Is Michael Vick being a Pittsburgh Steeler worth abandoning your fanhood?

This is just an op ed and has little to do with anything directly related to the team. It’s actually directed at us, all of us in the fanbase.

I love Steelers fans. Love them. They are some of the best informed, best educated, most passionate football fans in the country. However, we do as a group have a tendency to overreact to things, even when they have little impact on us.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, Michael Vick was signed by the Steelers yesterday and Bruce Gradkowski was put on Injured Reserve after having surgery on his left hand that will keep him out for a month. That has led fans to take positions ranging from Joy to Indifference to Disappointment to Disgust.

I’ve heard that Vick will help us and become the new 2 point specialist the team needs. I’ve heard people say they don’t care because Vick will be the 3rd QB and probably never get in (those people are mistaken on both counts, in my opinion). I’ve heard that Vick isn’t that good a QB anymore. I’ve heard conspiracy theories about Tomlin not liking Bruce Gradkowski and wanting to bring in his “friend”. That argument is my favorite because it was bantered about by a loud mouth who is sure he knows what he’s talking about and he swore he would not to be a Steelers fan anymore.

My response? “Good riddance. Turn in your Terrible Towels and go be a Browns fan. You were obviously never that invested in the team anyway.”

If the Rooneys see a QB who has committed a crime, paid a severe penalty for that crime, is trying to own his previous behavior and be a good citizen; and can help them at their place of business, why should you second guess their decision?

I find it difficult to understand why some people are struggling with the simple concepts of forgiveness and decency here. What Vick did was awful, no doubt. But when a man makes a mistake the very most you can hope for is that he owns what he has done, comes up with a plan to make amends and sticks to that plan. He has done that.

I love my dogs. No one will ever hurt them. In fact, if someone walked up to them and tried to injure them while in my presence I guarantee said individual would leave that meeting in an ambulance.  That said, let’s not compare what Vick did to rape, killing a person or molesting children. Those are unforgivable. Being raised around dog fighting and his family not incorporating love of pets into his perspective does not excuse what Vick did, but it does explain it.

Vick has tried to move forward from that as a better man. Why is it that we are having such a hard time accepting that effort and assisting him in that endeavor? Do we want him to fail in order to justify our vitriol?

Getting back to the simple concept of decency and forgiveness, let me remind you Steeler Nation that you forgave Ben Roethlisberger, you forgave James Harrison, you forgave Le’Veon Bell, you forgave Alameda Ta’amu, you forgave Santonio Holmes, you forgave Hines Ward, you forgave Jeff Reed. Some of you even wanted us to forgive serial woman beater Cedric Wilson. Those people you forgave earned your forgiveness through their statements and actions. Why is it so hard for you to give Mike Vick that same chance, especially when he committed that awful crime 10 years ago and has paid a steep, albeit appropriate, price for having done so?

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a judgemental person. I have a lot of strong opinions and I try to look at things pragmatically. But, in times like this I try to remind myself of something my mom told me growing up. It went something like this: “Thou shall not judge because thou hast screwed up in the past also”.

Paraphrasing obviously, but you get the point. We all have done things at some point that we’re not proud of. We would all like people around us to give us the chance to show that we’re a better person than that action or actions portrayed us as. Give Mike Vick that same opportunity.