Monday, July 23, 2007

Vick Banned from Training Camp

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has ordered Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to stay away from the team's training camp until league officials complete a review of his indictment on federal dogfighting charges.

In a letter to Vick today, Commissioner Goodell said: "While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies, including the Personal Conduct Policy."

plez sez: regardless of what you think about dogfighting (if ya fer it or agin' it), the NFL is a big business and they will not tolerate the perception that one of its biggest stars actively participated in gambling rings and other illegal activities. even though, i'm not in agreement with this action, the NFL has banned Michael Vick from participating in training camp with the Falcons (and probably even playing with them in the upcoming season), until they are able to "clear" him of the charges in the indictment... which ain't gonna happen!

so much for due process, so much for what happened with the Duke Lacrosse Team last year, so much for what happened with the murder charges against Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis... Michael Vick is GUILTY until such time that he can prove that he's NOT GUILTY!

13 comments:

CapCity said...

& public lynchings continue on....

Arch City Expatriate said...

I am so sick of the hype with Michael Vick and this dogfighting madness. It's a media frenzy.

Vick, if he didn't participate, should have been a better steward over his home. If Vick participated, it was wrong, violent, sickening and foolish. Granted it's a federal indictment, you would think that he is already guilty by the way he is being treated.

I say, "Innocent until proven guilty - and even then the verdict might be wrong."

Anonymous said...

Welllllll...it really all depends on his "contract" stipluations. Maybe he should have thought about who he was associating with (if he is not guilty and found not to be a participant or ring leader that is) BEFORE it came to this? I'm just saying, all of us who work have stipulations about things, some of us are in fields where such a federal pending charge would get us suspended.

I'm just saying, under the circumstances (that being Mick Vick is a dumbass), I find it hard to work up any sympathy for the brother, though I pray him well.

plez... said...

i guess i'm being selfish here. if Vick played for any one of the other 31(?) NFL teams, i wouldn't give a RAT'S ASS about what happened to him (a la Pacman Jones). in my estimation, he IS the only person standing between a very successful campaign and a losing season for the Atlanta Falcons... i'll have to settle for the latter.

i wonder what the reaction will be when the Falcons are 0-fer-the-season and we're fighting off indigestion while being clocked by the Indianapolis Colts on Thanksgiving Day!

Anonymous said...

@Plez:

You got me there, I might be singing a different tune if he played for the niners.

David Sullivan said...

If he was a true professional he would have been studying film all winter and spring insted of doing anything legal or illegal with his kennel named, get this, "Bad Newz Kennel" which is named for the town he grew up in, Newport News. The locals affectionally call it "Bad News".

You can take the boy out of the hood, but......

Fergie said...

I wish they would leave Vick the heck alone. I bet you if the Falcons had a winning season the story would be different. All those hypocrites make me sick. FREE MIKE VICK!!! FREE MIKE VICK!!! They can have my season tickets if Vick doesn't play this year.

plez... said...

fergie,
i agree... it would be a totally different story if the Falcons had been to the playoffs the last two years... i hoping that this year would be The Year!

i hope you didn't pay too much for those season tickets, because i don't know who you'll be able to give them to for this upcoming season.

dc_speaks said...

still...the innocent until proven guilty speech should apply in all areas.

i need more info...

great post, Plez!

Anonymous said...

Welllllllll. If they DON'T Let him play, it's better for the 49'ners!!

My boys play the Falcon's on November 4th, and as sorry as my team has been the last few years, we'll take the victories as they come!!

plez... said...

Lawd NO... don't say we're gonna be sorrier than the Niners!!!

Mizrepresent said...

I don't know if Vick is guilty or not...but i do know that I am quite turned off about the public lynching, the mob mentality of animal rights groups and the like who have in their own way turned this into a racial thing...no, it was not supposed to be about black & white...but it always ends that way.

plez... said...

miz,

i will concur with you, the racial (or racist) component of this whole episode turns my stomach.

but as a wise man once said: "when you lay with dogs, you're gonna catch fleas!"