The Michael Vick saga, when news isn't fit to print

Like just about everyone else, we’ve been following Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s trials and tribulations in the FBI dog-fighting probe. So far, we’ve purposefully stayed away from commenting on the proceedings, because we’re sure you’ve already been inundated with all forms of new details and forceful opinions on Vick and this story on an hourly basis.

But, at this stage, the media coverage itself is something we wanted to specifically focus on, because since the beginning we’ve felt that the reporting of this on-going story has been lacking some serious perspective. The collective media, it seems, has gathered around this story like a pack of hungry wolves chomping at the bit for the next morsel of information to trickle out through sources within the Falcons, the NFL, FBI, Michael Vick’s family, his neighbor’s cousin and his college roommate’s uncle, twice removed. Through all of this “reporting” by every news source from The New York Times to the New Virginian the story has become larger than life, significantly larger than it ever needed to be, or should have been.

The grizzly details of this case are horrible and everyone involved should be punished – Vick deserves every hour, day, week, month and year of jail time he gets as a result of his boneheaded and malicious acts. But, how did Vick’s actions become bigger news than the charges faced by former NFL player Rae Carruth, who had a hand in murdering his girlfriend in cold blood? How is dog-fighting a more heinous crime than the murder charges that were facing former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams or current Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis? What about former Chicago Bear Tank Johnson facing gun possession and assault charges? Or the case of current Tennessee Titan Pacman Jones, where a bar patron was left paralyzed stemming from an incident involving the cornerback? The list goes on. The media attention in these cases were dwarfed in comparison to the coverage of the Michael Vick dog-fighting trail. Is dog-fighting, however gruesome the details, more gruesome and shocking than murdering a human being?

Perhaps it’s because Vick has, or is about to be labeled guilty, in court, but it finally seems like the media is finding some time to step back from the feeding frenzy and gain some much needed perspective -- something that should have happened as soon as this news first broke. Sports radio and some newspaper stories are starting to really get to the heart of a serious problem with today’s media, and really the general populace, in identifying the most important, not the most sensational, stories. It seems the mainstream media is losing the ability to identify what matters most in news, and that is a huge problem.

In The News: August 21, 2007

Time Warner has apparently stepped up talks with the NBA to take charge of all operations at the league’s flagship NBA TV network. Currently only available as part of the sports package through most cable systems, Time Warner management may help bring NBA TV into the basic digital cable lineup, thus increasing the network’s viewer-ship significantly. However, before that happens, producers and executives at both the NBA and Time Warner need to take a very close look at the programming available on the network. Sure NBDL and some international games are fine, but the network needs more programming focused on nightly highlights, in-depth analysis, player interviews and behind-the-scenes access – and it wouldn’t hurt to send a broadcast crew to some of the summer all-star games that draws big basketball names to the court during the off months.

No more room in the NBA? There have been a lot of decent NBA free agents looking for jobs this summer, seems more than usual. Wondering why? Perhaps Draft Express has the answers.

Did you know that Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is also behind those obnoxious commercials for the Fathead giant wall stickers? Did you know that the recent struggles of his other company, Quicken Loans, has nothing to do with the Cavs not signing even one free-agent this summer?

So now that Michael Vick has entered into a guilty plea, once he’s out of jail will he ever play in the NFL? Sporting News seems to think so, and we tend to agree. Of course, this is all contingent on what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell does. If he chooses to ban Vick for life, then Vick might as well use his time in the penitentiary library wisely and study up on a new trade.

Surprise, surprise. San Diego Chargers running back Ladanian Tomlinson’s NFL jersey leads all in sales. We were hoping that former Maryland Terp and current Denver Bronco Dominique Foxworth would be on the list. Guess his jersey came up just short.

Autoweek has posted an updated article on the future of various Lexus models. Interestingly, the article seems to confirm that the new Lexus “supercar”, which we covered in an earlier post, will be called LF-1 when it goes into production, and will be all-wheel instead of rear-wheel drive.