Professional Sport's Michael Vick Problem

(Since the site wasn't up and running when the Michael Vick dog-fighting indictment was handed down, there wasn't a chance to comment on it. The following is lifted primarily from an email exchange with some friends at the time of the indictment)

A while back, the NFL Network ran a segment where Marcellus Wiley, a pro football player and native of Compton, CA., was speaking with two ex-gang bangers. They were talking about how once there was a time when you used sports to get out of the poverty, crime and hopelessness of the mean streets. Recently, though, that trend has reversed whereby the athlete is bringing the mean streets with him to the NFL and NBA.

Why was this happening? The NFL segment didn't offer an opinion but a big reason is that over the past few years there has been a mainstreaming and a general acceptance of a culture that celebrates violence, violence against women, drug use and gun play. Acceptance to the point where Don Imus felt perfectly comfortable breaking-out his "nappy-headed hos" comment on nationally syndicated radio. And if the patron saint of the Big Apple's chat class goes 'ghetto', you know 'ghetto' has gone Main Street.

The NBA was at the forefront of this mainstreaming effort. When Jordan retired, the powers-that-be in the Association looked around at each other and asked, "Now what?" At that fateful moment in the late 90s they decided to make Allen Iverson their poster boy. Cornrows, tats and a criminal backround (from high school) became the image of the NBA in an effort to maintain "street cred" with the kids. And though possessing of cornrows and tats in itself doesn't make you a criminal, it is certainly evocative of a criminal lifestyle... and with a wink and a nod, that is exactly how the NBA played it.

It can be argued that the NFL is to a lesser degree playing the same game the NBA was. It is apparently a well-known secret that Under Armour's signature "click-clack" refrain in their commercials featuring current NFL players, is the same sound a hand gun makes when you cock the hammer.

The current relationship between the NBA/NFL and the "thug life" parallels that of the Federal Government and Big Tobacco. The former will demonize the latter but only to a point as the former knows full well its dependance on the latter as a lucrative revenue generator.