Reporter Sacked for Vick Comment

A sports commentator lost his spot as a panelist on a local sports show after making a comment about quarterly Michael Vick and his recent dogfighting charges:

PITTSBURGH — A newspaper reporter who said Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick would have been "better off raping a woman" than being charged with dogfighting has apologized and will no longer appear on the local sports panel TV show where he made the remark.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Paul Zeise made the comments Sunday night on the "Sports Showdown" show on KDKA-TV, a CBS affiliate. He was disagreeing with another panelist who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should suspend Vick for the rest of the season because he was indicted on federal dogfighting charges July 17.

"It's really a sad day in this country when somehow ... Michael Vick would have been better off raping a woman if you look at the outcry of what happened," Zeise said. "Had he done that, he probably would have been suspended for four games and he'd be back on the field. But because this has become a political issue, all of a sudden the commissioner has lost his stomach for it."

Zeise apologized Monday.

It may be considered insensitive and politically incorrect, but Zeise is probably right. Because his victims were animals Vick will probably pay a higher P.R. price, if not a legal price, than he would have had he done something to a woman. The glorification of athletes in today's society allows them to get away with unbelievably bad behavior, but electrocuting dogs who don't fight well enough hasn't yet been elevated to an acceptable activity for star athletes.