Mike Vick, American Hero

If there's one thing America loves, it's a good conspiracy theory. UFO cover-ups, grassy knolls, new world orders (the government kind, not the Hulk Hogan kind), presidents born in Kenya. Granted, America seems to love them more when they come from Sean Hannity, but it seems like most of the country has missed the boat on the most probable conspiracy theory on the sports scene since the NBA stopped freezing draft envelopes.

Michael Vick is a dog-lover who cares more about the pet cause than he does about his own well-being and should be praised as an American Hero.

Truth be told, this even slipped past me until I recently came across a small advertisement in a Washington Post. It was an ad from an animal rescue operation in Philadelphia that is donating bags of dog food to a local Washington shelter for every time Vick is tackled (the city changes depending on who Philly is playing).

Imagine the following scenario. You are a professional athlete of considerable fame who believes passionately in the animal cause. You notice there are serious problems with what some people deem acceptable when it comes to the treatment of dogs and you also notice there's an incredible lack of awareness on the national stage of this epidemic.

To solve it, there's Option A. You could raise awareness by using your fame to advance the cause. Of course, that move wouldn't get much done. All it would do is excite middle-aged women who have no relevance or effect on anything that happens in this country.

Everyone else, in this age of cynicism and snark among sports fans and bloggers, would have mocked your charitable efforts as well-placed PR:

"Oh, look at Mike Vick, he's all 'Oh, I'm so shocked to see a newspaper camera here while I'm handing this oversized check to this animal charity, how unexpected!!!' lol what do u think were stoopid mike?"

That's just the way people are in 2009. You organize a cancer benefit, like a Race for the Cure, and snarky people will tell you it's mean to make sickly cancer victims race for a cure that doesn't exist. Organize a charity basketball game and the snarky blogosphere will assume the charity is your unpaid child support. They will assume this even if you don't have kids.

You could take Option A your whole life and fail miserably at doing much of anything for the cause. Or there's Option B.

Option B is doing something so horrific, so terrible and so reprehensible that America will never forget it. It will ruin your image and you will temporarily lose your freedom and your livelihood. No one will treat you the same and everywhere you go, there will be people who hate you because of it.

But something glorious will happen because of it. People will become hyper-aware of the people who mistreat animals. People will rise up and organize because of it and work towards animal rights. People will open their pocketbooks and donate to animal shelters. Humans from across the globe will unite together to raise awareness and fight something they didn't know was a problem two years ago.

And the positive effects that come from this don't go away overnight. The snarky blogosphere will keep your story front and center for years by mocking you and posting photos of dogs wearing your uniform. And the longer you stay in the public eye, the more power your original cause gains. Sure, they hate you, but now America has discovered a deep passion for something it never knew it could love so much.

It's so obvious that Mike Vick took Option B and he should be applauded. It's unfathomable that no one can see Mike Vick for what he truly is. Nothing is as black and white as dumb Americans want to believe this Vick situation is. Peel it back a little bit and you see the real story.

Look at it another way. Is the world a better place because of Mike Vick's actions? Undoubtedly, the answer has to be yes. In 2006, you would see people dribbling dogs down the street like basketballs. In 2009, we know better. We know dogs are to be treated with love and affection and not like piñatas.

True story. I was in a long line at the bank recently and the guy in front of me started killing time by playing a Sean Kingston song on his boom-box and kicking his dog to the sweet beats. The bank crowd turned into a lynch mob and tarred and feathered this guy. Then someone took the money out of the guy's wallet and used it to by everyone White Castle hamburgers to eat while we talked about whether or not to tar and feather the man's house to send an even stronger statement.

This never happens if Mike Vick doesn't make the ultimate sacrifice. His is a name that should be among others that greatly sacrificed for a cause. Jesus, Ghandi, Rosa Parks, and Mike Vick. Although, if you examine the facts closely and remove all emotion from the equation, Vick may be the most selfless one of the bunch.

Rosa Parks was an extraordinary woman who was one of the significant figures in the civil rights movement. Her actions were incredibly courageous, but also somewhat self-serving, seeing as how she too was an African-American.

Ghandi fought for civil rights of Indians. Noble? Abso-freaking-lutely. Self-serving? Well, he was Indian. Jesus too, great guy, gave his life for his cause. Of course, his cause was to give eternal salvation to his friends, his people.

Mike Vick? Completely selfless actions to help those without a voice, literally. Vick wasn't out to help his own race. He wasn't even in it for his own species.

He saw an injustice in this world. He did everything in his power to right it. That, my friends, makes him an American hero. We could all learn a lesson from him.