Culture and a Dog's Life

Because I am a football fan as well as a dog lover, I've followed the Michael Vick/dogfighting story beyond my usual news sources of NPR, etc. There are some fellow athletes as well as sports fans who have come out in support of Vick--some asserting that there is unfair attention paid to a rich black athlete who is only one of thousands of people who participate in dogfighting, and others crying foul because dogfighting is actually a "sport" that is rooted in cultural traditions. Well, slavery was rooted in cultural tradition too.

The Atlanta chapter of the NAACP has urged the NFL to not abandon Vick, but to allow him to return to his job as Falcon's quarterback after he serves his prison sentence. I personally think his NFL career is likely over, but whether or not he has a job after he does his time is really not an issue. What I want to know is what possesses any person to participate in such an activity? Even if someone were not to gain pleasure from watching two dogs wound and sometimes kill each other, what kind of person can look on such a thing and not be repulsed? There is something fundamentally flawed in the soul of such a person.

Addendum:

I should clarify that Michael Vick's employment status post-pokey isn't an issue for me. He'll be a millionaire many times over even if he has to give back his 20+ million signing bonus and part of his salary. I'll admit that my initial reaction to his particular story is a wish that he would be publicly humiliated, shamed and stripped of any football past or future glory. The humiliation part is well on its way and as I said before, his football career is likely over, especially as it appears that the players union is not doing to to defend him. I hope he does jail time, and I hope he receives mental health care to address that warped part of his spirit that found it acceptable to burn and hang dogs who didn't successfully rip another dog from limb to limb. But should he be denied the opportunity to return to work...to life...after doing his time? Some team owners wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole (it doesn't help that the brillance of his college play didn't exactly translate to the NFL anyway), but he shouldn't completely dispair. If it helped Jerry Jones get another Superbowl ring, Jerry would probably hire him if he'd killed his own mother.