NFL Suspends Michael Vick Indefinitely

Nike Severs Ties With Star QB After He Says He Will Plead Guilty To Conspiracy In Dogfighting Operation

(CBS/AP)  The case began in April when authorities conducting a drug investigation of Vick's cousin raided a Surry County property owned by Vick and found dozens of dogs, some injured, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting.

A federal indictment issued in July charged Vick, Peace, Phillips and Taylor with an interstate dogfighting conspiracy. Vick initially denied any involvement, and all four men pleaded innocent.

Taylor was the first to change his plea to guilty, saying Vick financed the dogfighting ring's gambling and operations. Peace and Phillips soon followed, alleging that Vick joined them in killing dogs that did not measure up in test fights.

The sickening details outlined in the indictment and other court papers prompted a public backlash against Vick, who had been one of the NFL's most popular players.

Vick was barred from the Falcons' training camp, but neither the NFL nor the team had taken further action.

Meanwhile, Vick's father said he asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In The Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback's mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va.

Boddie told the newspaper Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including dogs that were "bit up, chewed up, exhausted." Boddie claimed to have nursed the dogs back to health.

The indictment against Vick does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News.

In the report, Boddie dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation.

"I wish people would stop sugarcoating it," Boddie told The Journal-Constitution. "This is Mike's thing. And he knows it ... likes it, and he has the capital to have a set up like that."

More than 50 pit bulls seized from Vick's property faced a Thursday deadline to be claimed or be euthanized.

Federal prosecutors filed court documents last month to condemn 53 pit bulls seized in April as part of the investigation into dogfighting on the Vick's property. No one has claimed any of the dogs, which are being held at several unspecified shelters in eastern Virginia, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

The report said Boddie and the quarterback have had a volatile relationship for years and that his son has refused to speak with him directly for the last 2½ months.

Boddie, 45, lives in an apartment his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father told the newspaper.

In the report, Boddie also said he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, Vick declined, the father said. Recently, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on.

[catbegone]

You know everyone has an opinion about everything. Who cares where it came from. I''m white and I''ll except the hatred that is flying out of each others mouths. Vick Like anyone else that committed a crime, did just that committed a crime. He has said he needs us to forgive him, so just do that. Those animals are now dead and probably the other 53 of 55 dogs will be put to death and no matter how sad that is, it''s done. He will do his time and he will have alot of time to think. Give me a break people, Do you not have any skeleton''s in your closet. Yeah it might not be killing anything, but if anyone found out how dirty your closet is you probably would wish you were dead.

[kailumego1]

TimanTane, "bigot" interesting comment coming from you, I watched Bryant Gumbel''s HBO special on the origins of "Dog Fighting" which he proved "evidence" video documentation, and also a interview which clearly shows were this sport originated in the white rural South, I also researched on line, so if you have any data proving otherwise please feel free to disclose.

As far as South and North America, whom are you referring to Native Americans, because they were the only indigenous people before Europeans.

So, what are you saying Native Americans started this brutal sport, or are you speaking of the Mexicans, but before you go there remember the Spaniards conquered Central and South America, which they polluted and contaminated their population.

So, please discourse with facts dating pre-European invasion that clearly demonstrates that dog fighting was a part of Native American culture..

[skieffer43]

I hope that Michael Vick suffers as badly as the dogs that he killed. I think he is a monster! I will boycott anything he is involved in & hope others do the same. What on earth did he think he was doing? Anyone that can do something so bad - is capable of many more evil things.

[grammawhamma]

Looks like Vick is in deep dog do do and I hope he is barefoot and has no access to water to wash off the shiit he got himself buried in.

[timantane]

So, as some of you white folks sit in pontification and condemnation over Vick''''s reprehensible behavior, stop and look long and hard in the mirror at yourselves.
Posted by kailumego1 at 04:55 PM : Aug 26, 2007

So what are you saying? Only white folks are condemning this behavior? (Oh, I know firsthand that''s not a fact) And are responsible for "Bush sent Condolezza Rice to the Equatorial New Guinea to met with president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to extend a hand in friendship." B S!!

You think that if Peyton Manning had done this the outcry from dog lovers would have been less because he was white? B S again.

And by the way, when you spout off that %u201CDOG FIGHTING%u201D is a creation of white Southern male%u2019s sadistic perversion not %u201CBLACKS%u201D. Maybe you should "thoroughly investigate" a little better. Didn''t take much investigation to discover that "dog fighting" was created a long before whites occupied the South or even North America.

I find your bigotry enlightening though.

Interesting how it is "white Southern male%u2019s sadistic perversion" but the same so-called sport is taken up by "struggling misguided troubled black youth with nothing else positive to occupy their minds".

I guess football and $110 million wasn''t enough to occupy Mr. Vick''s mind.

OBTW, I''m not a white Southern male. I just don''t like bigot''s, white, black, brown, or yellow. But at least you''re a smart bigot, not an i d i o t like seven_pesos.

[kailumego1]

Watch the "Lord of War", with Nicholas Cage, to see the dirty business of "arms dealing", and how evil personification embodies white Americans and African rebel leaders, in the struggle for dominance and control.

The U.S. government hires underground arms dealers to supply weapons to dictators, in third-world countries knowing full well these barbarians are responsible for the genocide of hundreds-of-thousands of people.

Bush sent Condolezza Rice to the Equatorial New Guinea to met with president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to extend a hand in friendship.

Now I know many of you probably have little or no knowledge of where the Equatorial New Guinea is located let along the president''s name.

As I''m quite sure many of you probably could care less, but I''ll indulge you anyway.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is a ruthless dictator known for his savage brutality on all those who resist or oppose his authority.

He has been known to "chop" off the hands and feet of those in opposition along with barbaric forms of torture, and still this country, our leader, supports his presidency.

So, as some of you white folks sit in pontification and condemnation over Vick''s reprehensible behavior, stop and look long and hard in the mirror at yourselves.

[kailumego1]

Watch the "Lord of War", with Nicholas Cage, to see the dirty business of "arms dealing", and how evil personification embodies white Americans and African rebel leaders, in the struggle for dominance and control.

The U.S. government hires underground arms dealers to supply weapons to dictators, in third-world countries knowing full well these barbarians are responsible for the genocide of hundreds-of-thousands of people.

Bush sent Condolezza Rice to the Equatorial New Guinea to met with president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to extend a hand in friendship.

Now I know many of you probably have little or no knowledge of where the Equatorial New Guinea is located let along the president''s name.

As I''m quite sure many of you probably could care less, but I''ll indulge you anyway.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is a ruthless dictator known for his savage brutality on all those who resist or oppose his authority.

He has been known to "chop" off the hands and feet of those in opposition along with barbaric forms of torture, and still this country, our leader, supports his presidency.

So, as some of you white folks sit in pontification and condemnation over Vick''s reprehensible behavior, stop and look long and hard in the mirror at yourselves.

[kailumego1]

Trueprogress, I agree with your analysis that societal norms, environmental influences, and psychological maturity play a pivotal role in shaping and molding individual thought and behavior within a societal context.

[kailumego1]

Certainly from reading the statement issued by Vick%u2019s father you can see where his dysfunctional, apathetic, and self-aggrandized behavior originated.

Notwithstanding, Vick%u2019s obvious dysfunctional environmental influences you must also consider the learned societal inappropriateness from the white population idiosyncratic behaviorisms, here lies the %u201Cdouble-standard%u201D.

Nowhere in the hundreds of post condemning Vick has it mentioned where this %u201Cdog fighting%u201D venture originated, as a matter of fact, there has been a lot of posters linking this aberrant behavior to the %u201Cghettos%u201D, blacks a whole, %u201C thugs%u201D, etc.

This %u201Ccreation%u201D didn%u2019t birth itself in the black cultural, but in white Southern rural cultural, which it had firmly rooted itself until struggling misguided troubled black youth with nothing else positive to occupy their minds decided to contaminate their communities with this anti-social perversion.

%u201CDOG FIGHTING%u201D is a creation of white Southern male%u2019s sadistic perversion not %u201CBLACKS%u201D, and if those posting had thoroughly investigated there is a wealth of information pre-dating this fact.

Forgot to mention in my last part, there are anomalies, meaning individuals who defy the odds.

[kailumego1]

Bryant Gumbel is doing a documentary on HBO where %u201Cdog fighting%u201D originated and within whose [black/white] community.

Whenever a story about black males/females committing some horrible despicable crime surfaces in the media this becomes %u201Copen season%u201D for every maladaptive, pathologically perverse, misanthropic white person to wage a verbal attack, these are the majority of posters.

There are a lot of outraged whites/blacks posting here because they are animal lovers, as I, and find it disgusting, deplorable, and unforgivable for anyone to inhumanely treat a defenseless animal, however, then there are those white slime lurking around corners up under every rock, boulder, etc. for the opportunity to vomit their sadistic perversions, and likewise, there are those black co-dependent enablers, NAACP, etc. luring about corners ready to rationalize black degeneracy and self-loathingness as a white man%u2019s disease due to %u201Cracism%u201D.

While I agree with you Trueprogress that a majority culture has negatively influenced and impacted the behavior of minorities in this country, it doesn%u2019t explain why some blacks have not allowed themselves to be %u201Csuckered in%u201D or sucked into this vacuum of self-destructiveness, self-loathingness, and self-degradation.

[kailumego1]

And certainly, as individuals are products or heavily influenced by their immediate environment, there are a lot of black folks that come from severely dysfunctional homes, of which they are determined not to continue the cycle of self-destructive behavior.

These are the individuals like: Oprah Winfrey, etc. the doctors, lawyers, educators, biologist, and etc., who decide I%u2019m not going to allow my negative environment to dictate my life.

Considering you%u2019re a professor, I%u2019m quite sure in your studies somewhere you had taken some courses in psychology, of which you are aware of the nature vs. nurture argument, and that each individual has his/her own unique personality design that often supersedes environmental influences. I%u2019m referencing twin studies where one parent was diagnosed anti-social malignant narcissist personality and had an extensive criminal rap sheet.

One twin was given up for adoption while the other was raised with both parents, including the anti-social malignant narcissist, in which psychologists discovered although one twin had been raised in a totally different environment biological and genetic pre-disposition made him prone to identical behavior as his other sibling.

So, the possibility is that no matter what environment Vick had been raised in if the genetic lineage of one or both parents is inundated with anti-social and malignant narcissistic criminality then chances are he too will adhere to this type of behavior.

[ralan40]

Trueprogress, I have read your countless pseudo intellectualism garbage. Your false claims of educational credentials are obvious. Cite links to these so-called articles you have authored, so the public can gain from your ''insight''. If you are all that, your published works, themselves, should better reflect your findings rather than be used to try to validate the b-s you are saying, here.

[keithle1]

A lot of black people seem to feel that if you''re not black then you have no right to criticize or say anything bad about a black person. No matter what the black person has done. He or she could have crucified babies
& barbaqued live baby seals. Doesn''t matter.

YOU AS A WHITE PERSON MUST NOT SAY ANYTHING
ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE UNLESS IT''S SOMETHING GOOD. HOW DARE YOU SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE?! NOT LONG AGO YOU WERE PUTTING FIRE HOSES ON OUR PEOPLE. SHUT UP!!!

[formrusmcsgt]

"Vick, however, insisted he placed no bets of his own nor took any winnings."

Of course not. He was only interested in providing a fine home for these animals....

[swwils]

I hate to see that dude go,I am not a big Falcons fan but the guy has talent,and I did like watching him throw the ball.My kids have a VICK quarter back practice ball and now they won''t play with it because we have a Jack Russell and they look at him and that ball and say screw it!

[susanhelit]

How dumb is that - if your father, an intruder, whoever, forced you to do something - you''re not repsonsible for your actions. If, after that person is gone, and you are an adult, and you keep doing horrible things without being forced, that is 100% YOUR FAULT!

Vick was never enslaved. Nor was his father. Nor was his father''s father. He''s an adult. His actions are his, and his alone. No amount of victimology, excuses, nor anything else changes that. To place anything on slavery is to say you are still a child, as were your parents, and their parents, unwilling to control or be responsible for your own actions, for your own choices.

[lovepitbulls]

I''m proud that the NFL suppended Michael Vick. I own three american pit bulls and would never in my life put them in any kind of danger. I lost all respect of him as a person and a player. What message is he sending people who look up to him. That is ok to fight pit bulls. Any one in my oppinon is trash. Him and anyone else that does this is half the reson why pit bulls have such a bad name. All i know is that he is a wearthless man who should be kicked out of the NFL for good

[mitywhity]

All you atheists should just shut your mouths. I don''t care what religion someone adheres to or simply refers to, you spiritual tumbleweeds start lambasting them because they refer to a standard. This country is built on a standard - the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. MEN WROTE THEM! So why are you not slamming everyone that refers to those documents since a man wrote them? We effectively deify the writers of those works as the "Founding Fathers", yet no slur escapes your filthy lips. I would personally like to meet about four or five of you at the same time some where in the future and pound your a$$es into the ground! Trust me, you''d be proud of the new face I''d leave you to wear. If any of you liberal atheists live in North GA let me know when and where.

[bb19631]

I am glad the NFL indefinitely suspended that idiot. Good for NIKE for doing the same. Otherwise he would be using that money on his defense. He needs to feel what those dogs went thru, I hope he gets what he deserves in prision. Money and fame better not buy his way out of this mess. He is just as guilty as his buddies. He *** well knew what was going on , on his property. Do not play stupid you are not above the law. You are just ignorant,to say the least.

[obeylaw]

Let''s hope the NFL bans him for life! It is to bad someone doesn''t have the authority to ban him from all professional sports.

He is a liar, a cheat and is useless in my book. I hope the state also charges him for everything they can. 40 or 50 years in the penal system would do him good!

These people should be made accountable for all of their actions... they are not gods nor can walk on water nor are untaouchable but they think they are!

This is just another example of how money, greed, drugs, steroids, etc. are ruining our sports and the reputation of this country!