Ban Michael Vick from Ever Playing Professional Football Again
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Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980, in Newport News, Virginia) is a professional American football player under contract to the National Football League (NFL)'s Atlanta Falcons as quarterback. He was selected as the first overall draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2001 NFL Draft. By 2006, he was reportedly one of the top ten richest athletes in the United States.
In April 2007, discovery of his role as "the key figure" of an extensive unlawful interstate dogfighting ring and details of gambling and extreme brutality led to massive negative publicity and separate federal and state felony charges and convictions under plea agreements. He has been under suspension from play by the NFL since August 2007 after pleading guilty to one of the federal felony charges and admitting his personal participation. In December 2007, he was sentenced to serve a 23 month federal prison term at Leavenworth Federal Prison. Falcons' Vick Convicted In Dogfighting Case Star QB Was Highly Involved Vick, one of the NFL's most exciting players, was charged with competitive dogfighting and conducting the venture across state lines. The 19-page indictment alleged Vick was highly involved in the operation, alleging that he attended fights and paid off bets when his dogs lost. It said he also was involved in the executions of dogs that did not perform well. Federal officials twice searched the property -- which was purchased by Vick near Smithfield, Va., in 2001 -- after suspicions were initially raised in late April. Officers reportedly found equipment associated with dogfighting, blood stains on the walls of a room and a bloodstained carpet stashed on the property. They reportedly removed more than 60 dogs from the property. According to the indictment, Vick decided in his rookie season of 2001, with Phillips and Taylor, to start a dogfighting operation. Vick, who grew up in Newport News, paid $34,000 in June 2001 for a property at 1915 Moonlight Rd. and, according to the indictment, "used this property as the main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dogfighting venture and hosting dog fights." The men, who named their enterprise the "Bad Newz Kennels," developed the property for their dogfighting operation, building a house, "a fence to shield the rear portion of the compound from public view [and] multiple sheds used at various times to house training equipment, injured dogs and organized fights," the indictment said. The indictment details a series of dogfights in which members of the operation allegedly participated, including several fights in the fall of 2003 when Vick was sidelined with a broken leg. The indictment said that in April 2007, Peace, Phillips and Vick "executed approximately eight dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions by various methods, including hanging, drowning and/or slamming at least one dog's body to the ground." Vick also is alleged to have consulted with Peace before Peace killed a losing dog by electrocution in 2003. Vick, 27, who is a registered dog breeder, originally claimed that he was not aware of dogfighting activities on his property, saying he rarely visited it. Dogfighting is a felony in Virginia and 47 other states. Transporting dogs over state lines for dogfighting is a federal crime. AirTran Airways recently decided against renewing Vick's contract as a company spokesman. Vick reached a settlement in 2006 with a woman who charged in a lawsuit that he had knowingly given her herpes. That season, Vick was fined $10,000 by the NFL and agreed to donate another $10,000 to charity for making an obscene gesture toward fans while leaving the field after a game at the Georgia Dome in November. In January, 2007 authorities said that a water bottle surrendered by Vick at a security checkpoint at Miami International Airport had a marijuana-like substance in a secret compartment. Michael Vick Playing Prison Football Michael Vick is playing prison football at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. Michael Vick is playing prison football. Michael Vick has a new job and is playing football again in the federal prison system. The money is not quite the same and the records of the players are a bit different, too. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has been communicating by letter with Vick, who is at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas incarcerated at the facility's minimum security satellite prison camp. Blank said that Vick writes that he is washing pots and pans for 12 cents an hour. He was sentenced to 23 months in December, 2007 after pleading guilty to federal dogfighting charges. And in a scene straight out of the Longest Yard, Blank says Vick is playing football at Leavenworth. That's one way to pass his time and keep his arm loose. He's likely the first player picked when the inmates are choosing up sides or the guards are choosing up sides for them. Vick's sprinter speed surely comes in handy just in case a dog-loving inmate thinks it's cool to sack an NFL quarterback and break his shoulder. "He is staying in shape,” Blank told The News. "Apparently, there was a prison football team and he played quarterback for both sides.” PETA's Heather Carlson States: "To clarify misleading stories regarding PETA and Michael Vick, PETA withdrew its offer to do a TV spot with Michael Vick last winter when a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on Vick's dogfighting activities revealed that he enjoyed placing family pets in the ring with fighting pit bulls and that he laughed as dogs ripped each other apart. PETA believes that this revelation, along with other factors in the report, fit the established profile for anti-social personality disorder (APD), and we called on Vick to have a brain scan to help confirm this. People diagnosed with APD are commonly referred to as "psychopaths." They are usually male, prone to lying and manipulation, often take pleasure in cruelty, and cannot feel genuine remorse, which frequently leads to recidivism. PETA had previously been in talks with Vick's management, public relations, and legal teams about shooting a public service announcement to help combat dogfighting, upon Vick's release from prison. In December, after consulting with psychiatrists, PETA withdrew the offer for the TV spot, and in January, we called on NFL Commissioner Goodell to require that Vick undergo a brain scan and full psychological evaluation before any decisions were made about the future of his football career." PETA will not change their stance on seeing Vick serve a lengthy jail sentence and serving a lifetime ban as an animal owner. Sam Huff Has No Sympathy for Michael Vick When it comes to Michael Vick, Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is not in a mood to forgive and forget. Huff, now a Washington Redskins announcer, used the occasion of being inducted into the Southern Conference's first Hall of Fame class to go off on the imprisoned quarterback. "I think they ought to turn him loose with the dogs," Huff told the AP in Spartanburg, S.C. "That's what I think of Michael Vick." Huff -- whose induction class included golfing legend Arnold Palmer and NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West -- doesn't want Vick back in the NFL when he completes his sentence for dog-fighting crimes. "I have no sympathy for Michael Vick," he said. Weekend Update: Michael Vick, Really!?! Saturday Night Live Video |
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