I 'm not here to bury Michael Vick. He's done that to himself.

And too many people are getting a kick out of doing it.

This morning, I was listening to WFAN in New York, and the noted writer John Feinstein was on with the hosts. and at some point he noted that "in technical terms, Mike Vick is SCREWED!"

And then he and the hosts laughed. Heartily.

Must be nice to see the black boy go down in flames huh?

For the last two weeks, the drumbeat to ban Vick for life has reached proportions that should have been reserved for Ted Bundy and sexually deviant Catholic priests. Last week, I double-checked all of the stories on Vick to confirm that their wasn't some human bodies found on that Virgina property Vick owned.

Listening to the hue and cry from all of these "animal lovers", it is easy to conclude that if 3,000 pitbulls had died from the insurgencyand IEDs, the US would have been out of Iraq by now, and Dubya would be facing impeachment.

Cleary, it isn't enough for some people that he has trashed his reputation, will lose close to 80 (yes, EIGHTY) million dollars from the Atlanta Falcons, not even counting the endorsement money that he'll never see.

It isn't even enough that he will serve more jail time than Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, or Martha Stewart.

Or that the QB AKA Ron Mexco will do more jail time than those two friends of Ray Lewis who knifed two men to death in Atlanta on Super Bowl week five years ago.

It isn't enough for many people that Vick will do more time (and have a longer NFL suspension) than Leonard Little, who committed vehicular manslaughter.

It isn't close to enough for many that Vick will suffer more than even Robert Blake, who all but put an ad on Craig's List and eBay begging someone, ANYONE to wack his wife.

No, this lynch mob (which is showing more passion about animals than their fellow man in most cases - not that is anything new) will not be happy with anything but the utter destruction of Michael Vick. Man, it is good to know I live in such an enlightened society.

We get upset about cruelty to animals - and rightly so. What happened was horrible. What Vick has done to his life is terrible. I take no pleasure in either dog fighting or in what has happened to Number Seven, but it seems that many in the media (not coincidently mostly white members) seem to.

It is the ugly, only partly hidden part of the racial divide that kicks in here. Dan LeBatard wrote a brilliant piece displaying it. "...the black athlete with...demons usually isn't permitted the kind of embrace that rehabbng white 'characters' often receive. Can you name a black equivalent to John Daly?" 

GIven that climate, there is always a desire to not just criticize, or condemn, but to demonize and destroy wrong-doing knuckleheads who happen to be black. And God forbid you actually have the gall to show any human kindness to the demon. Donovan McNabb said he would support his friend Michael Vick - and got ripped for it.

Why?

Deion Sanders made several valid points in explaining Vick's mindset while not condoning is actions - and what did he get for it? The NFL Network telling Prime Time, please kindly check your First Amendment rights at the door.

Isn't there something wrong with that?

Being as guilty as Vick appears to be seems to help matters immensely in the minds of some folks. All you have to do is look at how the name of O.J. Simpson has been invoked -repeatly - a full decade after the so-called Trial Of The Century in the hopes that Vick "doesn't get off". 

Oh, and somebody call me the next time a white celebrity gets linked with O.J.

Therein lies the difference between black and white fans here. Many whites - in and out of the media - seem to take a sort of perverse glee in The Fall Of Vick, just listen to the hysterical screams for a lifetime ban. You listen to many a black fan, media figure, and the disappointment (as opposed to vitrol) and hurt is tinged with a hope of redemption some day. There is no doubting that Michael Vick brought this on himself, whether he "merely" bankrolled Bad Newz Kennels (and left his "friends" to do the heavy lifting), or particpated in the execution of the dogs. Getting too much too soon, being coddled way too much can have that effect. But unlike Mike Tyson, Vick seems (and that is a big word) to have it in him to fix his life. What he does with what remains of his NFL career is a distant priority at this time.

These times will truly test him. People he thought were his friends have, are, and will abandon him. Celebrity is truly proving fleeting as self-righteous moral outrage has made PETA appear nearly mainstream. (Scary isn't it?)  Media people who supported him are forced to condemn him. You can only imagine what those with an axe to grind are saying. Actually, you don't have to imagine. They are screaming the loudest and most piously of all.

Clearly, a lifetime ban on Vick for his transgressions (and don't even try to use gambling as the wedge issue - Vick didn't bet on football, much less his own team) in light of everything else he has and will lose, is nothing more than overkill. Even a two year suspension rates that way. For all of the strained comparisons to Pacman Jones, Jones is likely to be back in a year despite his transgressions against human beings.

One can only hope that Rodger Goddell doesn't take the David Stern path of The Big Grandstand Punishment, but it does play well with some.

Overall, I do not hold a lot sympathy for Vick's predicament (even though I suspect given his background, he had no idea that dog fighting would be viewed this way).

What I do have is compassion for the young man. That he can rise and redeem and learn from this. And hopefully, so will some of us.