Okay, here’s the scenario. You’re on the tail end of a late drive home and you’re less than a mile away from the house when the fiery red lights of a fire truck and ambulance catch your eye in front of you on the horizons.
Obviously you pick up speed and you make the second to last right to get to your house and the ambulance tailing the fire truck in seemingly guiding you to your destination.
The fire truck stops directly in front of your home and the ambulance pulls in behind the multiple-ton emergency vehicle. The emergency crew is racing frantically to get their materials together as you pull up alongside the two response teams.
Now, as you hop out of your Tahoe, or Caravan or even a Mercedes in some scenarios, you notice the squad of emergency workers racing into your neighbor’s home.
How do you feel?
When answered honestly, relief is likely going to be the most common answer. Most people would not even go see about the people whom they share their property line with because it would be more gratifying to go hug their loved ones and thank God that they are okay.
The neighbors - we’ll worry about them later.
That old Asian proverb that forces us as individuals to look deeply into who we are as people is a great preface for 49er fans to ponder upon when we mold our opinion on what our franchise should do with pursuing Michael Vick.
So many people have flooded talk radio shows with their takes on how he should never be a Niner or even play pro football again, for that matter. How could that be?
We are coming off of a 7-9 season where the quarterback position was one clown short of a Barnum and Bailey Circus act. If there is a football team that could use a former pro bowl quarterback to guide the ship, it’s the San Francisco 49ers.
This young man deserves a second chance for one reason and one reason only — he was a great quarterback. Statistically he accomplished things on a football field that no one currently in our organization could dream of doing, yet his stupidity in choosing his hobbies has delegated him to the swine of the earth category for the majority of the Niner’s fan base.
Why do Niner fans (and NFL fans in general) hate Michael Vick?
Because of what he did, or because his debt to society has not been repaid in full? The 20-plus months of incarceration clearly wasn’t enough for his “financing of a dog fighting operation,” so let’s just do away with him all together.
San Francisco head coach Mike Singletary noted recently that everyone has done things “we’d rather no one found out about” and that Vick was one that got caught … people found out.
This guy deserves a shot. Whether or not you hate him for what he did, it’s impossible to think he does not deserve a chance to rebuild his image through playing professional football.
He will land a team (the Niners are clearly staying away from him, because of our fan base I feel) and that team will get a dynamic player. A player with something to prove, something to prove not only to the players in the National Football League, but also to himself.
As a Niner fan, I’d pay cash money to see him play in the scarlet and gold, taking the reins from that quarterback who led us with 13 touchdowns and eight picks. Heck, I’d take Devin Combs off of a 2-year hiatus over Shaun Hill, but hey, I’m used to not getting what I want. And Alex Smith, let’s just say ‘this isn’t Utah anymore, Dorothy.’
It all boils down to giving the guy a shot or not. There are people who feel he’s earned it and there are some who basically feel it should be off with his head. The groups that make up the latter opinion, I just wonder who they think they are?
Jagada Chambers is a staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Riverbank News and The Escalon Times. He may be reached at jchambers@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.
