Heaven, I Need a Hug

Your pal the Rake likes old school Ice Cube as much as the next person, even as I shudder at his recent choices.  An "inspirational sports drama" with Fred Durst attached, anyone?

Still, that's not to say that Ice Cube never had horrible ideas, even at the peak of his powers.  Here's one from "Wicked":

Don't say nuttin, just listen/
Got me a plan to break Tyson outta prison

Terrible, terrible idea.

But--changing gears somewhat--still not as stupid as those who argue that Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick will be blackballed from professional football for dogfighting.   Aside from the fact that there's no precedent for an entire league turning its collective back on a man who still possesses elite athletic talent, you have to see, as you've seen it a thousand times before, that Vick is simply mired in the unglamorous stretch of the Rise-Fall-Redemption arc. 

We eat this shit up with a spoon, and, in fact, require it from anyone remotely famous, to the point that we'll accept invented reasons for a fall.  It's just that, in Vick's case, his abject lack of judgment has forestalled the need to scare up some villainy with which to knock him to earth.  (His lack of accuracy as a passer isn't much of a brickbat, so we'll let that one go.)

And he's playing his remorse perfectly: