suspended Vick Indefintely without Pay. Just saw on ESPNEWS

Poor Bastard. He should never be allowed to earn another cent from any sport.

:clap

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8R7L9H81&show_article=1

NFL Suspends Michael Vick Indefinitelyhttp://www.breitbart.com/images/common/dot.gif
By LARRY O'DELL

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The NFL indefinitely suspended Michael Vick without pay Friday just hours after he acknowledged in court papers that he did, indeed, bankroll gambling on dogfighting and helped kill some dogs not worthy of the pit. Vick, however, insisted he placed no bets of his own nor took any winnings.

In disciplining Vick, commissioner Roger Goodell said Vick's admitted conduct was "not only illegal but also cruel and reprehensible" and regardless whether he personally placed bets, "your actions in funding the betting and your association with illegal gambling both violate the terms of your NFL player contract and expose you to corrupting influences in derogation of one of the most fundamental responsibilities of an NFL player."

A "summary of facts" signed by Vick was filed along with his written plea agreement on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge. He will appear before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson to formally plead guilty Monday and then await sentencing at a later date.

The court documents and a statement by Vick's legal team seek to portray him as less involved in the dogfighting ring than three co- defendants who previously pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback.

"While Mr. Vick is not personally charged with or responsible for committing all of the acts alleged in the indictment, as with any conspiracy charge, he is taking full responsibility for his actions and the actions of the others involved," the defense team said in a written statement after the plea agreement was filed.

"Mr. Vick apologizes for his poor judgment in associating himself with those involved in dog fighting and realizes he should never have been involved in this conduct," the statement said.

Vick signed the plea agreement late Thursday.

"Most of the Bad Newz Kennels operation and gambling monies were provided by Vick," the summary of facts said, echoing language in plea agreements by the three co-defendants.

The statement said that when the kennel's dogs won, the gambling proceeds were generally shared by Vick's three co-defendants—Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips.

"Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds of the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels," the summary said.

According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions last April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.

"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.

In the plea agreement, the government committed to recommending a sentence on the low end of the federal sentencing guideline range of a year to 18 months. However, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, and the judge is not bound by any recommendation or by the guidelines.

Hudson has a reputation for imposing stiff sentences, according to lawyers who have appeared in his court. The judge will set a sentencing date at Monday's hearing.

"Our position has been that we are going to try to help Judge Hudson understand all the facts and Michael's role," Vick's defense attorney, Billy Martin, said in telephone interview. "Michael's role was different than others associated with this incident."

Martin said Vick will "speak to the public and explain his actions." Though he declined to say when and where, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a syndicated program based in Dallas, said it will have a live interview with Vick on Tuesday.

The U.S. attorney's office, which has declined to comment on the case, said it would issue a statement after the hearing.

The case began in April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick's cousin raided a Surry County property owned by Vick and found dozens of dogs, some injured, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.

A federal indictment issued in July charged Vick, Peace, Phillips and Taylor with an interstate dogfighting conspiracy. Vick initially denied any involvement, and all four men pleaded innocent.

Taylor was the first to change his plea to guilty, saying Vick financed the dogfighting ring's gambling and operations. Peace and Phillips soon followed, alleging that Vick joined them in killing dogs that did not measure up in test fights.

The sickening details outlined in the indictment and other court papers prompted a public backlash against Vick, who had been one of the NFL's most popular players.

As animal-rights groups mobilized against Vick and sponsors dropped him, Vick was barred from the Falcons training camp, but neither the NFL nor the team have taken further action.

Great news! Vick should be granted a lifetime ban from football there's no place for dog fighters and liars in the NFL

Vick did what cowards do

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz

A coward to the end.

He won’t directly say he killed dogs. He will admit to heading a group of degenerates when dogs were killed. Does somebody award points for semantics? “Ookie” tells “T” or “Q” or “P-Funk” to “Drown the dog,” but he keeps his hands in his pockets. Is this the Vito Corleone defense?

A coward to the end.

He won’t admit to gambling on dogfights. But he’ll admit to funding an illegal business enterprise that gambles. Well, that should appease NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Because I’m sure if “Bad Newz Kennels” ever accumulated significant gambling debts, a bookie would pressure “T” or “Q” or “P Funk” — not the NFL player with the $130 million contract who gave the money to “T” or “Q” or “P-Funk.”

How does this happen? How can somebody we admired for his courage on the field turn into such an invertebrate off it?

He runs in games. Did he have to run in the real world? Is it that difficult to admit guilt and say, “It’s my fault. Everything.”

We are, by nature, forgiving. We embrace the comeback. We want people to overcome obstacles, shed their baggage, become whole again.

This we shouldn’t forgive. First, we need to see remorse. Michael Vick hides behind attorneys like an offensive line. If only he had hid that well as a Falcons quarterback, he never would’ve been sacked.

He doesn’t care about the truth. He cares about exact wording in legal PDFs.

He doesn’t care about accepting responsibility. He cares about limiting blame.

If he feels anything, he doesn’t show it. It’s only obvious that he’s sorry he got caught. That doesn’t count. That’s pathetic. He’s pathetic. Vick doesn’t need a 12-step program for healing. He needs a conscience.

When will he realize that he did something wrong? When he’s lying in a cell, wide awake at 2 a.m.? When he’s scrubbing a floor or washing dishes for 12 cents an hour? Maybe while he’s under house arrest, walking around with an ankle bracelet?

Try avoiding the rush with that, big guy. There’s your new Michael Vick Experience.

This is not how people with character defects should begin rehabilitation. This is not how to repair an image or damaged career aspirations.

Come clean on everything. Express sorrow, contrition — then we’ll talk.

Vick did what cowards do. He not only hid behind some legalese, he agreed to cooperate with the government in turning in others. Maybe you view that as being a team player. But there’s another view: There goes the street cred.

Page 5 of the plea agreement reads: “The defendant agrees to cooperate fully and truthfully with the United States, and provide all information known to the defendant regarding any criminal activity as requested by the government.” It states this includes testimony at grand juries and trials. Vick also must submit to a polygraph test at the whim of the government.

Nobody agrees to such mandates unless they’re backed to the edge of a cliff, with the cavalry approaching. So why not just come completely clean? At least he would look like he cared.

I can’t imagine the hundreds of thousands of dollars Vick will have paid attorneys when this is over. I hope the verbiage was worth it.

We knew he struggled to read defenses. Turns out he can’t read an offense, either. The story broke in April in Surry County, Va. Vick’s reaction: “I’m never at the house. I left the house with my family members and my cousin. They just haven’t been doing the right thing. … It’s unfortunate I have to take the heat behind it.”

He thought it would go away, of course, like a disappearing water bottle incident. He goofed. Had he settled things with Virginia authorities, maybe the “United States vs. Michael Vick, a/k/a ‘Ookie’ ” never happens.

Then officials dug up the yard at 1915 Moonlight Road. They found dog corpses. Vick still thought, “I can’t be tied to this.” The lying continued. Vick’s fan base screamed racism or warnings about the Duke case revisited.

Then it fell apart. “T” and “Q” and “P-Funk” rolled on him. Suddenly, Vick was the last man standing. The last coward standing.

Maybe one day he’ll step to a microphone and express remorse. But we’re past the point of trust. Repentance needs to be wired to a polygraph.

If he ever comes forward and admits his wrongdoings and does the whole crying bit, blah blah blah, he will never get my sentiments or my sympathy. He harmed animals, whether he did so directly or indirectly, HE WAS THE POWERHOUSE BEHIND THE WHOLE BUSINESS. Without him, it wouldn't have occurred.

Cruelty hard to fathom earned Vick hard fate

Cleveland Plain Dealer
Bill Livingston

On the same Fri day that Michael Vick pleaded guilty to killing dogs that were not vicious enough to tear other animals to pieces, my cousin e-mailed that she had had to euthanize the border collie, Kirby, that she and her husband had loved.

Dog people know that having a veterinarian do this in a terminal case - and Kirby's kidneys were all but gone - is the kind thing to do. My family has had two dogs put down ourselves. We now own a third, a sweet spaniel who is 7½ years old and slowing down. We know how hard it is to let a pet go.

You get attached to them. It hurts you everywhere when it happens. It leaves a hole that takes a long time filling in your life.

My cousin had known for a year that Kirby was in chronic renal failure. He had lost weight drastically this summer. Pain relievers could only have extended his life another two or three days before the final suffering would have begun.

They could not bear to put the animal through that after he had given them so much.

A good dog will give you everything he can chase down, everything he can chew and everything he can beg, just to hang out with you.

Until it fell off the refrigerator door because the magnet wore out, a saying on a metal button would catch the eyes of the humans in our family. "God help me to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am," it read. Most times, I failed.

So I find Michael Vick abhorrent.

I think he deserves the indefinite suspension NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, a self-professed dog-lover, has given him. The NFL should match, at the very least, the prison time that is coming for Vick.

Furthermore, let's not make any mistake about what has happened to him. The animal rights lobby didn't bring the Atlanta Falcons quarterback down. He jumped off the pedestal on which we put professional athletes in this country by participating in the barbarism of dogfighting.

He admitted personally to killing dogs that did not fight well, although the dainty legal language of his plea said the dogs "died as a result of the activities of Vick" and his associates. The "activities" included hanging dogs and drowning them.

Nor should this be considered a black/white issue. Does anyone of any color whatsoever want to defend dogfighting?

Instead of a media rush to judge Vick, there was a rush by the co-rats who participated in "Bad Newz Kennels" to cut deals to save themselves by testifying against him. Now Vick has turned state's evidence himself. He is expected to help bring to justice others, also lacking the decency gene, who are involved in dogfighting.

What a repulsive end for a player who came the closest anyone ever got in football's team concept to basketball's one-man shows. With the 1999 BCS championship, Vick single-handedly kept Virginia Tech in the game against Florida State. He escaped converging tacklers with his legs and left a scorch mark on the air with his arm. There was nothing like him.

In a perverse way, there still isn't.

My cousin had a wonderful animal that got to spend his whole life with her family. Frankly, it would be an offense to human dignity if Vick ever played again.

OMG Janice, did you see Bill Maher last night? I don't know who that black chick was, and I don't care, but there she was trying to deflect what Vick has done by saying there are more important things in this country that merit the attention and disgust that Vick's case has generated. All I wanted to scream at the tv was F***YOU!!!!!!!!!! I knew she would say something as stupid as that. And for her to even compare the dog cruelty to those four students who were shot execution-style was BEYOND STUPID.

OMG Janice, did you see Bill Maher last night? I don't know who that black chick was, and I don't care, but there she was trying to deflect what Vick has done by saying there are more important things in this country that merit the attention and disgust that Vick's case has generated. All I wanted to scream at the tv was F***YOU!!!!!!!!!! I knew she would say something as stupid as that. And for her to even compare the dog cruelty to those four students who were shot execution-style was BEYOND STUPID.
No Irene, Maher's not on my list of shows to watch, lol. From your description, it sounds like the old "distraction technique", that's as old as the hills. Talk about worse things to take the heat off the actual topic. What that woman and other Vick defenders fail to recognize is there are 68 million pet dogs in our country. That's a good chunk of Vick's fanbase to p*ss off. We're a dog loving country. It's impossible to defend what Vick did because what he did is indefensible. So, we'll have nitwits like Jamie Foxx say that Vick didn't know, and that it's the same as dogs fighting in the street when he was growing up, and that it's race related -- Foxx knows that's BS. Race has nothing to do with this. If this was Tom Brady, I'd want him GONE, yesterday.

I don't know how these people expect NFL fans to ever cheer for him again. The thought of it makes me gag. :puke: