One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the general public’s fascination with celebrities. I have yet to figure out what it is about professional athletes, musicians, actors, etcetera that causes people to become so obsessed with them and their lives. Take for example the recent happenings dealing with Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

It is understandable that because he is a well-known professional athlete that his being involved in something of that nature will draw an amount of media attention, but it is getting a little excessive. Does the mass media have nothing better to report about?

In a situation like this, I would be OK with a story when it first happens and then a quick 5 - 15 second mention when something changes (such as his entering of a plea) and then maybe another actual story on it when the investigations are over and an outcome has been reached. However, this is not what we have been getting.

For example, ESPN recently dedicated a whole day to Michael Vick. While this wasn’t officially advertised or promoted this way, it is what they did. To start off the day, they did some quick recap of the scores from the day before, and then went in to different aspects of Michael Vick. They interviewed his neighbors and coaches from high school and coaches from college. Then, they went through highlights of his career and the last part was about his prior and current legal troubles. This sequence was repeated about five or six times throughout the day.

Even though ESPN is a sports network and was probably the best possible channel to have a documentary like that on, there were still plenty of sporting events taking place that could have been reported on instead. Also, the major news networks are also constantly talking about Michael Vick rather than giving him the casual mention I suggested above.

I suppose I am just adding to the frenzy with this post, but haven’t we had enough? It’s understandable that he gets attention because of his social status, but who really cares about him and the recent situation that much?