White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle made headlines a week ago for saying he and his wife rooted for Michael Vick to get hurt when watching football games. The exact quote, which was later removed from the MLB.com article, was “He had a great year and a great comeback, but there were times where we watched the game and I know it’s bad to say, but there were times where we hope he gets hurt. Everything you’ve done to these dogs, something bad needs to happen to these guys.”
Buehrle’s remarks were controversial because of his extreme negative feelings towards Vick. Disliking someone to the point that you wish injury upon them is about as harsh as it gets. It’s not exactly poisoning trees, but it’s really bad.
Well Buehrle was asked about his controversial comments during Spring Training and stood by them. “I said it. It’s an old story. Again, we are not bringing drama inside and past history stuff. So, I said it, meant it. It’s over, and we’ll move on.”
The best point of all is one raised by Rick Chandler at Off the Bench last week. Chandler noted that Buehrle enjoys hunting, and he even dug up an old story about Buehrle killing a bear. In terms of ethics, how can Buehrle despise Vick for killing dogs while he willingly kills other animals? Outside of a way of life our society deems right and wrong, what makes Buehrle’s hobby of hunting acceptable? If you’re a professed animal lover, that should apply to all animals, right? What makes dogs any different from bears?
Buehrle rests his answer upon the foundation of our societies norms, but his answer lacks any genuine basis. Maybe he should listen to the critics and realize how out of line he was for his feelings about Vick, and how hypocritical it makes him. Then maybe next time he’ll understand the error of his remarks.
