Terrell Owens bashes NFL for treatment of Michael Vick

T.O. speaks! And surprisingly it was highly relevant. Terrell Owens recently spoke on Michael Vick’s recent conditional reinstatement and suspension. Owens suggested Vick has paid his debt to society and he shouldn’t have been punished further by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Speaking at Buffalo Bills training camp the wide receiver recently issued the following on Vick:

"I think the way the commissioner is handling it is unfair to Michael Vick," Owens said. "I think he's done the time for what he's done. I don't think it's really fair for him to be suspended four more games. It's almost like kicking a dead horse in the ground.”

Owens continued: "A lot of the guys around the league need to speak up. I think the players' union needs to step in because the guy's already suffered so much, and to add a four-game suspension onto a two-year prison sentence, I mean, that's ridiculous."

Also, after his press conference Owens suggested Goodell should try spending 23 months in prison and see how it feels.

Halleluiah! There is hope!

When Owens spoke out I was pleasantly surprised that an African American athlete used their platform for something other than self-promotion and to appease to white corporate America. Finally, someone said something that was relevant and timely and yet it the media didn’t give it much attention.

Gee, I wonder why.

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McNabb tells HBO that race is an issue at QB position

Donovan McNabb says African-American quarterbacks are perceived differently than white quarterbacks in a wide-ranging interview that will air tonight on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel."

In the conversation, which will be shown at 10 o'clock, McNabb also talks about the pressure of being the quarterback in this city and what it takes to tick him off. The interview was taped Aug. 31, an HBO spokesman said.

At one point, interviewer James Brown asks McNabb about how people perceive him as a quarterback, alluding to the lack of African-Americans at the position because some people thought "they weren't smart enough."

"There's not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra," McNabb says.

When pressed by Brown, McNabb continues, "Because the percentage of us playing this position, which people didn't want us to play this position, is low, so we do a little extra."

Brown later pushes on with the race issue after McNabb talks about people's reactions to his play.

"I pass for 300 yards, our team wins by seven, [mimicking] 'Ah, he couldn've made this throw, they would have scored if he did this,' " McNabb explains.

Brown then asks, "Doesn't every quarterback go through that?" McNabb says flatly, "Not everybody."

Brown ponders if the media is as tough on Carson Palmer or Peyton Manning, or if they are more harsh on McNabb because he's an African-American.

"Let me start by saying I love those guys," McNabb says with a smile. "But they don't get criticized as much as we do. They don't."

The interview begins with McNabb speaking about his time here in Philly.
"Every year I'm part of some criticism," McNabb says with a chuckle. "But every day that we go through life, you're faced with a lot of adversity. Now the answer is how do you handle the adversity. How do you respond?

"I try to handle myself with class. I try to handle myself with dignity. I think sometimes people look to players to act out, speak loudly, pretty much be an idiot. But that's not me."

The piece dives into McNabb as a child growing up first in Chicago, then in the mostly white suburb of Dolton, Ill. McNabb's parents, Sam and Wilma, talk of how they raised their sons to always try to do the right thing and to be leaders, not followers. McNabb talks of his struggles with bullies in the neighborhood, admitting to getting into a few fights. Brown then asked what pushes McNabb's buttons now.

"If you put your hands on me, I've got something for you," McNabb seriously proclaims. "You can talk all you want to. If you continue to try me, then we've got a problem."

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America and Michael Vick

First of all I do not condone what Michael Vick is accused of because I do have a soft spot in my heart for animals. What I find kind weird though is the uproar all across America over the animal cruelty accusations directed at Michael Vick but it doesn't seem to be that much of an uproar against President Bush for authorizing torture of Muslim people in his illegal wars or holding people hostage for years without charges at his mini concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay. Is it because Americans hold domestic animals in a higher status than non white people. If the people at Gitmo are guilty then why aren't they tried and sentenced by now, some of the detainees have been held for nearly six years without any trial and are being tortured at will. Now I would think that a nation that gets upset with someone accused of torturing animals to be equally upset if not more at their leaders for torturing human beings.

We don't seem to get angry at hunters either who go out and kill animals for sport to satisfy some blood lust that they have. To me that's also animal cruelty and is as equally as appalling as the dog torturing. I guess I just don't understand America's selective outrage to me it's like a guilty person shedding crocodile tears.