After Michael Vick, a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was indicted for dogfighting, some have begun to suggest that he should be suspended for the entire year. However, a reporter, Paul Zeise, of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette has indicated that this would be harsher than if he raped a woman, which would likely give him only a four game suspension.

Rape is certainly no laughing matter, but this is merely a realistic comparison to the absurdity of standards in both pro sports and our justice system in general, and seems to me to be suggesting that rape is not penalized harshly in pro sports. While dog fights are certainly cruel and unnecessary, in my books it seems to be much better than sex-boat scandals or rape.

Therefore it is unfortunate that the newspaper Zeise works for distanced itself, suggesting that the comparison to rape does not represent the views of the newspaper.

Somewhere along the line, we seem to have lost our stomach for reality. Maybe he should have said that the penalty for dog fighting could potentially worse than if Vick would have had Repeated Abusive Penetrations in an Enclave (RAPE) of a woman.

-Trevor