Breaking: Vick pleads guilty
posted at 2:42 pm on August 20, 2007 by Allahpundit
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“After consulting with his family over the weekend. Michael Vick ask that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with Federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him. Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of Guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologizes again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter. The legal team and Mr. Vick will appear in court in Richmond on August 27th.”
Vick’s attorneys hope to hear back from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell’s office sometime Monday about Vick’s career options, sources said.
That last part’s the real news. According to the Virginian-Pilot, prosecutors are expected to ask for at least a year in prison so a season-long suspension isn’t really going to cut it here. Vick allegedly told Goodell in July that he was innocent, too:
“His comments to me were very consistent with what he has said publicly: That he does not have any interest in that, that it wasn’t happening at his property, and that was his discussion,” Goodell said. “And I was very clear with him that if it’s happening on your property, it’s your responsibility.”
Exit question: Lifetime suspension? I can’t believe they’d torpedo one of the top two or three talents in the league. Then again, if the fallout’s already this bad…
Update: The prosecutors reportedly want 18 to 36 months; Vick’s lawyers are trying to get them down under a year. The maximum is five years.
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It’s too bad that Michael Vick is here in the country legally. If he were and illegal immigrant he’d get off scott free AND be a cultural hero. In a different senario, had he just done to people what he did to dogs he would have increased his street cred and been a hero as well. Sigh.
As part of his community service after doing time he could work in the county dog pound. When they need to kill the dog Michael Vick is your man. Everybody wins! The county is rid of unwanted kittens and puppies and Vick gets to kill defenseless animals. Sweet!
Mojave Mark on August 20, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Really?
How many of the “two or three top talents in the league” who are dog killers should the NFL keep around?
Labamigo on August 20, 2007 at 5:39 PM
Vick should get six months in jail and a one-year supension from the NFL for the dog fighting charges.
Let’s get real. They were dogs. If the dogs had been wild and running in packs they would have attacked and killed each other for territory, mating privileges, dominance at feeding, etc… Vick’s actions were cruel and illegal and should be punished with jail time. But let’s not go over the gunwales.
Some may think I’m callous, but I’m a dog owner and I care about my dogs. They’re well sheltered (live in the house), well fed, receive regular medical care, are well exercised (they’re large and need to be taken out most days and run. We walk over to the golf course just before dusk and I throw a baseball down the fairway until they’re tired from chasing it). So these comments come from someone who respects and cares about these faithful and dependant companions.
The bigger problem for Vick is the gambling. Nothing will ruin a sport faster than gambling. If credible evidence exists that Vick was involved in gambling, he should get a life ban from the NFL.
jaime on August 20, 2007 at 6:08 PM
Well, they do have a couple of murderers on active rosters.
ackrite55 on August 20, 2007 at 6:10 PM
jaime on August 20, 2007 at 6:08 PM
Going “over the gunwales?”
Well
Here.
is a picture of a Pit Bull after a fight.
Don’t click if you’re squeamish.
Really, don’t click if you’re squeamish.
billy on August 20, 2007 at 6:19 PM
I agree with that entirely. Professional sports have generally been unacceptably permissive about criminal transgressions on the parts of players. That I’ve gotten rather sick of this kind of passive endorsement of “thug life” is one of the reasons I come down so hard on Vick–with the possible exception of Kobe Bryant, he’s arguably the highest-profile personality to run afoul of the law in recent years, and quite unlike Bryant the case against him is (obviously) substantial. If that doesn’t make him the perfect person to be made into an example, I don’t know what does.
I think there are a lot of kids out there involved in interscholastic football who genuinely idolize NFL personalities. I don’t want any of them thinking it would be advisable to grow up and be just like Michael Vick.
Blacklake on August 20, 2007 at 6:22 PM
I hear NIKE indorsed him. I think they were working on the new: JUST CHEW IT! campaign.
I think they have reconsidered.
TheSitRep on August 20, 2007 at 5:00 PM
With NIKE it is all about $$$.
They will go whichever way the $$$ tell them to go.
MB4 on August 20, 2007 at 6:23 PM
I don’t think you’re speaking from the cutting edge of ethology. Dogs and wolves have well-studied means of establishing pecking orders within packs that don’t typically result in death. Packs have been known to kill lone outsiders who stray into their territories, but it is generally unusual for dogs (or wolves) to kill one another.
Pit bulls (or any other kind of dog) used in dogfighting have physical characteristics that lend themselves to the “sport,” but they aren’t acting naturally. They have to be specifically trained, via blatantly cruel methods, to behave as violently towards one another as they do. People like Vick aren’t in any way letting nature take its course: they’re going well out of their way to condition an unnatural level of violence.
Blacklake on August 20, 2007 at 6:34 PM
The only people who care about this sadistic thug are the losers who idolize afleets. If this waste of life wasn’t able to run so fast, he wouldn’t have been admitted to kollej, been drafted by the NFL, and he’d be long dead by now…
JWS on August 20, 2007 at 6:42 PM
No doubt. That’s why I said Vick should go to jail and be suspended from the NFL.
Possibly not. But roving packs of dogs will many times KILL other dogs that cross their path, going into the dog’s yard to attack it. I knew a guy who used to put two guard dogs in his place of business at night. Occasionally they would fight, and eventually one KILLED the other.
On rare occasions my own dogs, both male, will fight over something as stupid as who is going to lay on a certain spot on the floor.
jaime on August 20, 2007 at 7:11 PM
It’s not just dog fighting. It’s conspiracy and illegal gambling ring and this:
Vick’s career over?
TheBigOldDog on August 20, 2007 at 7:21 PM
I don’t need to click to know the brutality animals inflict on each other. So I didn’t click.
Don’t you think a good argument would serve you better than theatrics? (You could include whatever was behind the click as supporting evidence.)
jaime on August 20, 2007 at 7:29 PM
Yep. If credible evidence of gambling comes to the attention of the NFL, he’s probably finished.
jaime on August 20, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Everybody makes mistakes, at least you defended and stood your ground against something you did not appreciate, maybe a mistake, but an honorable one.
right2bright on August 20, 2007 at 9:01 PM
I’m getting a kick out of all the sports writers who a year ago were touting him as the greatest thing in the nfl and now are taking shots at his completion percentage and interceptions while trying to sound outraged at his actions. Most sportswriters are hero worshiping wannabes. They grow up wishing they could play sports then most sportswriters become knee jerk leftists like olbermann, just wishing they were legit.
peacenprosperity on August 21, 2007 at 6:23 AM
Let him do his time and then put him on ESPN with Keeshawn! He will fit right in! He can be the full-time reporter of the exploits of TO who these morons cover 24X7!
sabbott on August 21, 2007 at 8:03 AM
Ha! That’s a good one.
BadgerHawk on August 21, 2007 at 10:24 AM
States haven’t gotten their pound of flesh yet.
captivated_dem on August 21, 2007 at 10:54 AM
I think it was more compassion than theatrics. Pro-lifers get criticized all the time for their ‘jelly-jar’ pictures by the pro-choicers. Theatrics or documentation?
I hate the idea of sensitivity training AKA brainwashing. But I would like this athelete to work with abused animals – only if he volunteered.
The ancient Romans thrilled to see animals torn apart. Animal torture, human torture. it is a deadly path to degradation.
The trouble is, if he is kept in the game as is, it sends a message of ‘no biggie’ to the impressionable.
It is hell to be a pit bull in Detroit City these days because dog death matches are considered the sport of real men cool in the face of death.
IMHO these ‘men’ should get a chunk taken out of them for every bite a dog suffers
entagor on August 21, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Where are Al Sharpton and Jessie when you need en?
navy1946 on August 21, 2007 at 2:54 PM
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