Wednesday, July 18, 2007

"Dog Days" Ahead for Michael Vick

Hard not to resist the pun on this one. I was stunned to see the breaking news on ESPN as soon as I got to the pool hall last night. Not surprised, but I didn't expect the announcement. And it's reported that Vick or his posse didn't expect it either from reports on ESPN.

No question that Michael Vick is in trouble. The issue has never abated since it was first reported that illegal dog fighting training facilities were found on a piece of property that he owned in Virginia. While he's owed his day in court, I never thought that his public statements -- that he had no idea what was going on in his own property -- were credible. It's the same sort of "I'm a star, so I can't get in trouble" attitude that we've all unfortunately become to expect from professional athletes.

Vick is basically screwed at this point (as are the Falcons). The Feds typically don't indict unless they're pretty sure of a conviction, as evidenced by their 95% conviction rate. And the odds are pretty good that one of Vick's friends (i.e. co-defendants) will roll on Vick for a reduced sentence.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months.

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