What’s next for Vick and the Falcons?
July 18, 2007 at 10:10 am by Scott Freeman in News, SportsHas Michael Vick played his last down for the Atlanta Falcons?
The federal indictment handed up by a grand jury in Virginia yesterday for alleged dogfighting was bad enough, but buried in the indictment are some very disturbing images of animal cruelty.
The indictment alleges Vick purchased his house in Virginia a month after he was drafted by the Falcons expressly to raise pit bulls for fighting. The name of his company was “Bad Newz Kennels.”
In March 2003, the indictment alleges, one of Vick’s co-defendants — after consulting with Vick — executed a fighting dog that had lost a fight by wetting the dog and then electrocuting it.
Earlier this year, the indictment states, Vick helped test dogs at his kennel to see if they were fighters. Eight of the dogs didn’t fight and they were allegedly put to death in very gruesome ways: Some were hung, some were drowned and one was killed by slamming it to the ground, the indictment alleges.
According to the indictment, the feds already have four cooperating witnesses, and experts suspect at least one of Vick’s co-defendants will be convinced to turn state’s evidence.
ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli puts things in blunt terms:
Able to stay above the fight to this point, Vick is suddenly at the center of it, and he will be battling not only for his career but also for his reputation.
ESPN’s John Clayton sees this as the “beginning of the end of the Vick era in Atlanta”:
While standing by Vick appears to be the short-term solution, there should be no doubt 2007 is the beginning of the end of the Vick era in Atlanta. [Falcons owner Arthur] Blank is a businessman who espouses high principles. Vick is the face of the franchise and a sports icon in the Southeast. Whether he’s guilty or innocent, Vick would have to prove the federal government made a major mistake in indicting him to salvage his reputation throughout the area.
And Lester Munson, ESPN’s legal expert, explains the peril Vick is now in:
Vick is in real trouble. He is up against the might and majesty of the U.S. government with all of its agents, all of its investigative techniques, and all of its skilled prosecutors. If he has any doubts about the power and skill of the forces arrayed against him, he can call Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, or he can call Lord Conrad Black, the disgraced media mogul now facing time in a federal penitentiary. If he still isn’t convinced, he can call Jeff Skilling, the zillionaire Enron CEO who is now residing in a federal pen. All three of them hired brilliant (and expensive) lawyers. All three thought they could explain their way out from under federal charges. And all three were convicted. Vick can, and probably will, hire some of America’s best defense lawyers, but they will face a serious battle.
What is Vick’s future now? Can he lead a team with this cloud hanging over his head? Should Arthur Blank cut his losses?
July 18th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Blank, Goodell, and Nike … all of them should not only “cut their losses” but also take a principled stand against this gruesome, criminal activity. The cruelty aspect alone is horrific enough (take one look at a “bait dog,” stolen out of a suburban back yard and used for training purposes, if you don’t believe me), but dogfighting carries with it other criminal activities, including drugs, guns, and prostitution. Moreover, these breeding operations are a danger to communities all over the country, as stories of maulings abound. I don’t advocate a breed ban (I own a pit of the pet variety), but pit bull fighting must be stopped. Now.
Make Vicks a huge public example.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Once the toast of the town, now Vick’s just toast. And deservedly so.
The allegations in the indictment are as good as a conviction as far as Vick’s football career goes. There is no divorcing yourself from a house that you own, and when 50+ dog corpses are exhumed from the property that you own and show signs of execution, strangulation, drowning and blunt force trauma, it doesn’t really matter if you were holding the wires or just writing the checks (or handing off the backpacks full of cash as the case may be). The old saying birds of a feather flock together, and no slick lawyer will be able to wash the stink of extreme animal abuse off of #7 – no way.
I hope that Arthur Blank’s mailbox is overflowing with letters urging him to dump this thug – I’ve sent mine. I believe Blank is a class guy and will do the classy thing but he didn’t get rich making financially bad moves, and signing Vick to such a sweetheart deal clearly was one.
As a season ticket holder I will boycott the games if Vick plays. I can watch him get booed from the really cheap seat – my comfy leather couch planted in front of an HD screen.
July 18th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Vick is probably guilty but I find it amusing that so many people are so quick to jump to judgment before a verdict has been found. Has the Duke case taught not anyone anything? Criminally, Vick is innocent up until the day a verdict comes in that says otherwise. Punishing him because of this indictment, such as is suggested by the commenters above, only shows their ignorance.
If he’s guilty, throw the book at him. Until then, you can’t assume he’s guilty. That’s just petty.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Duke was because of an over zealous prosecutor facing re-election playing the race card for votes. A Federal indictment resembles a local DA indictment the way a hand grenade resembles a boiled egg.
It isn’t petty to look at a history of thuggish behaviour and disregard for the law before coming to a conclusion that he is probably guilty. It’s called intelligent.
I may be wrong, but mountains of evidence and Vick’s character tell me i am not.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:43 am
BTW, the NFL suspends players for repeated problems with law enforcement and offensive public behavior (just ask Pac Man Jones). this is Vick’s third offense (bird flip, water bottle with pot compartment).
July 19th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Money talks and everything else walks, and Vick’s product endorsements are scurrying out the door like rats off a sinking ship. “dpb” starts out by saying he’s “probably guilty” but then chides others for assuming, based on a scathing federal indictment and past behavior, that he is in fact guilty. When his homeboyz start flipping for lenient sentences it’s all over but the orange jumpsuit. I hate saying that – I had high hopes for a Petrino/Vick season but Vick obviously has other priorities in his life that have intruded on his professional life, and happen to be completely incompatible. You make your choices and you take the consequences. It’s too bad that he’s having to learn this the hard way, but then it’s hard to have much sympathy for someone as twisted as he is after having been handed the world on a platter in the form of $13mil/year + endorsements. I do feel bad for him because I don’t think he had the type of upbringing that would prepare him with the type of maturity and world experience that he would need for the professional football world, and obviously being a heralded college football player isn’t so much “real world” either.