Athletes' Dog-Fighting Fascination Ties to Hip-Hop
Vick Should Focus On Grasping Franchise-Quarterback Role
By JASON WHITLOCK
AOL
Sports Commentary
I spent Wednesday evening with Doug Williams and Warren Moon. We were promoting Bill Rhoden’s latest book, “Third and a Mile,” an expose on the history of African-American quarterbacks.
I wish Michael Vick could’ve been there.
Maybe, if Vick spent time learning Williams’ and Moon’s history, the Atlanta quarterback would model himself after Doug Williams, the original “franchise quarterback,” rather than Nino Brown, the fictional New Jack Hustler.
Much has been written, said and speculated about Vick’s involvement in the illegal sport of dog fighting during the past two weeks. ESPN found an informant who claims that Vick is a “heavyweight” in the blood sport. Sports Illustrated published a detailed and revealing account of the circumstantial evidence against Vick, and the people who have been diligently trying to expose a connection between the sport and NBA/NFL players.
What I find amazing is that no one appears to be willing to tie NFL/NBA players’ apparent love of pit bulls, Rottweilers and dogfighting to the players’ apparent love of hip-hop/gangster/prison culture.
The Sports Illustrated piece, which can be found online here --
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20007/football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/index.html -- has all the ingredients to make the connection.
Vick is pictured looking very Snoop Dogg-esque, cornrows and goateed. The article points out that rappers such as DMX and New Jersey Nets minority owner Jay-Z have made videos celebrating dog fighting. A spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States is quoted saying “there exists a dog-fighting subculture in the NFL and NBA.” And at one point in the article, a big deal is made about a former NFL running back’s prized and infamous pit bull champion, “Nino.”
Again, in the hip-hop world, Nino Brown is Tony Montana’s less-celebrated, but-far-more-influential little brother. In the 1991 hip-hop classic New Jack City, Nino, the revered leader of the crack-cocaine dealing Cash Money Brothers, among other things made owning ferocious Rottweilers cool.
My point is dog fighting, training, breeding and selling killer dogs are accepted and exalted hobbies in hip-hop/gangster/prison culture.
There are myths floating around that Vick might have picked up this hobby because he’s a good-old country boy and dog fighting traces its roots to the south and slavery. This is so much bull(manure) as it relates to Vick that it really shouldn’t be commented on. You can find dog fighting in every major city that has multiple inner-city drug kingpins, and Vick is nobody’s good-old country boy. I once spent a week in Vick’s (and Allen Iverson’s) hometown of Newport News, Va., and it has far more in common with Chicago than Mayberry.
Vick’s alleged affinity for Rottweilers and pit bulls is because hip-hop made it cool. Period.
The NFL and NBA climbed in bed with hip-hop because they thought the culture and its music could make the leagues more popular. Well, as the leagues are finding out, there’s a lot more that goes along with hip-hop than good dance music. Biggie and ‘Pac really did die in a blaze of gunshots. Some rappers do sell drugs, have strong ties to gangs, smoke weed around the clock and, like most music stars, behave poorly when binging on alcohol and cocaine.
The leagues need to rethink their alliances with hip-hop, and they need to educate their players about what’s appropriate for sports culture, the culture that is providing many of them lifetime financial security.
If there is merit to the dog-fighting allegations against Vick, many people are going to clamor for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to give Vick the Pacman treatment, a year’s suspension.
Punishment is fine. But Vick (and Pacman) need help in the form of education. The NFLPA should work with Goodell and the owners in formulating some sort of educational program for its talented, suspended athletes. Vick is young, gifted and marketable. The league can’t just throw him away.
If he’s suspended, Vick shouldn’t be allowed to re-enter the league without completing some kind of educational curriculum that teaches him about the responsibility of being an NFL quarterback, the face of a franchise, an ambassador for a major city.
I’d get Vick copies of Rhoden’s books, “Forty Million Dollar Slaves” and “Third and a Mile,” and I’d build a network of counselors/mentors consisting of Williams, Moon, James Harris, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, etc., to work with Vick on developing the necessary life skills to make it as a high-profile athlete. I’d mix in a few professional counselors.
Vick doesn’t understand his legacy. Doug Williams created the entire concept of a “franchise quarterback.” Before Williams hit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there were great, Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but there weren’t really “franchise quarterbacks.”
Before Williams, you built franchises around strong running games, great defenses and you found a terrific quarterback to manage the game. Doug Williams was the only thing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had. He was a one-man army who carried the Bucs to the playoffs three times. When he took his gun to the USFL in a contract dispute, the Buccaneers franchise fell completely apart. It took more than a decade for Tampa to recover.
Everyone in the league took notice, and when John Elway entered the league -- the only QB with as much physical skill as Williams -- the Denver Broncos built their entire franchise around Elway. Rather than lose Elway, the Broncos hired and fired coaches. It’s now common place for NFL teams to build their franchises around a QB.
Ah, I’m off on a tangent. My point is Doug Williams left the game better than he found it for all quarterbacks but especially black quarterbacks. It’s shameful that Vick doesn’t have enough self-awareness and discipline to respect the sacrifices of guys such as Williams.
