The Morning After on TSE - 7.18.2007

Ah computers. We often times forget how meaningful they are until the evil overlords at work kick me off of them to do manual labor. Tragic. But now for something special, nigh unheard of around these parts: I'm going to flip-flop on something. It doesn't happen much so savor the flavor.



Awhile back, I posted about the beginning of this whole Michael Vick Dogfighting saga. The goal of this post was to bring to light all of the worse things going on in the NFL and the world, and how Colin Cowherd was spending 25 minutes calling people idiots and saying that Michael Vick was the anti-Christ. I thought the whole thing was stupid and I ignored it, for the most part. Man, was I wrong.

Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday and the writing on the wall isn't too pretty. The 18-page indictment is filled with alleged crimes and infractions but it gets really bad when the indictment reveals some, well, details:

"...not a single line in the 18-page indictment will generate more rage toward
Vick and the others charged -- Purnell A. Peace, Quanis L. Phillips and Tony
Taylor -- than a sentence near the end. It reads: 'In or about April of 2007,
Peace, Phillips and Vick executed approximately eight dogs that did not perform
well in 'testing' sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by various methods, including
hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground.'"

I've also heard that one dog had the unfortunate fate of being covered in water and electrocuted. I have an iron stomach and I thought "The Hills Have Eyes" wasn't gory enough, but this whole situation sickens me.

Roger Cossack on SportsCenter today mentioned that for this thing to go through, it's going to take upwards of a year before guilt or innocence is pronounced on the Falcons QB but even so, we are forced to guess as to what Der Kommissar Roger Goodell is going to do to Vick under the new disciplinary policies he's enacted on the league. Normally, the stiffest penalties in Goodell's system go to repeat offenders, of which Vick is not a part, so he could actually walk away from this with little or no penalty from the league. But considering Goodell's track record I wouldn't bet the farm on that.

Vick is going to go down hard, both by the NFL's hand and by the US Government's. Everyone he did business with in 2001-2002, the majority of dates indicated in the indictment, has turned state's evidence against Vick, probably in exchange for immunity. My guess is one of Vick's "associates" will do the same, unless Vick beats him to the punch. All told, this thing is going to get a lot uglier before we know if Michael Vick will ever suit up in the NFL again.

Although, in a strange coincidence that may prove beneficial to Atlanta, Daunte Culpepper just became available...

And I'm not above joking around about this. KSK has a very funny take on this situation.