Big Lead Sports Bar

7/17/2007

Down Goes Ookie

Michael Vick, also known as "Ookie", according to the 18-page court document, was indicted on Tuesday for conspiracy to transport dogs across state lines for the purpose of dog fighting.

Profootballtalk.com, who has provided saturation coverage of the entire Vick dogfighting saga, outlined a few of the more graphic incidents listed in the indictment:

"Testing" of the dogs began in February 2002. One of the dogs did not fight very well. It was shot to death with a .22 caliber pistol.

Additional dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions were executed in the summer of 2002, with three shot and one electrocuted.

In March 2003, Peace allegedly electrocuted a female pit bull that had lost a fight after consulting on the matter with Vick. Peace shot another losing dog that same month.

The most graphic misconduct allegedly occurred not long before the first search of the property. According to paragraph 83 of the indictment, Vick, Peace, and Phillips executed in April 2007 approximately eight dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions, by "hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

In other words, in the same month in which Vick declared that he never goes to his Surry County property, and the same month in which he sat face-to-face with the Commissioner, Vick had (according to the indictment) participated in the killing of as many as eight dogs deemed unfit for fighting.

Wow.

It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, a 21-year-old Vick was destroying Brett Favre in the playoffs in Green Bay with the world in the palm of his hand. He was exciting, he was a winner, and he had an entire career to get even better. Fans loved him, teams stayed up late trying to come up with a plan to stop him, and marketing gurus had him pitching everything from Nike to Coca Cola. The sky was the limit.

Now, the guy comes off as more monster than man. The Ron Mexico story, the water bottle, the missed appearance on Capitol Hill...those were all bad, but they pale in comparison to the dogfighting scandal. This situation is a loser for everyone involved: the Falcons are a mess, as they traded backup Matt Schaub and they're simultaneously dealing with the transition to a new head coach; Vick looks as if he'll be suspended; and the league takes yet another PR hit in an offseason full of them. Is Vick in some sort of "bad press" competition with PacMan Jones? Because right now, they're neck-and-neck. It's been a nightmarish offseason for Roger Goodell. And for Michael Vick, the nightmare has just begun.

I highly suggest you read as many of the articles below as possible. And be sure to check out the official Michael Vick homepage's message board, where you'll find gems like this:

"Oh its hater Xmas time now. They'll treat the indictment like its the conviction itself."

"That's BS dude. When my friend told me about it after seeing it in front of Yahoo.com, I was shocked as hell. It's completely BS from what I believe in. Not even much evidence to show that Vick's in trouble for dogfighting."

Other than the below articles, I can only offer you one piece of advice regarding this story: just prepare yourself for TV, radio, newspaper, and internet coverage like you've never seen before.

Suggested reading:

What do we make of this Michael Vick? [Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Vick faces different kind of pressure now [Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com]

3 comments:

Dame said...

For the list of links.....


http://thestartingfive.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/breaking-news-michael-vick-indicted-in-richmond-court-with-updates/#more-1017


It gets real heated over there..



I’ve held that Vick had at least some scant knowledge of what went on there, but the usage of federalies for this case is just ridiculous.

Well… we have another great distraction…..lets see how the facts unfold..

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

My opinion is that the house was constructed for the sole purpose of dog fighting. I wouldn't even call it a house, it looks more like a compound. I believe he knew darn well what went on there and probably dictated activity to some extent. The truth (or at least some of the truth) will come out in the courtroom, and he can either be cleared or further villified. As a dog owner, I want him behind bars.

As for the Pirates, they looked like their typical, apathetic selves last night. But hey, they signed Moskos, now they can trade him in 5 years for a garbage AA reliever.

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

illiam, I think that dog fighting is pretty dispicable, as do pretty much the people who made it a crime to participate in it. The "rediculous" use of feds in the case i'm sure is meant to publicize what happens when assholes do this. But then again, like Clinton Portis said, they're just dogs...

I'd personally like to see anybody who does do it fight those dogs to the death. Wonder who would win?