Jarrett-Carter.com

He’s in jail, he’ll probably never play football again in the NFL, and he’s in OJ Simpson territory for most hated black athlete.

And now he can add bankruptcy to his list of negative descriptors.

The most Michael Vick stands to get out of this ordeal is a book deal, and its not clear if anybody would be willing to buy that. He’ll probably makes his rounds on the talk show circuits, and spin more sympathy PR then we’ve ever seen, but the truth is that this guy will never get his life back.

Forget fame and fortune. Michael Vick has been reduced to a symbol of privileged athletes behaving badly. If he were to be elevated to a place where people felt sorry for him, and forgave the fact that he abused animals, he could only operate as a convicted criminal trying to warn others of the dangers and trappings of affluence. He could only be the mouthpiece for why America, even the richest of us, should think before they act.

And when you think about it, there’s nothing fair about that. Every unwed couple that’s produced a baby doesn’t have to be spokesperson for abstinence. Every former drug addict doesn’t have to speak out for Just Saying No. Yes, it’s true that these classifications of people didn’t have millions of dollars and the attention of the world upon them, but that doesn’t make them any less fallible, or him more suited to be the spokesperson for human error.

Why does affluence and recognition demand that he do more than the average man? Because the money we gave him made him richer? Because the cameras we placed on him made him more recognizable? Does he owe us more because he had more?

There are so many other things to shame into the ground besides Michael Vick. George W. Bush is a nice start, and a look in the mirror would be a decent follow-up.