Posted on 07/19/2007 2:25:50 PM PDT by Joann37
Tell the NFL to Suspend Michael Vick! NFL star Michael Vick, of the Atlanta Falcons, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on felony dogfighting charges. Vick is charged with violating federal laws against competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting, and conducting the enterprise across state lines.
In a raid conducted on April 25 and 26, local and state law enforcement officials found 70 dogs—including at least 60 pit bulls and many dogs who reportedly were neglected, scarred, and malnourished—on quarterback Vick's rural Surry County, Virginia, property. Some of the animals evidently bear scars and injuries, and paraphernalia commonly associated with dogfighting—including a "rape stand"—are also said to have been found on the property.
Humane officers and other law enforcement officials routinely break up illegal dogfighting rings and confiscate dogfighting paraphernalia, including treadmills used to build the dogs' endurance and drugs used either to numb pain caused by injuries or to "jazz up" the dogs. According to Vick's indictment, even if the losing dogs survived, they met a cruel fate, "sometimes put to death by drowning, strangulation, hanging, gun shot, electrocution, or some other method."
The professional sports world is plagued with players who have been accused, charged, or convicted of cruelty to animals, abusing pit bulls, and dogfighting, and we hope that this indictment sends a loud and clear message to players and the NFL that celebrity is not a sufficient excuse for breaking the law and that animal abuse should never be tolerated under any circumstances.
We need your help to tell the NFL that someone who allows this kind of neglect and abuse to occur doesn't belong in its organization. Please write to the NFL to ask that Vick be immediately suspended.
Probably the only time I’ll ever agree with PETA.
Agreed.
Yup.I had the same thought. There is no way the NFL can let him play, after suspendign Pacman and Tank..
Yep I agree with PETA at how shocking this is.
I know the new commissioner, Goodell (sp?) has been very concerned about the number of players getting in trouble with the law. And now this high profile player in trouble. Goodell has talked to the owners, even before this came up, that one of the biggest threats to the NFL’s public relations is that so many players have had legal problems and it gives the league a black eye.
See if the commish can or will suspend Vick, even before we see how the legal case proceeds.
“See if the commish can or will suspend Vick”
He has the power, the question is will he use it.
Yes, but PETA still supports wacko domestic terrorist organizations such as ALF and ELF.
The NFL’s policy appears to be to get tough with so-called ‘repeat-offenders’. The League has looked the other way on a couple of occaisions with Michael Vick, so they have no prior offense to cite as grounds for immediate disciplinary action.
The Falcons could cut him (I suspect that they eventually will) though they will lose all signing/roster bonuses paid thus far. Upon conviction the Falcons might be able to sue for return of some monies, but who knows what they might be able to recover.
I think the ball in in the Falcon’s court. They need to do what the Eagles did with Terrell Owens - just bite the financial bullet & cut him loose. If Vick is due a “Roster Bonus” anytime soon, that would be the decision-date to look at.
Pacman hasn't been convicted of anything, yet he's gone. Not defending him, just sayin'.
Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Kind of like a broken clock...right twice a day. But yes, they are right on this!
Good reminder.
However, I have to disagree with you. I believe the Falcons are waiting for the league to suspend Vick before they cut or release him. That way..I believe they can appeal to the commisioner's office for cap relief.
That was my first thought. I didn’t think I would ever agree with PETA on anything.
I think it’s a three way staring contest. The league is hoping the courts or the team will do something that keeps them from having to take a stand and put their legal necks on the line. The team is hoping the league does something since that helps them with the cap situation. Meanwhile there’s the possibility Vick will get smart (not probable but possible) plea resign and save everybody a lot of trouble.
I think pretty much nothing is going to happen until Vick goes to court in a week, depending on what happens there that could make somebody blink.
Actually, I think the league is ready to act, but the’re holding off while the NFLPA gets its act together. I think Goodell is hoping to confince Upshaw NOT to come to Vick’s defense..it’d be a black eye for the union.
The union might have something to do with it, but the timing of other stuff might also be delaying Goodell. I was thinking Tuesday afternoon that the earliest the league would do anything would be Wednesday of next week, probably closer to Thursday or Friday. Then the news came that the first court date was Thursday and I just don’t see the league acting before the courts. The court date is either going to change nothing (from the league’s perspective) or change everything for the better (again, NFL’s view). If the trial gets scheduled to start soon enough Vick might take a leave of absence and then nobody has to suspend him, if he’s not smart enough to take leave then the league or team could declare it impossible for him to face this trial and play so they put him on leave (kind of like a suspension but not really). Or heck they could get really lucky and the court limits his travel, can’t play then, sorry Mike.
Meanwhile I’m sure Goodell is going to spend a lot of time talking to Blank and Upshaw, working out who is going to do what for just about every contingency including Vick disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle. But no matter what the schedule seriously shifted, where action probably was going to happen next Friday at the latest now it’s probably next Friday at the earliest.
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