All this angst about a guy who killed dogs. Sheesh, you'd have thought in reading this that Roger Goodell had banshed Michael Vick to the Browns or somethin (ba-dum-bum).
Here's the bottom line about Vick: He will sign somewhere, and he'll play at some point this season. But name me the last NFL player to miss two years and come back and star and I'll call it a mirage.
Vick effectively finished his NFL career as a starting quarterback when he arranged for this dog-fighting ring, treated the animals brutally and then lied about it to the commissioner. That led him to federal prison for two years. He's going to try to come back, and he'll play. But he won't be the same. It just doesn't happen.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was kind to Vick. He could be reinstated in any of the first six weeks of the season. No doubt the groveling from Vick and his agent helped.
But Vick was not going to walk into a training camp and win a starting job — unless he moved to running back. Now he gets a camp and up to five weeks of practice time to see if his skills are back. Given the nature of his crimes, Vick couldn't have asked for more from Goodell.
That's why he's so happy. He was looking at missing another year. He did enough to win "conditional reinstatement" (only in the NFL) and he gets a chance to play again. He was a decent quarterback before he went to prison. The thing he could do that no one else could do was avoid the rush and run. But reading defenses, guiding an offense, throwing a catchable ball — these were skills that he lacked. He's not going to somehow find them after two years in the hoosgow.
He'll sign with somebody. But he'll probably spend more time carrying a clipboard.
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ROGER GOODELL: You wanna play football again?
MICHAEL VICK: Yep.
ROGER GOODELL: You gonna kill anymore dogs?
MICHAEL VICK: Just Rachael Ray.
(They both laugh.)
A pretty "light" tone for "a guy who killed dogs." This beast didn't just kill dogs, he tortured them. Electrocuted them, drowned them, rammed hot pokers up their butts to make them mean, grabbed them by the leg or tail and slammed them repeatedly against the concrete until they were bludgeoned to death.
No, just saying he "killed dogs" doesn't begin to tell the story. Everytime I hear some imbecile defend the guy or cry that he deserves a "2nd chance," I ask, really…why? The man is without heart, without soul, a mean vicious animal who (you know it, and I know it) would not have hesitated to kill a human being if he felt the need to cover his tracks.
Not to mention…this guy didn't just bankroll the torture, execution and racketeering of dogs, he financed an entire, elaborate gambling operation. How is THAT ignored in all of this? Vick is sick, sick, sick. It's time someone spoke out about what this guy is really all about.
What, like you've never rammed a hot poker up anybody's butt? Liar.
Seriously, take a look at how the Amish treat dogs, just to name one of a billion people out there. So you're saying the very same people who make some of the finest butter and build some of the sturdiest cabinets in the world are sick? My I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was churned by a bunch of sickos?
And what's the difference between the way Vick treated dogs and the way most makers of canned ham treat pigs? Pigs are smart animals, smarter than a lot of dogs. In fact, many pigs are so smart, they could be the GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Alan, I think I speak for all readers when I say: Many of your comments make us want to ram pokers into our own eyes so we don't have to read your drivel.
No, I'm absolutely certain I'd be horrified at the way in which farm animals are butchered. But I certainly don't have to condone cruelty from a pro athlete who is running an illegal gambling and killing factory for the fun of it. Where is it written that we're required to give vermin like Vick a 2nd opportunity to make millions of dollars? If he wants to LIVE the low-life, then we should afford him that right. He can dwell in squalor with his sick posse for all I care. I'd rather he be rotting in the same cell with the gun-toting Maurice Clarrett, another guy I personally feel is beyond rehabilitation. Once that thug-entitlement-mentality is ingrained in you, it's the path most walk until the day they die a young death.
Your defense of this idiot makes me nauseous.
Who says I'm defending the schmuck? All I'm saying is dogs are no different than any other animal. Let's electrocute Bob Evans while we're at it.
bob evans is making pigs fight to the death and butchering the winners? i did not know that.
Yes, terje. That is correct. I would not make something like this up. The next time you eat at Bob Evans and enjoy their sausage links, first take a quick peek inside their kitchen. Backyard pigfighting and wagering on Porky vs. Rosie O'Donnell is big business.