From Vick-Tim to Vick-Tory

<p>Far beyond detailing NFL star Michael Vick's conviction for dog fighting his prison sentence and comeback Kenneth N. Robinson raises important issues concerning the way race and deviance are treated in America. His book offers a critical analysis of the broader sports culture of the NFL and its dominant alliance including the media corporate sponsors and the politics of the state.The book examines differential treatment by race and how this pertains to Vick when compared to high-profile whites in the NFL (i.e. Ben Roethlisberger and Bill Belichick). In addition the harmful impacts of negative labeling show the detrimental effects of Vick's having been typecast as the face of animal cruelty. Not only did the strong social reaction have a deleterious effect on Vick's criminal case but following the police raid of his home in Smithfield Virginia on April 25 2007 the number of African Americans arrested for dog fighting increased disproportionately by race from the five years prior. This makes them the only group to see a percent increase in their arrests and convictions in the five years that preceded and followed the April 25th raid of Vick's property. These data raise serious questions of selective enforcement by race. </p><p><br></p><p>Overall the strength of this work lies in Robinson's unique analysis of Michael Vick's fall and rise. I don't think I have ever described an academic work as creative but each section of this book is just that - innovative original and inspired. I say this because of the specific comparisons that Robinson utilizes (i.e. dog fighting to bestiality; Vick's treatment to Roethlisberger's; the NFL to China) which have never previously been discussed so thoroughly and sophisticatedly but are undeniable in proving the point that racial discrimination is alive and well in America. - Adrienne N. Milner Ph.D. University of Alabama at Birmingham</p><p><br></p><p>About the Author: Kenneth N. Robinson M.S. is an adjunct professor of sociology at his alma mater Buffalo State in Buffalo New York.</p>