Sorry, Pittsburgh Dog Lovers: Steelers Sign Michael Vick

If Michael Vick had been a Pit Bull at the Bad Newz Kennels dog-fighting operation he once ran, he likely would have had his head repeatedly smashed to the ground, or be hanged or electrocuted.

But the NFL sure isn’t giving up on this loser!

Vick signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers last night. My condolences to dog lovers in that fine city, who are already making their outrage loud and clear.

“Pittsburghers Against Michael Vick,” a Facebook group started yesterday, already has more than 13,500 members (which almost 5 percent of Pittsburgh’s population).

“Vick is free to do as he pleases both on the football field and off. But one thing he can’t do is absolve himself of his direct participation in horrific and fatal animal torture and abuse,” wrote Wolf Navarro on the group’s page.

“And whether he takes our home team to the Super Bowl or spends the season riding the pine, we’re not obligated to forgive, and it’s essential we don’t forget.”

At a news conference this afternoon after his first practice with the Steelers, Vick said, “You can’t take back what happened in the past. Everybody’s different when they’re 20 than when they’re 35.”

Well, yeah, sure. But most of us didn’t kill dogs with our bare hands when we were 20.

After he was arrested in 2007, Vick pleaded guilty, served 21 months in federal prison, briefly did some work with the Humane Society of the United States (whose president, by the way, didn’t think the surviving dogs could be rehabilitated as pets and recommended they all be euthanized) and then quickly resumed his career with the NFL.

As for how he feels about people generally hating him, Vick told reporters, “I try to stay away from that, because all that does is make you develop mixed emotions about how you feel toward people. I don’t want to be emotionally disturbed right now. I want to be in a great place.”

Poor baby! I bet all those dogs at his Bad Newz Kennels wanted to be in a great place, too. Instead they were trapped in a living hell where, if they lost a fight, Vick himself would hold their heads under water until they drowned, or hang them from trees on his property.

For this reason, Vick will always be a despicable loser in many dog lovers’ opinions, including mine.

But you know who most definitely are not losers? The survivors of Bad Newz Kennels who, despite the mistreatment and horrific torture they endured, were successfully rehabilitated and spent the rest of their lives as “Vicktory dogs.” Many of them became therapy and assistance dogs to help people lead better lives.

Now, that is a great place to be.

Photo via Facebook