I am so sick of hearing about Michael Vick and his indictment (not conviction, mind you) on dogfighting. It’s not just that anyone who could possibly think that torturing and killing animals for “sport” makes me sick.

No, it’s the sensationalism around it. It has been seldom mentioned that Vick has been in trouble with the law many times. This isn’t his first brush with the law.

It’s also how it’s being portrayed. I understand that people get emotional about man’s best friend. I love animals too. But for Sen. Robert Byrd to actually get choked up and cry over this on the floor of Congress? When is the last time he cried over someone’s loved one who died in Iraq? Iraqis and Americans die everyday in Iraq. Who cries for them? How “barbaric” is our current conflict — based on half-truths and half-baked cowboy ideology — and the terrible consequences on innocent lives? How “barbaric” is our current healthcare system that leaves children left without access to medical care in one of the world’s wealthiest, most powerful nations? Don’t even get me started…

As for the media treatment of the Vick story, I find it fascinating that a story on the opposite side of the spectrum, a story about a young man who did not succumb to the darkness of his origins but used it as fuel to help others has received far less press attention. And that is even as he singlehandedly is helping to change corporate practices.

And that’s Stephon Marbury. He came from a big family himself where expensive new shoes were a luxury difficult for his parents to afford given other priorities. His Wikipedia entry make him sound ignorant but having seen him on TV, I know he is anything but. In creating “Starbury”– a line of fashion-forward shoes that sell for $14.98 instead of $150-200, Marbury has been a true leader. He did not accept an endorsement but is compensated on sales. And sell they have.

I watched this on Good Morning America and found it inspirational. Check it out:

Things Marbury has said: “It’s not even about basketball.”
And: “If you are not doing something different, you can’t make a difference.”

Marbury is happily married with 3 children (one from a prior relationship). Guess there must not be much news there.

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