Everybody Was Pit Bull Fighting!
by The Panda Man · 08/20/2007 2:03 pmStick a fork in Atlanta Falcons quarterback and accused dog-fighting ringmaster Mike Vick:
Billy Martin, heading up Vick’s legal team, issued the following statement:
“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 apologize 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 three codefendants in the dogfighting case have accepted agreements to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.
This man had it all, athletic talent, fame, fortune, and a future. But for some reason he chose to squander those gifts on animal cruelty, violence, and bloody death. It should be interesting to see how both the legal system and the NFL treat such a high-profile case of depravity.
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It was Vick who made the consious decision to risk it all to organize and participate in dog fights. I just hope than the courts, juries and the NFL make him pay his debt and that he loses it all.
Vick had it all but not the basic decency necessary to handle it. He deserves to lose it all.
Prediction:
Spends 1 year, or less, in prison and the NFL allows him to return to play in 2008.
I wonder if the financial gains and pleasure Mr. Vick got from the pit bull dog fighting was worth it. I guess even the best legal team money can buy, can’t get him out of this one. And you know he tried because he definitely had a lot to lose. Let’s see if the NFL and the Falcon’s owner have the guts to do what is right and ban Mr. Vick for this very poor example of a human being that Mr. Vick has become.
For the sake of football and kids who worship athletes, he needs to be fired. He can give talks to schools about decisions we make and how they affect our lives.
Maybe he can do endorsements for a Chinese dogfood company?
Get your Michael Vic Chew toy…..
http://www.vickdogchewtoy.com/
If Jerry Jones hires him fresh out of prison, I’m done with the Cowboys! … again … this time, for good … seriously.
The NFL needs to ban him for life. They shouldn’t even leave an opening for Jerry Jones to pick him up in 2009.
Dang it Jeremy, you beat me to the punch. lol
I bet Atlanta’s sorry they traded Schaub now. Who does that leave to be the Falcon’s QB?
David Carr is starter material. I assume he can still walk post Houston offensive line.
Peter I have a sneaky suspicion you are going to get what you want. Lifetime Ban.
NFL commissioner alread started getting heavy handed and said there was a zero tolerance because the old ways didn’t work
My prediction 3 years and no more football for Vick
I am posting this in every comment thread today, so no one can claim they didn’t see it.
Have a nice day.
—————–
Here’s what I know–
I have a job; a real job, where I am accountable to others. I must make money to achieve and maintain and posses they things I want in life (food, clothing, housing, health care, family that will have something to do with me, etc.)
Having to worry or even think much about what’s going on in comment threads on LST makes it harder for me to do my real job. And that is a “red line” for me.
That’s why I’ve “outsourced” comment moderation to other contributors–because they seem to like being involved, and that means I don’t have to.
Well, guess what. Some folks are tiring of the nonsense. The vaguely cloaked (or downright explicit) use of inappropriate language. The trolling and mind-games. The discussions of personalities and motives, not facts, or issues, or opinions about issues.
This has largely been an experiment in self-governance… and I deem it to have failed.
So here’s the new rule– I call it the “Pain in Benzion’s Ass Rule” and it is real simple:
If what you are writing or doing in comments on LST becomes a pain in my ass, it and you are gone. No warning. No explanation. No appeal. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been here. Doesn’t matter if you’ve contributed to a Begathon. Gone, goodbye, over, forever.
Stop it. Now. Stop. It.
Focus on issues, not on each other. If you disagree with someone, engage with them respectfully. Use facts and logic. If you are feeling really bold, try spell-check and punctuation. If someone is being a jerk, ignore them.
The Sword of Righteousness has been unsheathed, and I am looking for an excuse to start swinging.
#7 That would be the only team to hire him.
#3 trl3, I hope that you’re wrong, but I’m afraid that in this screwed up climate, that you my just be right.
#12 dov, I sure hope that you’re right.
I say 5 years in the “Big House” then on to the back of a garbage truck!
All of you who are hoping he never plays again or loses it all are being overly harsh. This crime is not worse than beating your wife or doing/selling drugs. And athletes have played again after being found guilty of those crimes.
Oh and I bet some of you are hunters. How is that less cruel than dog fighting? Shooting a duck with a shotgun is ok? Shooting an innocent deer and hanging his head over your fireplace is ok? There are cultural differences here. Be careful when judging.
If Vick gets less than 18 months in prison and a life time ban in the NFL, I will be very disappointed. He lied to the Commissioner from the start. I expect him to get less than a year and be playing football in 2008. I also expect to hear on the radio talk shows how race came into this. No one takes responsibility anymore.
#16 == So what he did was OK and deserves a slap on the wrist? He broke a Federal Law. Anyone that did what he did is a sick individual and deserves nothing better than the dogs got.
Are you SERIOUS? Bwaaaa-hahahahaha!
Comparing apples to bananas, aren’t you?
You can’t eat the head of a deer, silly!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uYgXRU8gCls
There’s a difference between hunting and dogfighting. Hunters generally don’t keep their game locked up in horrid conditions, mistreat them, cause them to be as vicious as possible, and put them in a ring with another one of their breed to fight to the death, and if they survive, (sort of) patch them up just to start the process all over again.
If dogfighting is a cultural thing, I want no part of that culture.
Oh, and maybe the NFL ought to start kicking out more players found guilty of crimes such as spousal abuse and other violent crimes.
Football in Fact all sports used to be filled with good athletes and it was a family event to enjoy.
NFL, Baseball all of the sports have their bad people getting shot and shooting. Gangster thugs. The commissioners need to clean up from the top down.
Michael Vick needs to be used as an example of zero tolerance and what is going to happen to the players that gave sports a black eye.
Darn, don’t know what happened.
#16: Last time I checked, hunting was legal during hunting season. Out of hunting season would be considered poaching, thus illegal.
Cruelty to animals has been illegal for many years. So is gambling against them.
#18 - Maybe it shouldn’t be illegal? Maybe hunting should be illegal?
#19 - That’s why hunters mount them like some sort of trophy. Is shooting a deer really that big of an accomplishment.
#20 - Fair enough. I am not condoning Vick’s actions. I am simply saying much of the rage from the conservative community is due, at least in some part, to Vick’s race. Let’s face it dogfighting is predominantly a young black man’s game (though plenty of whites partake in it). But if you really think about hunting is no less cruel. Even though you guys will spin it as though it is.
He is lucky they let him plead to the simple dog fighting law. What he did to some of those animals was sickening.
When he gets sentenced is Atlanta going to go up in smoke. And why haven’t we heard anything from Frankel or Sharpton. This would be an ideal time to blame this on whitey and play the race card. At least the sentencing will not be in Atlanta. Richmond is not his back yard.
Prove it. Just because it “feels that way” doesn’t make it so.
Even if hunting is cruel, I would suggest that it isn’t as cruel as dogfighting. Hunting for food (even if it is not of necessity) is certainly not as cruel.
Just remember, every time you eat meat, an animal paid for that with its life. Nature is cruel. But dogfighting is completely needless cruelty, and it is a order of magnitude “more” cruel than hunting, to boot.
I had no idea dog fighting was considered a black man’s sport…… I think it’s color blind. We eat what we kill when we hunt…. The dogs that are used for fighting are taught to be killers and treated in awful conditions to get the desired effect. Those same dogs when raised by a loving family as pups, are family pets. We don’t eat our pets. I don’t condone pit bull ownership as pets either, but that’s another time……
#25 Proven by the fact that this story is all over conservative websites and conservative radio. I love how conservatives all of a sudden begin to side with PETA when a black man is involved.
List of crimes committed by athletes and where they returned to play:
Domestic abuse
Gambling
Rape
DWI
Drug related offences
Assault with a deadly weapon
Some people in this world see dogs as nothing more than animals.
Still think hunting is more cruel, Houstondem??
Let’s see…one the one hand, we have the instant death of an edible sporting animal in an activity that society and law have deemed to be okay.
On the other hand, we have the prolonged torture of a companion animal in an activity that society and law have deemed to be barbaric and wrong.
Yeah, you’re right. Totally the same thing.
Really? Because it looks like you’re the only one mentioning race.
#28: Thanks Matt! Excellent points.
Dov: I think the people of Atlanta are really discusted with him as well.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/13918614/detail.html
If there is real justice, his jail cell will be lined with the pictures of the animals he’s mutilated, tortured, and killed.
But maybe that’s cruel and unusual?
He’ll play football in the arena league. He’s a public relations nightmare and no team is going to want PETA protesting at every game. And - from reading at ESPN - he’s a problem anyway because any team that accepts him would have to completely re-work their offense, as he throws left handed and favors a running offense verses a passing offense.
So funny that you guys mention the Cowboys, first thing I thought was Jerry Jones would take him if it meant getting into the post season. Same as he took embattled T.O. last year. And look how well THAT turned out.
I hope the NFL bans him for life.
All dogs go to heaven because, unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind. ~ All Dogs Go To Heaven
Houstondem, are you a vegetarian or do you know about some hamburger plant that I’m not aware?
I don’t hunt, simply because I can’t shoot Bambi. But, when other people shoot Bambi, I will certainly eat him. Now if it came down to me shooting Bambi for my family to receive meat and nutrition, I’d be out there with a rifle to shoot Bmabi and a club to finish him off if need be.
Now, if I heard about people attaching razor blades to the antlers of deers and having them battle to the death, I’d be on the phone in a heartbeat calling the authorities and hoping for convictions and harsh punishment for the offenders.
Could you please point to a single instance of an athlete being excused for beating his wife or dealing drugs by anyone on the board? If not, then how can you possibly say any one of us only care about dog fighting. The vast majority of us want ALL crimes punished.
My final comment is about you pulling the race card. Who interjected race into this? Who was the person who looked at this man’s race as any sort of factor? Have you by any chance looked at the definition of racism? In order to be racist, first you must factor in race, and so far, you’re the only one who has done so.
#15 Dave D
I hope I am wrong also.
Oh, great. Now that song’s stuck in my head.
P.S. - Houstondem, the deer I’ve shot have been far from innocent.
I concur with trl3; six months served, one year ban from the league, and Dallas picks him up.
And Houstondem, I know many black and Hispanic people that hunt. Is your rage against LEGAL hunting based on race?
#35 - Vick could get a lifetime ban just for the gambling aspect of it, no?
And you guys are just trying to pick on this Cowboys fan, aren’t ya? I demand an apology!
houstondem, normally I enjoy reading your comments. They are typically thought provoking and interesting.
This one is neither:
That is so wrong on so many levels you need to revisit it. First, if the liberal media isn’t covering it, that is their problem. Talk to them about it, don’t blame the messenger.
Second, no conservative is siding with PETA. C’mon, pick something else to bash conservatives with. So PETA says Mike Vick is bad. I should say what he did is right? Please.
#37 - yeah, the story is all over “conservative websites” like MSNBC and CNN.
As far as siding with PETA? Even a broken clock is right twice a day…
27
“Some people in this world see dogs as nothing more than animals.”
Uh, yeah.
As I sit here under two whitetail shoulder maounts and two antler mounts.
Jimb, you KNOW Jones is salivating just thinking about getting Vick. And I’m not picking on you just because I’m “management”
Naw, you’re picking on me because I’m a “yankee”. I know you (and your ilk, too).
Although if Jones finds a way to pick ip either one of the Vick brothers, I may just have to burn my Dallas hat…
Houstondem is the real racist here. He (she?) seems to be the only one here who doesn’t think a black man should be held to the same standard as anyone else. Shame on him (her?).
jimb please tell me an imposter just posted under your name!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo. That’s to me like Godwin’s law is to you!
Help………
And I got Jeremy’s headline.
Everybody was pit-bull fighting
Those dogs were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they fought with Mike Vick’s timing
I got rid of all my ilks:
So I got bored and left them there,
They were just dead weight to me
Better down the road without that load.
#44 - only in that PETA happens to be right that what Vick and company were involved in amounted to cruelty to animals. Other than that, PETA still stands for People Eating Tasty Animals…
Jimb, its the “broken clock” phrase itself that drives him crazy, no matter where it is applied
Thank you, Mr. Management, for clarifying that for me.
Yes, it is the “broken clock” thing. Yikes.
/filing the “broken clock” reference away for future usage…
Houstondem - I don’t care if Vick is purple, he should be banned from the NFL. I used to be an avid football fan, even played Fantasy Football until all the players started breaking laws and the NFL turned a blind eye, I quit watching the game because it is not appropriate for my children to watch anymore (remember Houston SuperBowl half time?). Also, I didn’t know that dog-fighting was a black sport, I just thought it was for sick individuals that enjoy torturing something that can’t defend itself. I wouldn’t be bothered if the “drug dealers” and anyone else in the NFL that breaks the law were out of the game, but that won’t happen because it’s now about the money, not about being an image for kids to look up to. I don’t point out any athletes to my kids as role models because I don’t think any sport promotes that, unless your role model is a self-centered individual - this applies to all sports and all races - it has nothing to do with what color Vick it, it’s about him as a person.
You need to quit being such a racist and look at the facts. Also, this is no where close to hunting. If you talk to any hunter, they shoot a deer and if it’s not dead when they arive on the scene, they immediately put it out of it’s misery in a humane matter - not hanging or other horrible acts. Then the hunter takes the deer to be processed for food - which can replace a lot of beef from the grocery store (in case you’re crying over those cows!). Hunters usually do hunt for the sport but they also use what they kill for a useful purpose AND they mount those heads on the wall because it’s not a easy as you would think to kill a deer. I’m not sure, but I don’t think hunting is restricted only to a certain race of people, so I really don’t get your race comment.
I still haven’t forgiven the Cowboys for firing Tom Landry — and never will.
I think what we need to do with Vick is this. Give him a short prison sentence and then tell him he has to spend 5 days a week for a year cleaning cages at shelters in Atlanta.and doing fund raisng work for them. Far cry from the glitz and glamour of the N.F.L. and maybe it will humble him a bit.
I have mixed feelings about this. I’m fine with punishing dog fighting, what concerns me is the puritanical moralism of Vick’s critics, the assertions of “depravity,” etc., for behaviors that have been common for most of American history.
I went to a cock fight once and it completely sickened me. But especially back then (20+ years ago) it would have never occurred to me at the time that what they doing was a crime. I knew several people growing up who raised birds to fight.
The idea that “my animal is my property and I can do what I want with it” goes back a long way. It’s only the vegetarian-PETA-yoga crowd that has really altered those terms of debate in the last 30-40 years. In the case of dog fighting, I think those changes in attitudes (and laws) have mostly been for the better, but there is a difference between ignorance and depravity.
Abu Ghraib was depravity. Dog fighting is an historical and cultural phenomenon that has outlived its relevance. Let’s end it, but let’s not pretend we’re shocked … SHOCKED … that anyone would ever do such a thing. If it is depraved it reflects the general depravity of the human condition over millenia, not just a moral failing of any one person. best,
How about just making him roll around in dog food and then giving him about a 10 second head start before release some dogs on him.
Dennis,
Nah … good thought, but he would probably out run them.
Does anybody have Panda Man’s phone #? If I have that kung-foo-fighting theme running around in my head at 3am, I would like to give him a call and sing it to him!/I can’t sing, either. Just ask all my friends. I don’t care, though!
Is it a bad thing that our values have matured and been honed to the point where we don’t recognize the discarded bits we’ve left behind? I don’t think it is.
There are lots of things that we now (rightly) condemn, despite having been common throughout human history (female genital mutilation) or even common in American history (slavery).
I don’t feel any responsibility for slavery, nor do I identify with it or feel any attachment to it. That’s a good thing.
Why? I’m shocked that someone would hang a dog. I hope it remains rare enough that it remains shocking. When it becomes commonplace and banal, then it will become the “general depravity of the human condition” you talk about.
Not at all. The fact that we see it as depraved does not reflect our own depravity; rather, it reflects our own goodness. Scumbags don’t see crime as depraved. Good people do.
Vick’s crimes don’t reflect the “general depravity of the human condition.” They reflect his anti-social disregard for the law.
Excellent, Matt.
Matt
#57
Well said! Wish you would hang around here a bit longer. A bunch of us miss you!
I vote for 5 years. That’s only 40% of the time that the Bush adminstration gave the Border Patrolmen for shooting the Mexican dope dealer in the but.
Hanging dogs is much worse!
Just for you ST…
Kung Fu Hustle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zub7o3MguEg
mashedcorn4brunch
I find it interesting your “mixed feelings”. No moral outrage huh? Can’t decide if you should pity or condemn Vick? Moral relativism must be turning your bowels inside out.
So since you mentioned it, the Abu Ghraib incident received the same “puritanical moralism” from the right as well as the left. And like Vicks crime, Abu Ghraib is more an aberation than the norm from people that live in our society.
Funny how you revealed your own twisted puritanical moralism to criticize the critics. Can you say pot/kettle/black?
Have a nice day.
Some are sicker than others.
I don’t understand the leftist argument. We should be ok with him dogfighting? We should be outraged at the sentence? He’s black and should be let go? How did Abu Ghraib get thrown into this?
Geez Louise, how far can we stretch reality ‘afore it snaps? If you can make sense of that logic maybe you ought to be called the Rubber Band Man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXbxVr8mUVs
Got dam homey
My mind is playin’ tricks on me.
gritsy, I can’t believe you just said that.
I’m telling you, someone is stealing passwords today. Very strange day.
Do I need to change monikers again??
Yeah, if you use the old “broken clock” thing again.
So is that really blogging etiquette or BigJolly Etiquette??
Just deserts for Mr. Vick would be he’s fired by the Falcons immediately, banned for life from the NFL, serves time in the slammer for the max allowed for the offense he plead guilty to, pays the maximum fine that goes with it, and does community service cleaning kennels at the local humane shelter for the same length as his prison sentence.
Oh, and sometime during all this he must attend counseling to divest himself of the sick attitude that led to it all in the first place.
#13,David B. Bravo, Bravissimo
#69, would that be BJE? I like it. Changing the ‘net, that’s me.
#59
Thanks, Neo. Obscene profit-making and equally obscene wedding-planning have kept me away of late, but I’m getting back in the game.
What can I say? I guess well-spoken lefties bring out the best in me. If only they weren’t so few and far between.
BTW, open question to Grits: How do you you take your grits? Some like ‘em sweet (honey or syrup) and others like ‘em savory (salt, crumbled bacon or Tabasco).
Personally, I’m a butter-and-black-pepper man.
SBC tech support got me back onine
Was it
A. A blessing to me
B. An answer to a problem or
C. A curse that all LST users will have to put up with while I post
The only way Vick plays football again is if he becomes the spokesperson for the Humane Society and SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). That’d be the only way to keep people from protesting outside every stadium he ever enters.
People will forgive him, if he atones. They may not forget - but if he brings some city somewhere a superbowl, they will forgive him.
I guarentee the NFL was in on the plea deal. He copes the plea and the NFL does not ban him for life. Guarentee. If he were banned, we would have heard it already. See - the GM of the NFL says he’ll play.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/10307386
He will go into jail next week, serve 10 months, out on good behavior, and be in a jersey next June.
And I have a sickening feeling that Jerry Jones will try and pick him up. Because the man has no soul.
A NFL GM - speaking on anonymity, naturally.
Houstondem says:
and then says:
Maybe you should do the same.
Ironic if his new cellmates tie him to a rape stand and give him a taste of his own depravity.
Nike will be issuing a new Michael Dick jersey… in pinstripes. Prisoner number on one side and the swoosh on the other.