Michael Vick

He has been a controversial personality ever since he put on a Falcons uniform. The sports talk shows and local paper have been all over this but what does the rest of the country think???

Should the Falcons cut him loose now or wait for the judicial system to guide them?

although it looks bad and I am a big dog lover....I say we have to wait until proven in the courts.

I would love to believe that he is innocent and it that it was his buddies but there seems to be overwhelming evidence that he was a pretty big player in this gambling ring. if this case is drawn out and, god forbid more players are discovered, this will be more than just the black eye in the NFL that Vick has caused

Clipped & pasted from:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072301392.html Others in the league have said that Vick, 27, could face a lengthy suspension under the NFL's toughened conduct policy imposed by Goodell in April. The policy empowers Goodell to suspend a player even if he has not been convicted of a crime. After enacting the policy, Goodell suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones for a full season and imposed half-season suspensions on Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry and former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson.

If I had an employee who was indicted on federal charges similar to Vick's, I would certainly suspend him/her until the charges were resolved.

He rightfully should be suspended for quite a while. Not even sure if that will matter in the long run considering its possible he has finished his NFL playing career if this turns into a worst case scenario for Vick.

I agree totally, the NFL has to protect the NFL.

If I learned anything from the Duke Lacrosse case, it reminded me that we are innocent until proven guilty. The difference here is that from the beginning the Duke case had conflicting evidence and the Vick case looks like it has some pretty hard evidence against him.

The difference between the Duke case and the Vick case is that Vick is not being targeted by some slack-jawed yokel D.A. who has to take every case that comes across his desk. This is the federal government, and they usually do not move in with an indictment unless they feel they've got the goods on a guy. I don't know if you have read the whole indictment (it is available at thesmokinggun.com), but there are an overwhelming amount of facts in the case so far. They have 3 cooperating witnesses and 3 of Vick's buddies, of whom at least 1 is likely to cut a deal to testify against him.

Goodell was right to suspend him from training camp, although I think that, considering the precedent he has set in the Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson cases, he should have at least suspended him for the season. Neither Pacman or Tank were federally indicted or faced the kind of charges Vick is facing.

The whole thing is sickening to me. If the sordid and gruesome accounts of Vick and his cohorts electrocuting and drowning dogs prove to be true, I hope he never steps foot out of a federal prison for a very long time, let alone on an NFL field.

oh my god people, remember that he is innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. He can't control what his homeboys are doing when he's not around. Yes it is his property. But put yourselves in his shoes. He is considered "new money" and wanted to put all of his old buddies up in a new house and take care of the people that took care of him throughout his life. I can almost guarantee you that he wasn't involved in what happened at that residence. Now, with that in mind, Vick needs to associate himself with better people. If your friends are out killing animals recreationally, then you need to seek out better people. The biggest question I pose is why would Micheal Vick go out and fight dogs to make money? That's retarded. He's got an atrociously large contract and a lifestyle that most people only dream of. Do you believe that he's that ghetto?

Another bit of thought. Ray Lewis murders someone and never serves time. He is still playing football. Jamal Lewis sets up multi-kilo cocaine deals and serves 4 monthes. He is still playing football. O.J. Simpson kills his wife, goes completely nuts leading police on a high speed chase, and still doesn't serve one day in jail. He's still a recognized hall-of-famer. Is it fair for Micheal Vick to serve up to 4 years in jail for ALLEGEDLY fighting dogs??? He's not Rae Carruth (the Carolina Panther serving 18 years for conspiring to kill his 8 month pregnant wife). He's a human being caught in a bad situation becasuse he made an error-in-judgement about his friends.

I think sometimes everybody gets a little too much into speculation. Yes, you too. While most of the people (including me) are jumping the gun saying that he is done with his career, you are jumping the gun by saying that he didn't do anything and you're assuming that just because he isn't around a lot, he didn't have anything to do with it. Plus you say its "retarded" (which is a shallow thing to say, I must add) to think that he would be involved in gambling rings like this when he has so much money yet tons of athletes are involved in gambling in some way, and almost all of them don't need to make "more money". Maybe he doesn't want to do it for the money but more for the rush and the excitement of gambling. It probably isn't about the money. Finally you mention all of those situations and then say how would it be fair if Vick got sentenced. Well, lets be clear that it isn't fair that the guys you mentioned got the treatment they got. So why should we let Vick automatically off the hook because others have? You also again make the assumption that it is only his friends who are involved so therefore he shouldn't pay any price. Well I don't know what truly happened but that's why it is being brought forward as a case. None of us "fans" know what really happened because none of us were there so it might be best if we all left the speculation up to the people working on the case.

Okay, you're right, it's shallow of me to imply that the people who assume he's guilty are retarded. I appologize for that if it offended anybody. I'm tired of hearing about how he's some devil person that deserves to never play football again and blah blah blah. I don't know any better than you do if he was involved. The major difference is that I assume that he's not guilty. 92% of America already belives he's guilty and thinks he should be banned from football immeadiately. The examples I shared in my previous post were to reiterate the fact that the crime he was indicted for is not even a shade as serious as some others in the league, yet everyones already given up hope for the dude. Maybe I came across a little biased in my other post, and if in fact he is found guilty, than shame on me. But as of now, I think he's getting a lot of bad hype and his reputation is getting destroyed for something he may not even be involved in.

Edit: Furthermore, I'm not at all suggesting that Mike get let off the hook just because the other people did. I think that everyone should raise off of him until he recieves a fair trial. It just seems amazing to me that some people can get away with murder, but one person gets accused of dog fighting and immeadiately people assume he's the worst person in the NFL. Just because it's the feds knocking on his door doesn't make it worst thing going on in the world. I feel bad for the guy because he's catching a lot of heat for this.

The NFL is a business. And right now Mike Vick is bad for business. He should be suspended for the season, and if he's found guilty he should never step foot on an NFL field again. That's just my opinion.

But on the other hand, look at all the mone the NFL and the Falcons have invested in Vick. It's not that easy to cut ties. None of the other players who have had the big suspensions have been near as prominant as Vick. He WAS one of the more popular players in the league. Tough call for the league.

However, that's not the only low-life, classless act Vick has allegedly committed . . .

and he never dog fought for the money....that has nothing to do with it. IF he did it it was for the enjoyment of the blood sport, anyone with 136 million dollars is not concerned about making a few extra dollars. I think that he should be suspended until week 4, the longest possible suspension a team can issue. Right now he is a distraction to the nfl, and certainly to the falcons. if he did it, hes a damn idiot and deserves the harshest punishment allowable under law; but he is innocent until proven guilty. if i were a betting man id say he never takes another snap for the falcons again, blank (the owner) will cut him if this drags on...

Then maybe the owner can sign MARCUS Vick . . .

iacas you are right, i guess i mis-wrote what i was trying to get across. the point i was trying to make was that vick didn't need the money, so his participation in the "sport" was for enjoyment; which includes the enjoyment of winning money. regardless of the motives and facts, mike vick has put himself in a pretty bad situation.