Go look a bait dog in its poor little eyes.
Pattie Verschueren: Most people usually aren’t too forgiving of someone who abuses children and animals. Just a while back the FBI started tracking animal abusers. Seems abusers start with animals as their victims and then move on to humans.
Mike Estle: I, for one, will always choose to forgive, until someone proves he is not sorry for his indiscretions by repeating them. He did the crime, he did the time, and he shows no inclination to repeat his offense. I would offer the same forgiveness to you for your indiscretions, and would hope that you would do the same for me.
Pattie Verschueren: If Vick electrocuted your child or drowned your child, would you forgive him? Some can forgive, but most can’t. Just because he did his time, (that) doesn’t change evil. It’s a fact: There are cruel, mean people in this world, and Vick is one of them. I’m so sick of hearing, “He did his time.” There were no second chances for his innocent, voiceless victims. He gets no forgiveness or sympathy from me.
Tez Williams: If you’ve fulfilled your legal requirements and have done your share of community service then you deserve your second chance in most cases.
Chris Johnston: Andy Reid and the Chiefs are dead to me.
Brett J. Richard: Same here. Lifelong fan until this.
Christopher W. Bush: Every single one of you will watch the Chiefs this year.
Colleen Throckmorton: I’m a Denver fan, but the Chiefs are still going to lose on this one.
Misti Brumback Waltrip: They are willing to overlook a sociopath if he performs.
Toni David Pine: Hasn’t Michael Vick paid his debt to society? He’s been a model citizen since. Lots of judging going on here from our “we shouldn’t judge anyone” citizenry. By the way, he just may end up being the second-string QB before all’s said and done.
Marla Timberlake Stout: It’s not the Chiefs that disgust me, it’s the sport as a whole. Vick is just one player in a long line of badly behaved hoodlums who have continually been welcomed back to the fold in the name of greed. No other sport puts up with this kind of garbage, and many ban players and coaches for much less.
This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Your thoughts: Should Michael Vick get a second chance with the Chiefs?."