Michael "Ookie" Vick ends NFL career

by BigBlueShoe on Aug 20, 2007 2:54 PM EDT in NFL General

Nice knowing ya, Mike.

According to CNN, Michael "Ookie" Vick accepted a plea deal with the federal prosecutors. Vick will pleas guilty to felony conspiracy next Monday. From the CNN release:

Federal prosecutors had offered a deal recommending an 18- to 36-month prison sentence. Vick's attorneys were trying to reduce that to less than a year, two sources told CNN on Monday.

Vick's attorneys aren't going to get that. The feds have all the leverage, and Mike is going to federal prison for at least 18 months.

By pleading guilty, Vick ends his NFL career. He will likely get suspended for two full years AFTER he gets out of jail. Even if he tries to come back to the NFL, fans will mercilessly heckle and berate Vick about his prison showers, whose bitch he was, and whether or not he had to kick someone's ass inside in order to get some respect.

But mostly, fans will make fun of Vick for throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars so he could bet on dogs fighting each other.

Such demeaning and embarrassing heckling will not be tolerated by the NFL. And since they can't stop fans from making fun of Vick, they'll simply suspend him, and possibly ban him for life. Michael Vick is now, without question, the stupidest football player to ever live. With this league once having players as dumb as Jeff George, Eric Dickerson, and Ryan Leaf gracing its sidelines, for Vick to win dumbest ever is a big deal. But, as dumb as George and Leaf were, they never threw their careers away on something as pathetic as dogfighting.

Though Vick is going to jail, the real losers here are Atlanta Falcons fans. They supported, cheered for, and paid the salary for this idiot for six years. Now, they're left with nothing. Nice knowing you, Mike... oh, and remember not to bend over to pick up the soap.

Update [2007-8-20 17:29:8 by BigBlueShoe]: Tip to brj4 for finding this article by Gregg Easterbrook defending Michael Vick despite the mounting evidence against Vick that he was involved in dogfighting and lied about it. Again, I've said this many times: Easterbrook is a complete moron who has the intellectual power of a limp penis. If you don't believe me, read his article defending Vick. He does everything an imbecile does to distort the facts: Blames others for Vick's decisions, calls those that condemn him racists, and makes excuses for a grown man with millions of dollars that clearly has issues (because no one normal enjoys watching animals kill each other). It boogles the mind how truly soul-less and shallow Easterbrook is, and how easy it is to make him look foolish.

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

Ban him ....

for life. That's what I think.

by PaytonMenning on Aug 20, 2007 3:40 PM EDT 0 recs

Gregg

Did you read Easterbrook's horrendous article apologizing for Vick's actions? You can find it here. It was up on the main page, maybe until the editors read it and realized how horrible it actually was. Lots of negative comments and lots of new Easterbrook-haters now.

by brj4 on Aug 20, 2007 3:48 PM EDT 0 recs

Michael Vick

is a piece of sub-human shit. Any NFL team that would ever hire him again deserves to be destroyed by the press and the fans.

by ctnyc on Aug 20, 2007 4:24 PM EDT 0 recs

I should clarify

This is, of course, if he is guilty. But I think it's clear to any rational observer that at this point the question is not "is he guilty," but "of how much is he guilty." Lawyers don't recommend plea bargains that could result in 3-yr jail terms if there is not strong, convicting evidence of wrongdoing. That's what bothers me so much about Easterbrook's sanctimonious drivel.

by ctnyc on Aug 20, 2007 4:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

Easterbrook...

is right. I agree with him and I agree with Sanders.

It seems like if anyone says anything except "Vick is the scum of the earth, throw him in jail forever" that person is an asshole.

And as much as I like football, it is not a lot different than dogfighting--a bunch of rich guys paying young men to beat themselves up for the sole purpose of making money. The part I like is the stradegy and execution--I deplore the injuries. The gruesome hits, the knee damage that leave scar tissue for life requiring recurring surgeries--often causing amputations later in life for many of these guys. Not to mention the concussions etc., etc.,etc.. We are all pimping these guys and are in no way on the solid moral highground to make wild declarations against Vick.

Personally, I would rather just drop the Vick thing and discuss the Colts. He'll get what he deserves and more. He isn't satan, just a guy with a moral code that doesn't quite match up with the laws of the US. In Spain, he's not going to jail. In Indianapolis, Tank Johnson isn't in jail for weapons.

by will on Aug 20, 2007 6:33 PM EDT 0 recs

Ludicrous

This argument is ridiculous. There is no comparison between football and dogfighting. The object of football is to move the ball down the field and score points. Injuries are an unfortunate byproduct of the game. The object of dogfighting is for dogs to tear each other to pieces until one is dead. Injuries and death are the object of dogfighting.

Professional athletes have a choice whether they want to play the game, and understand that potential injury is a part of it. And they are well-compensated when they play. Dogs are bred and trained to fight, and are often sentient enough to not want to fight. Those that do not perform well are brutally killed. Oh yeah, that's not much different from football at all.

Sorry if this seems harsh, and I've enjoyed your comments on this site before. But this argument you've made makes me sick.

by ctnyc on Aug 20, 2007 9:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

wow...

First off....I totally agree with ctnyc's comments above, so I'll stay away from the dog fighting vs. football.

While the media frenzy and the amount of people condemning him for life is a little rediculous. That's the price you pay for having the celebrity that affords you the lifestyle from your $130 Million dollar contract. You've got to take the good with the bad. If he still steadfastly maintained his innocence, I would feel differently, but obviously the notion that he's innocent has pretty much gone out the window.

The Race issue is also crap. The notion of people wanting to secretly "take down" the first black QB taken #1 in the draft is rediculous. While there may be a few old rednecks left that feel this way, PETA (or your average dog lover) doesn't care if he is white or black...they care about the dogs. And the only color the federal government sees is green (i.e. the gambling). If it were Tom Brady, their reactions would be the same.

Everyone forgets that while the gruesome details of how they treated the dogs is what turns people's stomachs, the "organized crime" is what he is going to jail for. If the government didn't rule situations like this with an iron fist, the gambling would get out of control and people would be getting killed as a result.

I only sympathize with Vick on one issue. We are all a product of our environments. He probably never had a strong adult presence in his life teaching him right from wrong when he was young. He probably grew up around dogfighting and it may have been a normal part of his life. BUT, this doesn't excuse his actions and he still deserves whatever sentence he gets. I do hope that after he serves his time (and his suspension) he will be given an opportunity to turn his life around.

by rudy0498 on Aug 21, 2007 11:10 AM EDT up 0 recs

'product of enviroment'

the business of being a product of our environment is a crap argument.. if you know right from wrong and you choose to do wrong it is your fault irrelevant of background. That kind of comment demeans anyone who didn't have a great start and knows better and stays out of trouble and appreciate how lucky they are to make it.. there are a lot of NFL players who didn't have a 'strong male model' and still didn't get into the things vick did... and they don't make his type of money.

by bluegirl on Aug 21, 2007 12:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

Like I said

It is not an excuse...but it doesn't mean that it's not an contributing factor. I believe he needs to go to jail, and be held accountable for his actions. But I don't think he should be condemned for life.

My wife and I spent 2 years working with inner city kids in DC with special needs. You'd be amazed at the lack of support most of these kids have not only from family and friends, but from even from their school teachers. Teachers with college degrees that are paid to care about them, yet they don't. Unless you yourself have endured a situation like this, how can you know? You'd be amazed at what something like that can do to their perception of right and wrong. I don't claim to know exactly what his childhood was like, but I've seen hundreds of kids in their innocence that will unfortunately end up going down the same road.

And I'm not "demeaning" those who didn't have a great start in any way. It is a testament to those who are able to break free from the apathy surrounding them and rise above it, because it is so damn hard to do it.

I'm not trying to start a political debate here because this is not the forum. You are fully entitled to your opinion, but unless you've been in their shoes (and maybe you have) you need to have a certain amount of objectivity and give him the opportunity to pay his debt to society, learn from his mistakes, and turn his life around.

by rudy0498 on Aug 21, 2007 1:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

Vick

what i find offensive here is that even if Vick does come from a harsh background, as a star in college and then the NFL there were MANY support systems and education ... particularly at the NFL level to warn and help players to stay out of trouble... if he was too stupid or too arrogant to take advantage and realize he had to clean up his act... with all the money, advantages and opportunities he had that he couldn't do what many have done without all the money and support he had as a star NFL player. (i mean arthur blank treated him like his own son pretty much) then he is either really stupid or really arrogant or both

by bluegirl on Aug 22, 2007 5:56 AM EDT up 0 recs

It's obvious...

that he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not Charles Manson either.

Who we are at our core is defined much earlier in life than the age of 18. By the time he got into the league, his belief that treating animals like that is OK were already set. "If" his father, or father figure was involved in dog fighting when he was a little kid, is it that hard to believe that he would grow up thinking it was OK? And people from that type of background don't trust anybody, especially a primarily white (from an ownership standpoint) "corporation" like the NFL that treats them like property (from their perspective). Deep down I bet that Vick didn't trust Blank because he felt like he was seen as property of Blank.

Once again, I'm not justifying it, I'm just giving another perspective that might show why he may have thought that it was OK to do what he was doing. You're absolutely right, he should have taken advantage of the support system that was available to him in the NFL, but there are plenty of reasons why he wouldn't. And in reality it was too little, too late.

by rudy0498 on Aug 22, 2007 10:13 AM EDT up 0 recs

Article

When you talked about the article I assumed it was from a few weeks back, so his position was a little more justifiable.But it was THREE DAYS AGO, wow.
I was with him for a paragraph, accused/charged isn't guilty. That was still a valid agruement wen that was writen.
Everthing after that is complete crap, though.

by shake n bake on Aug 20, 2007 7:08 PM EDT 0 recs

stupid article

Vick has acted like a stupid spoiled brat... I don't see either peyton or tom brady doing something that stupid... so why can you moan about how the people around him have made him this way... this is the worst kind of attempt to justify a horrible action... and to compare it to football, where people choose to do it and make millions is ridiculous.. I can maybe understand Deion's comment about Vick relating to the dogs somehow, but I think that is B.S. too and if you could do the kind of things to a dog that this involves then Vick is the worst kind of sadist if he truly 'sees himself in these dogs'

This type of thing is just part of the gangster culture, and Vick probably thought he was clever leading a double life... and now he will pay for it. If there was gambling involved the NFL will ban him for life.

and emmitt smith made and even stupider comment about Vick playing in the CFL to revive his career on the preseason preview last night. I can tell you as someone who lives up here that if any team was dumb enough to touch him the fans and media would crucify them...

by bluegirl on Aug 21, 2007 6:15 AM EDT 0 recs