Blaze_1UP

These are some pretty big charges he's being indicted on, looks like he could get suspened for a number of games being the new commissioner doesn't really put up with this type of conduct.

ESPN - Federal grand jury indicts Vick in dogfighting case - NFL

__________________

Your gonna take a pound'n if you ride bulls for a liv'n, thats juss the way it is.

Gzus

He's getting at least 8 games if not the whole season. Since he has been indicted with a possible 6 year sentence, a season wouldn't be surprising.

__________________

GzusJuice (15-1) 2007 FBB.com Fantasy Football League Champion *I R Romosexual*

hit_'em88

if he was some back-up he'd get a season but since he is Michael Vick then he wont get suspended until he is actually found guilty which probably wont be til after the season

__________________

TheGWH

He'll get a season i'm guessing. Like I said on another thread. He won't get 6 years and he won't have a fine of that much. My reason: because the government is currupt and if he can pay them enough money, he'll be all good. Bribery works folks (well at least it does with the Canadian gov't)

__________________

niner8824

Why is everyone saying vick will get off without doing time? Or will do less time? Vick was indited (sp) by a federal gran jury! This isn't some small state court like oj! Its federal! And that means you can't bribe your way out of it. Noone has enough money to brib everyone in the federal court system. Vick is in deep. And no amount of bribary will save him. Of course its kinda funny that bribary is his only defense? Shows the kind of person vick is huh? I don't know if he's guilty but with a 90% coviction rate the federal goverment doesn't charge just anyone.

The Legend Killer

This article below describes exactly how i feel about Vick..and even if he never spends a minute behind bars...he should never again be allowed to represent the NFL.


July 18, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist


Michael Vick can't play this season. You know that, right? He cannot play. Not for the Atlanta Falcons. Not for anybody, not anywhere, not at any time. Not until he is clear of the charges leveled against him by the federal government.

And if he's not cleared of those charges? If he's found guilty of sponsoring a macabre dogfighting ring? Then the NFL has seen the last of Michael Vick.

Distractions will follow Michael Vick and the Falcons every step of the way if he plays. (Getty Images)
Don't give me "due process." Look around you. Do you see a court of law? Do you see a judge, a jury, a lawyer, a bailiff? The NFL is not the U.S. judicial system, and for the sake of this argument, Michael Vick is not a defendant.

He's a football player who has been accused of something so serious, something so heinous, that the NFL cannot in good faith allow him to represent the most popular sports league in this country.

Don't give me "innocent until proven guilty." Michael Vick has no inalienable right to play football this season or any season for the Atlanta Falcons. Our colonial militia didn't throw tea in the Boston Harbor so Michael Vick, some 230 years later, could play football for the Falcons. U.S. soldiers have not died in wars all over the world, and are not dying right now in the Middle East, so Michael Vick can throw a football.

Don't give me "the presumption of innocence." The NFL isn't deciding whether Vick will spend the rest of his life behind bars. The NFL only has to decide whether Vick should, or should not, be allowed to play while the most sordid sports story in years plays out.

Michael Vick simply cannot play this season. Surely you understand that. His first court date is July 26, the same day the Falcons are scheduled to begin training camp. That's a nice touch, but think further ahead to when the Falcons are getting ready for their season opener Sept. 9 at Minnesota. At the same time he will be trying to prepare his offense for the Vikings, Vick will be helping prepare his defense for a nasty court case that will decide his freedom.

He won't be ready to play for the Falcons. Not at quarterback, where the mental side is so critical. It wouldn't be fair to Vick to ask him to play with this court case hanging over his head, and if it sounds like I'm being sympathetic to Vick's plight, I'm not. He has been accused of crimes that offend me greatly, and if he's found guilty, I hope he spends so much time in jail that he dies there. Dog fighting? Dog killing? Only the scum of the earth partake in such an atrocity.

Think ahead to Sept. 16, when the Falcons visit Jacksonville. There are also trips to Tennessee, New Orleans, Carolina, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Phoenix. In every city, Michael Vick will bring the circus. Animal cruelty foes will picket stadiums. Fans will be ugly, maybe cruel, possibly even criminal. Things will be thrown at Vick. Things will be yelled.
For those eight Sundays on the road, Michael Vick will be hated like no visiting player has ever been hated.

Baseball villain Barry Bonds thinks he has it tough when he goes on the road? Bonds is only accused of being a jerk and a cheat. Vick has been accused of killing dogs, which ought to earn him the malice of even the home crowd. Any idea how many NFL fans own a dog? Me neither, but it's a large number. And every last one of them should hate Vick. At this moment I do, and he hasn't even been found guilty yet.

But he has been charged, and not just anywhere. He has been charged in federal court, and for those who don't know what that means, let me tell you: It means Vick is almost certainly guilty. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 99 percent of the people indicted by the federal government between 2000 and 2005 were convicted.

Did you catch that number? It was 99 percent. Guilty. How can that be? This is how: The U.S. government doesn't indict just anybody, and certainly wouldn't indict Vick or anyone else for headlines. The government is far too busy and far too cheap to waste its time and money pursuing a trial against a defendant that has even a remote chance of winning. The U.S. government only indicts you if it believes it can and will convict you.

The NFL has to know that percentage. So does Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. They have to know that Michael Vick, in all probability -- say, 99 percent -- will be convicted of masterminding a dogfighting operation. And if he is convicted, he will go to jail for a long, long time. Which means his NFL career is finished.

So why let him play now? This isn't a guy who deserves the benefit of the doubt. He has shown horrible judgment over and over, from the Ron Mexico herpes incident to the middle finger he showed the home crowd to the James Bond water bottle he used in an unsuccessful attempt at sneaking marijuana jewelry onto an airplane. None of those cases led to any sort of conviction in a court of law, but Pacman Jones is serving a one-year suspension from the NFL and as of today, he has been convicted of nothing. He hasn't even been indicted by the federal government, as Vick has.

The Falcons deserve some relief, too. They would take a huge salary cap hit for releasing Vick, but that hit should be waived. The Falcons should not be forced to keep a poisonous person because of NFL salary cap ramifications. That is not the way anyone should want the NFL to operate. It's in the best interests of everyone in the NFL for Michael Vick to never again wear a uniform, so the Falcons should be cut some slack for releasing him.
The bleeding hearts among you -- the Vick fans, the gullible, the blind -- want to know how the NFL can keep an innocent man off the field.

I've got a better question:

How could the NFL possibly let him play?

__________________
For those who love the NHL...www.hockeyfanzone.com
I am "The Legend Killer "

Daddy Duck

A hrum in his anoose.

__________________

fla0711

Your Team Sux - I HATE VICK This site is great. I think it tells the feelings of a lot of fans!

The Legend Killer

RICHMOND, Va. -- Amid boos from spectators, NFL star Michael Vick arrived at a federal courthouse Thursday to answer accusations that he was involved in a brutal dogfighting operation.

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was to appear at a bond hearing and enter a plea on dogfighting conspiracy charges. He said nothing as he walked into the courthouse.

Vick is accused with three others of conspiracy involving competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across state lines.

Federal prosecutors allege the operation -- known as Bad Newz Kennels -- operated on Vick's property in Surry County.

Charged along with Vick are Purnell A. Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach; Quanis L. Phillips, 28, of Atlanta; and Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton. They all face up to six years in prison, $350,000 in fines and restitution if convicted of both charges.

The grisly allegations detailed in an 18-page indictment sparked protests by animal rights groups at the headquarters of the NFL and the Falcons, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has barred Vick from training camp while the league investigates.


Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the team wanted to suspend Vick for four games, the maximum penalty a team can assess a player, but the NFL asked him to wait. Instead, Blank has told his embattled player to focus on his legal problems, not football.

The Falcons opened their first camp under coach Bobby Petrino on Thursday.


• Munson: What will Vick face in Richmond courthouse?



The case began April 25 when investigators conducting a drug search at the home found 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment typically used in dogfighting. Items such as a "rape stand" that holds aggressive dogs in place for mating and a "breakstick" used to pry open a dog's mouth in a fight were seized.

Vick contended he knew nothing about a dogfighting operation at the home, where one of his cousins lived, and said he rarely visited. He has since declined comment, citing his attorney's advice.

Attorney Lawrence Woodward of Virginia Beach, who has also represented Allen Iverson and Vick's younger brother, Marcus, has not returned several phone messages.

Animal rights organizations have seized on the case as an opportunity to raise awareness of the largely underground and always gruesome world of dogfighting, where two dogs are trained to fight to the death -- sometimes for hours -- until the end.


Vick Coverage

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews will have coverage Thursday of Michael Vick's court appearance in Richmond, Va., plus news from the Atlanta Falcons' training camp:

• First Take (ESPN2, 10 a.m.-Noon ET)
• SportsCenter Special (ESPN, 1-3 p.m. ET)
• Outside The Lines (ESPN, 3-3:30 p.m. ET)
• SportsCenter Special (ESPN2, 3-4 p.m. ET)
• NFL Live (ESPN, 4-5 p.m. ET)
• SportsCenter (ESPN, 6-7:30 p.m. ET)
• Vick Special (ESPNews, 7:30-9 p.m. ET)



Five hours before Vick's scheduled arraignment, animal rights activists, supporters of the athlete and the media gathered early Thursday outside the federal courthouse. About 40 people began queuing for a seat in the courtroom or an overflow courtroom.


Some members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals dressed in dog costumes and carried signs, including one with the image of a battered pit bull and the words "Dogfighting Victim."

A trio of supporters from Boston wearing Vick's No. 7 jersey and Falcons hats made the nine-hour trip south to support Vick.


"It was time someone should step up and support him," said Nick Fontecchio, one of the three.


Downtown workers honked at the gathering crowd as they drove to their offices.


Streets near the courthouse were closed Wednesday night, and dozens of television trucks were already in place near the building. Court security was apparent as the crowd swelled early Thursday.


According to the indictment filed July 17, dogs not killed in the fighting pit were often shot, hanged, drowned or, in one case, slammed to the ground. The document alleges that Vick was consulted before one losing dog was wet down and electrocuted.


It alleges that the dogfighting operation began in 2001, not long after Vick parlayed a dazzling two-year run as the quarterback at Virginia Tech into being the first overall selection in the NFL draft. His first contract was for $62 million.


In 2004, he signed a 10-year, $130 million deal, then the richest in league history.


The indictment alleges the fights offered purses as high as $26,000, and that Vick once paid $23,000 to the owner of two pit bulls that had beaten Bad Newz Kennels dogs.


That owner is one of four cooperating witnesses cited in the document.

__________________
For those who love the NHL...www.hockeyfanzone.com
I am "The Legend Killer "

Blaze_1UP

Heard the federal judge taking his case is a real prick and gives the maximum punishment, conVick is gonna do some time for a long time.

good luck with Joey dirty birds

__________________

Your gonna take a pound'n if you ride bulls for a liv'n, thats juss the way it is.

The Legend Killer

A judge who hands out the maximum sentance allowed by the law is not a prick...he's a deliverer of justice.

Only one person is to blame for this..and that is Vick.

If he goes to jail, or better yet, never represents the NFL again, it will be fine by me.

Those who make excuses for him are almost as sorry as he is.

__________________
For those who love the NHL...www.hockeyfanzone.com
I am "The Legend Killer "

Blaze_1UP

Some judges abuse their power

__________________

Your gonna take a pound'n if you ride bulls for a liv'n, thats juss the way it is.

Saints Fan

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with everything that the sportswriter said. He is nothing but a thug.

BigdaddyQH

Vick is finished for this season for sure. He is also finished as a Falcon. If you really want justice, take Vick and his idiot brother and throw them to those same hungry, suffering dogs. Atleast that eliminates their genes from the general pool.

__________________
Winning is the Only Accpetable Result

Transplanted Caper

The woman of America thank you. Too bad it was too late for a few of them who are now living with Vick's...umm...gift.

__________________
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar. - Edward R. Murrow