Michael Vick Sacked By Nike, Reebok

Amid Dog-Fighting Scandal, Nike Suspends Quarterback's Contract, Reebok Halts Sale Of His Jersey

(AP)  Nike suspended its lucrative contract with Michael Vick on Friday, while Reebok took the unprecedented step of stopping sales of his No. 7 jersey.

Facing protests from animal-rights groups, Nike announced it was suspending Vick's endorsement deal without pay, as well as halting sales of Vick-related shoes and other products at its retail stores.

Reebok, the official uniform supplier of the NFL, said it would stop selling Vick's replica jersey at retail stores and through its Web site.

The moves came one day after the Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded not guilty to federal dog-fighting charges in Richmond, Va.

"Nike is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick, and we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent," Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer said in a statement.

Since Vick has not been convicted of any crime, Nike left open the door to resume its business relationship with the star player if he's acquitted.

"We do believe that Michael Vick should be afforded the same due process as any citizen in the United States," according to the statement. "Therefore, we have not terminated our relationship."

Vick is barred from the Falcons' training camp while the league investigates his actions for possible violations of its new personal conduct policy.

Although Reebok does not have a business relationship with Vick, the Massachusetts-based company serves as the official supplier of apparel and equipment to all 32 NFL teams. Through that deal, it holds the coveted rights to sell jerseys at the retail level.

"We just find the allegations very upsetting and very disturbing," Reebok spokeswoman Denise Kaigler said. "While this is just the beginning of the legal process and we know that it has to have time to run its course, we felt that making this decision now was important and the right things to do."

Reebok said it also was willing to take back any unsold Vick jerseys that are returned by retail outlets.

Kaigler said she already had received numerous e-mails in support of the decision. Even though numerous NFL players have run afoul of the law, this is the first time Reebok has stopped sales of an individual jersey.

"The number of e-mails and statements we're getting from consumers was pretty telling about how disturbing people find these allegations to be," Kaigler said.

[thgdriver]

I understand the indictment states that the dog fighting on Vick's property goes back to 2001.

There is no way after 6 long years he did not know what was going on. PERIOD!!!

Oh, and by the way, people of color see color far more often then white folks do.

Case in point? Look how fast the NAACP came out "sticking up for him".

[carlylaine]

CRYONBRIAN

"They used the excuse that White women were being rapped!"

RAPPED! NO OMG! NOT RAPPED!!!!! Ya Gotta learn to spell correctly before you can even be taken seriously.

[ikewarren]

I'm sorry that people have to make this a racial issue. It is a crime issue. Someone who commits a crime and is caught should be punished. David Berkowitz was a white Jew who committed the "Son of Sam" killings in New York, and he doesn't get a pass because of World War II and the Holocaust. The old, white guys living in trailers in Florida who kill little girls don't get a pass because they are poor and living in trailers and addicted to drugs. Lindsay Lohan looks to me to be a flat-out addict, but she can't drive the streets drunk and endanger other people. If Michael Vick didn't do what he's alleged to have done, he has nothing to worry about except paying an attorney whom he can very well afford (and then paying him to countersue for damages if the charges are untrue and have derailed his career). If he's guilty, then he's screwed up his own life. Let's not make this racial. Let's make this guilty or not, and if you're guilty you go to jail.

[sclaires]

I am glad that Nike and Reebok shut down on Vick. There is enough cruelty to animals as it is and dog fighting is illegal in all states if I am not mistaken.

We have a BIG problem with dog fighting here in South Carolina. You are constantly hearing on the news and seeing in the paper about people being arrested for dog fighting. And since the dogs can't be rehabilitated, they have to be put down but it is done humanly instead of the way Vick is said to have done with his dogs.

I happen to have one dog, one fat cat, and one kitten. The way I discipline the kitten is with a spray bottle of water. He knows that he is going to get a bath if he is doing something he shouldn't be doing. The dog and fat cat are the same way. You can train and discipline an animal without being cruel. Of course the one thing I can't get across the kitten's head is that he does not climb my leg by way of the skin. Of course by the time he has started, it is too late to grab the spray bottle.

[linfinster]

Black, white -NOT the issue here. What he has been accused of is horrible. FOCUS PEOPLE! Geesh!

[juli28428]

Thanks Nike and Reebok! Finally, you're sending a message to the children of the world that animal cruelty is not okay.

[rushlimpdrug]

"You kill a chicken in America and you will have these nut cases protesting establishments and burning down test facilities! FACT!"
- Posted by cryonbrian

Ok, now I'm pizzed.
Who the helll is killing chickens in America?
It better not be those dammm illegals.

[iceman_1960]

Once again I have plunged down the slippery slope into name calling and personal abuse.

I apologize, and will now award myself a 24 hour "time out" in the penalty box, away from these Comments Sections.

[iceman_1960]

"They always go find some of the wall website that promotes bigotry and believe those silly stories!"
- Posted by cryonbrian at 10:20 AM : Jul 28, 2007

Now who's caught in a lie ?

"The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises and edited by Richard Oppel, who led his previous newspaper, the Charlotte Observer to multiple Pulitzers. The Statesman places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region.

The Statesman is sometimes referred to as liberal. On balance, its editorials show it to be an amalgam of liberal philosophy combined with strong pro-business sentiment. In this, it reflects the Texas heritage of focusing on business and Austin's history of being youthful and liberal."

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_American-Statesman

[iceman_1960]

"They always go find some of the wall website that promotes bigotry and believe those silly stories!"

The website I cited was the Austin American Statesman, a well respected newspaper in Austin, Texas. It was not some racist website at all.

And nobody "caught me in a lie." I said the MAJORITY of lynch mobs in PRESENT DAY America are Black. The incident I cited occurred last month, not "40, 50 or 60 years ago" as in his "lynching cold cases" - That's why they're called "cold cases," dummy.

Some fools want to live in the past to justify every crime that criminals in their groups committed last month.

[cryonbrian]

Iceman_1960

Caught you in a lie! Here is the link that the FBI and Justice Department is opening cold cases of lynchings. It was printed in yesterdays news by CNN. I have noticed that White folks will never fess up to any wrong doing. They always go find some of the wall website that promotes bigotry and believe those silly stories!


http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/26/moores.ford/index.html

[iceman_1960]

How quickly this pathetic race baiter changes his tune...

"In America a man can rape and murder women at will and no one ever comes out holding signs calling for his death."
- Posted by cryonbrian at 08:13 AM : Jul 28, 2007

"White folks can not leave OJ alone! OJ used the white mans system to beat him at his own game, period. What does one loser Black man like OJ have to do with the cost of gasoline? Every time there is a discussion about race OJ's name comes up. White folk, OJ was found not guilty by a system that you created so what gives!"
- Posted by cryonbrian at 09:50 AM : Jul 28, 2007

We have nothing more to discuss, Sharpton.

[cryonbrian]

You talk about rampages?

Read your American History books but you will need to really search! White folks burned down every prominent Black community after the reconstruction period and during the period of 19th century. They used the excuse that White women were being rapped! That stupid movie Gangs of New York did not show the true story! White folks have enjoyed burning down Black folks communities and magically those stories never made it into mainstream history books? So if you think Black folks can riot, trust me they learned it from White Folks! FACT!

[iceman_1960]

And another thing, cryonbrian.

In the world today, Black folks have "taken up the White Man's Burden" by becoming the great majority of the lynchers.

Not just in Haiti, but in America.

Almost all the underreported lynchings in America are done by Blacks.

"June 21, 2007

David Rivas Morales, a 41-year-old house painter, had hitched a ride home with a co-worker Tuesday night when, investigators say, the driver of the car accidentally struck a 2-year-old boy near an apartment complex parking lot.

The driver got out of the Ford Taurus, which police say was surrounded by as many as 20 [Black] men, and was attacked by several of them, according to investigators.

Morales got out to try to shield the driver. He was instead beaten to death.

Austin police investigators said Wednesday that according to the handful of people they have interviewed, no one immediately around the car did anything to stop the attack.

By the time an anonymous caller dialed 911 and the first officers arrived at the Booker T. Washington housing development shortly after 9:30 p.m., the crowd had dispersed, Austin police Cmdr. Harold Piatt said."

Source:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/21/21murder.html

[iceman_1960]

"White folks can not leave OJ alone! OJ used the white mans system to beat him at his own game, period."
- Posted by cryonbrian at 09:50 AM : Jul 28, 2007

He also stabbed two people to death. Those who say otherwise are liars and perverts.

Those white cops who beat up Rodney King were also acquitted, originally. But black folks could not leave it alone ! They went on an ugly rampage and murdered hundreds of innocent people.

So the cowardly Justice system retried and convicted the cops, in a blatant example of double jeopardy.

[cryonbrian]

White folks can not leave OJ alone! OJ used the white mans system to beat him at his own game, period. What does one loser Black man like OJ have to do with the cost of gasoline? Every time there is a discussion about race OJ's name comes up. White folk, OJ was found not guilty by a system that you created so what gives!

And as for cheering when some one is killed. Did you know that America used to print post cards of Black folks being lynched? Go to some of the archives in American History and you will see these sick images! You will see Black folks swinging from trees with Whites folks with their children laughing as they die!

[iceman_1960]

"I am not sure how this is a racial issue? Black folks love animals just as much as any other group of people."
- Posted by cryonbrian at 09:43 AM : Jul 28, 2007

I couldn't agree more.

I was responding to a poster who was trying to make it one.

[cryonbrian]

I am not sure how this is a racial issue? Black folks love animals just as much as any other group of people. At the hearing for Vick Black folks were just asking that you let the legal system do its job and White folks were asking for Vick to be executed. At no time did you see any Black person holding a sign condoning what Vick did. Regardless of how Black folks were treated in the past they for the most part believe in the judicial system, White folks on the other hand want to kill the guy before he even enters a plea?

Iceman_1960,

Whatever, no one is condoning what Vick might have done! But as Americans you should let the legal system do its job. Who in the ham sandwich cares if some celebrities do not eat meat? Those are the same losers that go around making movies that glorify killing someone?

[iceman_1960]

"Like it or not this is a racial issue. Black people are quickly learning a valuable lesson. Dont mess with animals. White people LOVE animals more than people."
- Posted by opedanderson at 09:31 AM : Jul 28, 2007

There was general outrage in the "white community" when James Byrd Jr. was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck.

There were no parties, celebrations and rallies by whites on behalf of his killers.

Unlike the "Free My Man OJ" parties and rallies that blacks had, all over the place.

[iceman_1960]

"While under the law Vick is presumed innocent, I think the dead dogs and other incriminating evidence against him is pretty sufficient to charge him with the crimes."
- Posted by fuziwuzi at 08:28 AM : Jul 28, 2007

You know what Humphrey Bogart said in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

"Dead dogs wag no tails."