Vick headed to the slammer

Logan Miller
Staff writer

Last week Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in a prision, more than any of affiliates. This sentence was 12 to 18 months more than prosecuter predicted, as part of his plea deal with the court system.

Vick had changed his story from not knowing anything about the dog fighting to pleading guilty to the charges of spronsoring these events.  The judge said Vick played an active role in the killing of pit bullls at his house in southern Virginia. Although Vick was seriously apologetic, it was not enough the convince the jugdes and procecutors that he did not deserve punishment.  Vick has a  chance of being released as early as the summer of 2009,  on the federal guidlines of good behavior. Vick also has a chance of serving additional jail time, on the charges of dogfighting at the state level.

Vick has been indefinetly suspneded from the NFL, his 10 year, $130 million contract has been postponed, and his endorsements are lost. The NFL is seeking $20 million in bonuses from Vick.

As for the Vick family, they are having to deal with with the law yet another time. According to the New York Times, although Vick denied allegations of being directly involved in dogfighting he said  “I hope I can move forward in my life and make better decisions.” Vick knew what he was gettting himself into by supporting dogfighting, and clearly deserved the punishment he recieved. 23 months was a bare minimum for the disturbance he has created. The Falcons franchise is practically wrecked, Vick’s jersey has been taken of the shelves, and the team’s coach has given up and left the Falcons.

Michael Craig
Videographer

Michael Vick is a disgrace to the NFL. Vick pleaded guilty to participating in an animal-fighting incident that took place on his property in Smithfield, Virginia.  The dogs would fight to the death and sometimes the losing dog in the fight would be put to death by drowning, hanging, gunshot, electrocution, or some other method.
I have to admit that I enjoyed seeing Michael Vick play in the NFL. He is a great football player.  However, it’s hard to say the same about his character.  I think that Vick deserves his time in prison if not more.  The maximum amount of jail time for dog fighting is 5 years.  Vick is serving less than half of that sentence.  Not only did Vick take part in the dog fighting and executions of the dogs, he was also responsible for the majority of the funding.  He lied to his team, his fans and even the NFL commissioner.

From the start Vick was headed for trouble with his substance abuse problems and his incident where he flicked off fans at an Atlanta Falcons game.
I think that Michael Vick should not be allowed back into the NFL.  He’s had his chance and he blew it.  Even though Vick made the NFL millions of dollars every season, he lied to the commissioner and if he’s let back into the league he will only add to the amount of criminals who are playing already.

It’s just terrible to think about.  He would train dogs to fight one another for fun and wager money on it.  Vick knew that what he was doing was wrong and now he’s going to have to face the consequences.  His reputation is destroyed and people will remember him for the rest of his life as the speedy quarterback who killed dogs.