Michael Vick’s football career is most likely over
December 10, 2007 at 1:30 pm by Scott Freeman in News, SportsOctober 2009.
That’s when a 29-year-old Michael Vick will be released from federal prison for bankrolling a dog fighting operation that will go down in history as one of the dumbest things a high-profile professional athlete has ever done.
$130 million.
That’s the contract Michael Vick threw away when he helped kill a half-dozen pit bulls that weren’t up to snuff as fighting machines.
23 months.
That’s how long Michael Vick will spend in prison. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson went above the 12-18 month sentence that was recommended by prosecutors when Vick pleaded guilty. There was word last week that federal prosecutors who debriefed Vick on the dog fighting world said he was not forthcoming with them. At the hearing today, it was revealed the FBI gave Vick a polygraph test in October, which he flunked. And the fact that Vick tested positive for marijuana just two weeks after he entered his guilty plea certainly didn’t play in his favor. (One now wonders just what strings were pulled to get that charge concerning the Aquafina water bottle with the hidden compartment at the Miami airport dropped.)
Michael Vick was once the prototype for the new modern quarterback. Now he’s the poster child for stupidity.
As ESPN notes on its homepage, the sentence is a serious blow to Vick’s future as a pro football player. He’s going to spend the next two years in prison, where he’s not going to be getting good food. He won’t be able to work out. He was already a player who needed to improve, and there will be no way to hone his talents sitting in a cell. He was a player who depended on speed, and that speed will be dissipated once he’s released.
And there are the state charges that hang over him that could mean even more prison time once he’s released on the federal conviction.
Even if he can still play football once he’s out of prison, what team is going to want him and all the baggage that comes with him? What team is going to want to deal with protesters outside the stadium with every game? And that’s assuming he’s even allowed back in the NFL, which shouldn’t be taken as a given.
This is the highest fall for a professional athlete since Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball in the prime of his career. Michael Vick and Peyton Manning were the faces of the NFL. Vick had the world at his fingertips.
Today, Manning leads the Indianapolis Colts toward another Super Bowl while Vick arrived at the courthouse in Richmond, Va., wearing prison stripes.
Michael Vick has thrown his life away. And that’s the most tragic thing of all.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Wake up, Freeman! Vick is starting for Oakland in the fall of 2009 and don’t you forget it. Go Raiders!
December 11th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I seem to recall the Raiders had a pretty good left-handed quarterback a couple of decades ago. Wasn’t much at running with the ball, but he sure threw a pretty pass.
There’s much conjecture that if Vick does make a comeback, he’ll return as a running back or some other position. But he did lie to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodall, and that’s not going to help his chances to even get back into the league. There’s also speculation that the CFL is a possibility.
Obviously, the Falcons have moved on.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:34 am
It’s highly unlikely Vick will be out in a year due to the fact that on a 23 month sentence he really only has to serve around 19 months due to the good conduct credit time off that he gets. He also has to be designated to an insitution, be deemed RDAP eligible, and then wait for a spot in an RDAP class. All that takes time. He may not even start a program for 2-3 months as the classes are usually booked up months in advance. So, by the time he hits an RDAP yard, he’ll be down to 16 months left, then the BOP will credit him for the month he’s already been in. The program itself takes 9 months to complete, that leaves 7 months, and he has to spend 6 months in custody at a halfway house as a program requirement. So maybe he’ll get all of a month off. BIG DEAL!
Larry Levine
owner
http://www.americanprisonconsultants.com