Isn't honesty good?
Kareem Jackson goes on a cockfighting vacation: Texans CB isn't close to Vick,but he loves to share
Kareem JacksonPhoto by David J. Phillip/AP
A cockfighting scene
Kareem Jackson doesn't just leave wide receivers wide open. No, the Houston Texans' much-maligned cornerback is pretty open about everything.
Including cockfighting.
Jackson is creating a furor that's surely already reached NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's radar. What did the Texans cornerback do? He tweeted pictures and commentary from a cockfight he attended on a vacation to the Dominican Republic.
Cockfighting is legal in the Dominican, so Jackson didn't break any laws. And his tweet commentary didn't express any outright love for the brutal practice. Jackson came across as more marveling at how big cockfights are in the Dominican. "Look at all these people at these chicken fights, you would think it's a college football game ...," Jackson tweeted on Monday with a picture of a packed-in cockfighting crowd.
Though one Jackson tweet — since deleted — could be construed as excitement: "My first time ever seeing chicken fight till the death it was crazy ..."
John Lopez broke the story on 610 AM this morning and it's sure to bring attention in a league that was rocked by the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal. Lopez criticizes Jackson mainly for being "dumb" enough to tweet about the cockfighting, writing in his blog that "There is no excuse for an NFL player to be so ignorant that he actually flaunts inhumane treatment to animals — no matter the context."
So it would be all right if Jackson quietly attended the cockfight and only told his friends about it?
There's no defense for cockfighting. Jackson should have known better than to attend the event in the first place. It's a hideous practice. But once he ended up at the fight, his openness was refreshing. Sports writers always rail against athletes never talking about anything and then rip into them as soon as they do. As long as I've been in the profession, it's a double standard I've never grasped.
You're not going to wipe out cockfighting, if you don't understand the brutal scene around it. Jackson brought more attention to how prevalent cockfighting still is around the world.
It's an incredible stretch to suggest that was his intent. Jackson also tweeted about Dominicans having "the worst road rage" and about all the "fat men" in speedos on the beach. Cockfighting just came across as another entry in those observations. Which does make him seem more callous or clueless to the pain of those ripped apart birds.
You can bet Jackson regrets ever tweeting it now. He's in for plenty of uncomfortable moments in the days and months ahead.
But sorry, it's hard to completely crucify an honest athlete. Vick went to great lengths to hide his illegal dog fighting for years — even lying to Goodell's face after the ring was busted. You might not like how Jackson plays in the Cover 2, but that doesn't make him an animal-hating monster.
He didn't run a cockfighting run. He didn't attend an illegal cockfight in the United States. He wrote about what he saw in a foreign country. He shouldn't have been at the fight. Jackson may even be "dumb" as so many other voices are so eagerly screaming.
But I'll take that over conniving and cruel any day.
