Vick accepts plea deal [merged]

[Tunescribe]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

Unfortunately this is where he will end up...

He will be with all the white collar criminals and he wont be being violated daily by a 300 pound man......Damnit.

Well, the reason I'm wondering is because what Vick did could not be considered a so-called "white collar" crime, because it was violent and destructive. But then, you have his celebrity status to deal with, which might keep him out of the general prison population. So the questions remain, where does he go and how will he be treated?

 

[Caspir]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

I wonder what kind of prison conditions Vick will encounter -- a minimum-security country club, a la Martha Stewart? Or, an honest-to-goodness penitentiary? His celebrity status probably will figure somewhere in this equation. Anyone recall what Mike Tyson's term involved?

He'll be in a real Federal Prison, probably FCI Beckley, which is a medium security facility in West Virginia. He won't be in a maximum security facility because 1.) he will not be considered a violent inmate, and 2.) his celebrity status would just cause problems for the staff.

 

[Pats726]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

There are certainly things that Michael could do to rehab his image in hopes of returning to the league. But his track record would indicate he's too stupid to do them at least well enough to impact widespread perception. It starts with surrounding himself with enablers. The league and the NFLPA had to push him to hire a top criminal lawyer because he and his toadies were blindsided by the indictment - they thought their $130M man was Teflon.

Those who are now playing the "mistake" card are just the wider part of that problem. As the guy on ESPN radio said a little while ago, a mistake is playfully pinching your sister in law on the ass because from behind she looked just like the wife. Vick didn't make A mistake. He exhibited a pattern of anti-social and illegal behavior that spanned his entire 6 year NFL career.

Mike may be a talented athlete, but he's a poor decision maker on and off the field. That's who he is and it's not going to change. Heck, he was warned about associations from the get go, by Reeves and Blank, yes'ed them to death and just went back to keepin' it real...Not many clubs looking for that at the helm of their franchise or even just leading an offense. And this will not be a decision made by some desperate GM or HC trying to han onto a job, or fueled by what teamates may say they want (just like McNabb wanted TO...). This will be an ownership decision whether it's made by one of the 31 individual owners he hasn't yet lied to personally or the commissioner they all hired to act on their behalf to whom he has already lied.

he might be able to do something..but as of now, he's starting off so poorly. I agree...when I heard that he hadn't hired a lawyer and just seemed to think it wasn't at all importance was rather shocking to me. So much denial. I still do NOT believe he understands what is wrong. And you are right no mistake card here. One event yes, but a series of "mistakes"?? That is NOT a mistake at all..it's a pattern of bad things..and that is HARDLY a "mistake". THAT path can not be taken...it's a non-starter. I think things will change though..2-3 years from now, but it will depend on what he does or does NOT do. As Peter King said today, there are always the Oakland's, Dan Snyder's Skins or Gruden who might take a look at him. Frankly, I think he should be banned outright.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

In what can only be described as an incredibly ironic twist, Schefter revealed tonight that the hero in all this was a newly hired police dog by the name of Troy who sniffed out the pot in cousin Boddie's car that ultimately resulted in taking down the Bad Newz dog fighting ring...LOL Good boy, Troy.

With all the poor Mike's a good guy who made a mistake drivel that Mike's friends and supporters are going to be pushing from here on out, this Atlanta sports columnist nails it.

"He owned a team. He owned a city. He owned a league.

He spit on all of it. Everything and everyone.

This isn’t a time for apologies, unless your name is Michael Vick. No excuses, no alibis. This didn’t happen because of bad friends today or a bad family situation as a youth or the pursuit of some ravenous and misdirected and racist media.

An icon has just lost his freedom and possibly his career, and it’s not because Michael Vick is a great guy who made one bad decision. He is flawed. Not a little, but deeply.

People of great character make bad decisions and rebound. They don’t fund and operate an illegal operation whose primary functions are to fight and kill dogs. They don’t go through life always deflecting blame on friends or family. They grow up. Michael Vick never grew up. He probably never felt he had to."


"So many people have wanted to make this about race and not the individual. ESPN recently explored Atlanta’s racial divide on this and several issues, dating to the Civil Rights era. But in doing so, its Web site juxtaposed photos of Vick with the likes of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Ralph David Abernathy, as if they were somehow equals, either in morals or objectives.

Michael Vick and Martin Luther King — are you kidding?

“Not guilty,” Vick said three weeks ago.

“I have a dream,” King said, a week short of 44 years ago, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

This isn’t the case of a person with great character jumping the track with one bad decision. A six-year operation does not constitute one bad decision. So many other incidents don’t constitute one bad decision. Betraying those who trusted you, particularly owner Arthur Blank, does not constitute one bad decision.

We’ve seen great athletes throw away careers before. Drugs, spousal abuse, a general attitude of feeling above the law. We’ve never seen somebody blow so much over something so dumb. But all are symptoms of the same thing — serious defects.

Judge Michael Vick by the content of his character. And what he just spit on."



http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/sh...lumns/entries/2007/08/20/vick_had_it_all.html

 

[Pats726]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

I think that says it all....a great column....

 

[Bella*chick]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

The lengths some people will go to defend him though....that columnist is right. MLK? You've got to be kidding. And someone compared him to JESUS. JESUS, people!

I only draw comfort from knowing most people have to see that for what it is...a bunch of idiots spouting off and revealing just how deep the course of idiocy truly runs.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

Here's another great column from one of the ESPN Page 2 columnists that was posted on the Falcon's message board - where they really need to read it. Here are some excerpts:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/070821

Dear young, black men:

Today, many of you are angry. You are angry at a society that has swiftly and vigilantly punished a superstar quarterback for dogfighting, but often looks the other way as a grotesque number of black men die in the streets. You are angry at the NFL, which has punishments some of you feel unfairly targets those who look like you. You are angry at Michael Vick's buddies and criminal cohorts for "snitching" on Vick, noting that trainer Greg Anderson, a white man, sits in federal prison with his lips sealed, protecting Barry Bonds and refusing to cooperate with authorities.

You are feeling a lot of things -- some possessing merit -- but I caution you not to make Vick a martyr. Do not applaud him for taking his comeuppance like some modern-day gangster. Do not blame others for Vick's predicament when he alone should be held accountable for his actions...

Let this historic unraveling be a wake-up call for the young, black men caught up in the same lifestyle that claimed Vick. Let his prison sentence send the message that a continued allegiance to street culture successfully keeps young, black men frighteningly behind in American society...

...Vick let you down. He betrayed you. He heightened the stereotypes of black men instead of eroding them. Racists certainly will feast on Vick, but he was the one who made himself an entrée.

But now that we know of his guilt and complicity, let's be honest and not use racism as an excuse. Let's not point to Rae Carruth, Ray Lewis and Leonard Little and cite their crimes -- as if wrongs can exonerate other wrongs. Racism isn't putting Vick in jail. Awful decisions did that.

Instead, let's attack this poisonous idea in the black community that equates only negatives with success. Surely, one reason Vick kept his circle of friends is because successful black people are pressured into keeping their toxic buddies around for the sake of "keeping it real" -- even though they've spent most of their lives trying to escape the street lifestyle in which many of those friends remain.

Of course, what's forgotten is that if Vick's "friends" truly cared about him, they never would have allowed him to jeopardize his freedom, NFL career and family for an illegal enterprise. A $100 million man involved in dogfighting isn't keeping it real. That's keeping it stupid."

 

[Pats726]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

I have heard all kinds of things..it's cultural...it's a hip hop thing...All well is fine with hip hop but if THAT is a hip hop thing..THEY need a new thing..for dogfighting is pretty low no matter WHOSE standards we are talking about.
And the Vick apologists go on and on....Gee if it were so much OK why was the house draped in black so no one could see inside??
HE KNEW he was doing wrong KNEW IT and frankly doesn't deserve to be back in the league....ever.

 

[Caspir]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

I have heard all kinds of things..it's cultural...it's a hip hop thing...All well is fine with hip hop but if THAT is a hip hop thing..THEY need a new thing..for dogfighting is pretty low no matter WHOSE standards we are talking about.

Dog fighting is not a hip hop thing, a Black person thing, or a young person's thing. It is a "thing" that barbaric people participate in. Some White, some Black, some hip hop fans, some country music aficionados. There is no profiling involved with dog fighters. The only characteristic they share is that they are despicable human beings who deserve whatever bad comes their way.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

The Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP has weighed in. About as rational as the SCLC and the huggers on the Falcons board (who want Leonard Little banned for something he did 9 years ago - which would be fine with me if we could charge Vick under the new Federal felony animal abuse/dog fighting statutes that were enacted just a month after he killed 8 animals). The heads of this organization also need to read that open letter to young black men and stop their wrongheaded efforts to coddle and enable them to feel OK about remaining culturally out of step with mainstream society.

I got news for Mr. White. Lots of us regret that the details of the case may never be known due to the pleas... This is patent BS - wait 'til he's found guilty, then when he pleads guilty cut him some slack 'cause them other black guys who rolled on him may have all been lyin' and Mike just got backed into a corner where he had to plead to things he may not have really really done... Couldn't be Mike was the one who said said things to save his own neck when he swore to Arthur Balnd and the Commissioner that there was no dog fighting on his property and he never visited there anyway...

Hey Mr. White - his crime wasn't that the deceased was a dog, it was that what he did to and with his victim up to and including killing him is a crime...

This is the crap that sets race relations and black advancement back and fuels stereotypes more than anything society does. Can't they get someone with half a brain and an ounce of moral fiber to front these organizations that are supposed to uplift and advance an entire segment of the population? Or are these clowns so afraid of being perceived as not keeping it real that they exist just to pander to their sadly emerging gangsta mentality generation...

ATLANTA -- An NAACP leader said Michael Vick should be allowed to return to the NFL, preferably the Atlanta Falcons, after serving his sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation.

"As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football," said R.L. White, president of the NAACP's Atlanta chapter. "We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country."

White said the Falcons quarterback is a human being who has made a mistake and should be allowed to prove that he has learned from that mistake.

Last month, state and local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urged the public not to rush to judgment in the Vick case. The civil rights organization said animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media were vilifying the embattled athlete, and that his team and corporate sponsors were prematurely punishing Vick.

White said the Atlanta chapter supports Vick's decision to accept a plea bargain if it's in his best interest, but he questioned the credibility of Vick's co-defendants, saying an admission of guilt might be more about cutting losses than the truth.

"At this point, you're not looking at guilt or innocence," White said, referring to the possible harsher sentence Vick could have received had he taken his case to trial and been found guilty. "You're thinking, 'What I better do is cut my losses and take a plea.' But if he saw this as the best thing to do at this point for his future, then I think he made the correct choice."

White said he regretted that the plea deal will mean all the facts of the case might never be known.

"Some have said things to save their own necks," White said. "Michael Vick has received more negative press than if he had killed a human being."

White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.

"His crime is, it was a dog," White said.



http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2986382

 

[captain stone]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

"White says that he does not support dogfighting, and that he considers it as bad as hunting."

I have never hunted, and probably never will, but comparing dogfighting to hunting is an insult to hunters, most of whom follow the letter of the law of their highly-regulated, and legal, pastime. Fees collected by the states from hunters pay for much of the cost of conservation and wildlife protection efforts.

I really, really hope that the federal judge in Richmond demands on Monday that Vick recount, in detail, everything that occured on his property. Maybe then the black "leadership" in Atlanta, and across the nation, will come to their senses and...ah, fuhgeddaboudit.

 

[scout]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

"White says that he does not support dogfighting, and that he considers it as bad as hunting."

I have never hunted, and probably never will, but comparing dogfighting to hunting is an insult to hunters, most of whom follow the letter of the law of their highly-regulated, and legal, pastime. Fees collected by the states from hunters pay for much of the cost of conservation and wildlife protection efforts.

I really, really hope that the federal judge in Richmond demands on Monday that Vick recount, in detail, everything that occured on his property. Maybe then the black "leadership" in Atlanta, and across the nation, will come to their senses and...ah, fuhgeddaboudit.

I had not noticed any black leadership across the country supporting Vick. The vast majority of blacks in Atlanta do support him due to his athletic status. My guess is that there are many Bubba's and Billy Joe's out there that would give a shout out to him if he weren't black. White's response was fairly reasonable until he mentioned the deer hunting. I guess we'll have some type of closure on this in another week.

 

[captain stone]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

...My guess is that there are many Bubba's and Billy Joe's out there that would give a shout out to him if he weren't black...

And those ignorant, inbred, country music-listening, nascar-watching, cross-burning rednecks would be just as wrong.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

Our old friend Howard Bryant, formerly of the Boston Herald and now of the Washington Post and apparently ESPN, has weighed in with his take. A little different. He seems to think Vick - albeit having pled guilty to a despicable crime - as well as PacMan et al should be being more vigorously defended by the NFLPA. But really just on principle, since what Vick did is apparently fairly indefensible. Howard feels unions should remain adversarial and seek power at all cost, lest they regret it down the road. Of course, this is coming from the man who eviscerated Selig for not cleaning up baseball in the steroid era - which would have been quite the feat considering the power Donald Fehr and the MLBPA wield over that sports increasingly emasculated commissioners...

I guess the concept of a league and a union working in concert (which btw has created the most successful and stable and profitable for all concerned sports venture in the history of the world) just strikes Howard as some sort of unholy alliance...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=bryant_howard&id=2986420


And a sad footnote - after August 24th 50 of the still unclaimed dogs confiscated from Moonlight Road are slated to meet Michael's maker. I wouldn't want to be Michael when judgement day comes in that higher court. Now, if he were smart he would step forward and claim his dogs now that he's entered his guilty plea, and perhaps propose setting up a million dollar trust fund pledged to care for them as humanely as possible and salvage any that might be rehabbed given time and the funding to place them with professional handlers, while also supporting pit bull rescue nationally for confiscated fighting dogs and raising awareness about the evil's of the dog fighting subculture that cost him a career as part of the Michael Vick Canine Foundation (whose message could be "Dog Fighting is Bad Newz"). But that won't happen because Mike is a moron surrounded by enabling morons who aren't really sorry for anything beyond his getting inadvertently caught doing something he couldn't buy or lie his way out of.

 

[Tunescribe]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

"At this point, you're not looking at guilt or innocence," White said, referring to the possible harsher sentence Vick could have received had he taken his case to trial and been found guilty. "You're thinking, 'What I better do is cut my losses and take a plea.' But if he saw this as the best thing to do at this point for his future, then I think he made the correct choice."

White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.

My head just exploded. Just when you thought nobody could say or do anything more stupid around this case.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

"White says that he does not support dogfighting, and that he considers it as bad as hunting."

I have never hunted, and probably never will, but comparing dogfighting to hunting is an insult to hunters, most of whom follow the letter of the law of their highly-regulated, and legal, pastime. Fees collected by the states from hunters pay for much of the cost of conservation and wildlife protection efforts.

I really, really hope that the federal judge in Richmond demands on Monday that Vick recount, in detail, everything that occured on his property. Maybe then the black "leadership" in Atlanta, and across the nation, will come to their senses and...ah, fuhgeddaboudit.

Ditto. I don't hunt and don't really get what is fun about killing animals.

But hunting serves a vital purpose. We have removed the natural predators of deer and other animals, and it is actually keeping them healthy to keep them in control at certain times of the year. Otherwise these animals end up getting diseased and starving anyway. Or jumping in front of cars.

Most hunting is done in an orderly fashion at certain times of year and torture is not involved.

But the Vick enablers are out in record numbers to keep it surreal.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

Our old friend Howard Bryant, formerly of the Boston Herald and now of the Washington Post and apparently ESPN, has weighed in with his take. A little different. He seems to think Vick - albeit having pled guilty to a despicable crime - as well as PacMan et al should be being more vigorously defended by the NFLPA. But really just on principle, since what Vick did is apparently fairly indefensible. Howard feels unions should remain adversarial and seek power at all cost, lest they regret it down the road.

I just read that earlier and had emailed Bryant. I'm in a union and if I were in the exact same situation as Vick now, I wouldn't even expect my union to fight for my right to have my job back when I got out of prison. I certainly don't think now is the time for the NFLPA to be doing that if they intend to at some point. Maybe if Vick does his time and donates time and money to animal humane groups they could after his release. But now isn't the time for that.

 

[Pats726]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

Ditto. I don't hunt and don't really get what is fun about killing animals.

But hunting serves a vital purpose. We have removed the natural predators of deer and other animals, and it is actually keeping them healthy to keep them in control at certain times of the year. Otherwise these animals end up getting diseased and starving anyway. Or jumping in front of cars.

Most hunting is done in an orderly fashion at certain times of year and torture is not involved.

But the Vick enablers are out in record numbers to keep it surreal.

And the big thing hunting is legal....dog fighting is a felony..a BIG diff!!

 

[scout]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

And those ignorant, inbred, country music-listening, nascar-watching, cross-burning rednecks would be just as wrong.

This is true. Does anyone know what Emmitt Smith had to say the second time around. ESPN had a lineup of people talking about Vick which included Smith. I wasn't that interested to stay tuned, I think Ice Road Truckers were on or something. I'm sure someone talked to him and he had a change of tunes.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Re: Vick accepts plea deal

What a great opportunity to do some good the NAACP has just blown. What a shame. They could have used this as a time to come out strong against this behavior and the hip-hop culture that breeds it. They could have done something positive for young black kids.

Just a terrible shame!