Baseball Honors 'Innocent Till Proven Guilty.' NFL Trashes It.

When Bonds caught Aaron yesterday, Commissioner Bud Selig said he or another baseball official would attend the Giants' next few games "out of respect for the tradition of the game, the magnitude of the record and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty."

Innocent until proven guilty. Nice words. A principle the NFL has trashed by cashiering Michael Vick before he has been tried on dog-fighting charges. Yes, dogfighting is terrible, and, unlike Bonds's supposed infraction, not everybody does it. But doesn't everybody deserve a hearing?

Comments

[defenestrator]

Philip,

The NFL, MLB, and any other employer for that matter, are under no obligation to follow "innocent until proven guilty." If Michael Vick's presence harms the reputation, and therefore the brand, of the National Football League, then it is incumbent upon the protector of the brand to repair the brand. The NFL is much better served by suspending Vick and being wrong about it, than they are by allowing him to play and then being wrong. In the case of Major League Baseball, the protector of the brand is not the commissioner, but rather is the players union, and they are only concerned with the players pocketbooks and do not take a longterm view.

All this aside, as you well know, innocent until proven guilty is a legal construct. Just as getting >50% of your campaign funds from Jews doesn't mean unequivocal support for Israel, being indicted doesn't mean Vick bankrolls dogfights. However, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming (including having the equipment at Vick's home)

[bill Pearlman]

You have to love it, One of the rare Phil Weiss posts that don't touch on the Jewish cabal and yet the first talkback, THE JEWS. Always the Jews.

[Natsi]

You mean Michael Vick is Jewish?

Ban him from the game then!!

[daveg]

People often confuse acts that threaten "THE GAME" - gambling, steriods, etc. - with bad acts that occur outside the game - crime, drug use, etc.

While often those bad acts that occur outside THE GAME are morally worse, they have less baring on THE GAME.

That is why Pete Rose is banned from baseball, but other drug users are still in the hall.