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Humane Education Leads to Progress
For Informed Dog Owners

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Monday, February 2, 2009

Michael Vick to release to halfway house

As this Boston Herald article states, Michael Vick could be released from prison in Kansas and sent to a halfway house in Virginia "any day".
From the article:
"A return to Virginia to serve the last six months of his term would allow Vick to begin rebuilding his damaged career from his hometown rather than from behind bars in the Midwest. Time in a halfway house might also increase the likelihood that Vick could return to the NFL in time for next season.
That depends, of course, on league commissioner Roger Goodell lifting the quarterback’s suspension, and another team taking a chance on hiring him. His old team, the Atlanta Falcons, has already said they don’t want him back. Goodell said he won’t consider lifting Vick’s suspension until the sentence is complete in July."

Obviously, this is going to be a huge story in the coming months and especially heading into this fall's NFL season. It's going to be interesting to see what Roger Goodell decides to do. The NFL has quite the track record of allowing players to resume their careers after run-ins with the law and even time in prison. I don't recall anyone resuming their career after a dog fighting charge but many players have come back from various violence charges, lots of drug charges, etc. So it's going to be difficult for Goodell to say Vick cannot return, assuming he meets his legal obligations. In NO WAY am I advocating his return, just saying it's going to be hard for the NFL to prevent Vick's return, based on precedent with other players. Then comes the issue of whether an NFL team is willing to bear the incredibly bad PR that would result from signing Vick. Of course, PETA and other animal rights groups will be there to picket. Not too mention, we're not exactly talking about a sure-fire NFL player here when he's been out of football for 2 years and was a mixed bag of success even when in the league. If my favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, signed Vick, I would no longer be a Browns fan. The only way I would change my mind on that is if Vick were to completely admit his mistakes again, apologize to the dogs (which he's never done) and most importantly, become a true advocate for the humane treatment and care of all dogs and a huge opponent of dog fighting. Perhaps he would do all of that, but I doubt it.

So, what do you think, should Michael Vick be allowed to return to the NFL and, if so, under what conditions?

1 comment:

Debs said...

I am a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and if they were to sign him, I would no longer be a fan. I'm hoping that since no other player has been suspended for dog fighting that will be the reason he is kept out of the NFL.

If he is allowed back, 1/2 of his pay should go to rescue groups and shelters (not PETA or the HSUS) smaller ones that can really use the money.

If I had my way he would rot in prison the rest of his life. he should not be allowed to walk the streets ever again.

These are the dogs of HELP FIDO...our dogs...this is why we are here...