A dog is a man’s best friend. But these days, even your best friend can hit you with a Go Straight To Jail card as if your life was a board game. You won’t even get to pass Go or collect 200.
In this case, “you” refers to Michael Vick. Once the darling of the football field, this NFL player found out the hard way that you just can’t violate the rights of animals and think you’re going to get away with it. The bulky athlete didn’t make an appearance at a celebrity-filled event and get his Pimpalicious mink furs splashed with red paint by PETA. It was much worse. He got jail time. And a reality TV show.
After Vick was convicted of leading a dogfighting ring, he was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison. He did his time and became the pariah of the sports world. What happens after he leaves jail is what The Michael Vick Project, which airs on Top TV’s Black Entertainment Television (BET) every Friday, is all about. He must have got a really subpar spin doctor to help him with this project because while we see him doing good things, like giving his money and time to underprivileged kids who want to be football stars, we don’t get to see a redemption story. It’s not very attention-grabbing.
Sure, Vick gets to make it back to practice finally and work on picking up from he left off 18 months ago. He works on his image in the public and tries to put his best foot forward. But other than his professional life, he also brings the cameras into his private life. Like most athletes – as the women of Basketball Wives or Real Housewives of... Anywhere or even Mob Wives will show you – there’s always a main chick and a sidepiece. The main chick is often a wife or a babymama. In The Michael Vick Project, he tries to mend things with his main chick and the mother of his children and promises to stay faithful. For now, his girl will have to be his best friend though, because chances of Vick being allowed near a dog ever again are as slim as this reality show is lacklustre.
• The Michael Vick Project is on BET (Top TV Channel 190) every Friday at 4.30pm