Michael Vick Pleads Guilty, Vick Apologizes (What Took So Long?), Re-couping His Signing Bonus?, And What’s Next?
Quick-hitters:
- So I am here in MPK still, helping my dad out with a banquet-style lunch/prayer deal. Think tons of Chinese food, burning incense, candles, and some Hennessey.
(We do something like this four or five times a year, and every time we do this, I get tons of food to take home. W00t!)
- So my sisters’ Guitar Hero addictions are far past the point of “addiction.” It’s gotten to the point where I need to buy a second guitar just so I can play! I’m probably going to pick up this wireless guitar, even though the reviews on Amazon.com aren’t that great. Oh well; if the guitar’s crap, I’ll use the wired one and force whoever is playing along to use the crap guitar.
- Speaking of my PS2…I love being “handy.”
(Handy, of course, describes someone that is good at “fixing” things that weren’t broken in the first place.)
My PS2’s first controller port had a little problem where the controller would not stay secured on the connector; this wasn’t a huge problem when using the analog controller, but it became an issue with Guitar Hero. Play too, um, enthusiastically, and the controller would wiggle out of the connector just enough that it would interrupt the game. I noticed that the problem did not occur with the second controller port, so I grabbed a flashlight to determine the problem.
I discovered that that the PS2 controller ports have a tiny metal “hook” in them; as you push the controller into the controller port, the hook clicks into place on a recess on the controller’s connector, thus securing the controller. I noticed that the metal hook was bent down on the first port. A paper clip and some gentle pressure later, and I was able to pry the hook up and out of the way of the controller port. I attached a controller, heard the click, and patted myself on the back.
(Hey, I gotta give myself some credit every now and then.)
- Michael Vick plead guilty this morning to a federal dogfighting charge, admitting that he was involved in brutally murdering dogs and “supplying money for gambling on the fights,” though he denied actual gambling and profiting from the winnings. Question: why would you bankroll a gambling ring if you did not intend on profiting from it? And what, exactly, is meant by “supplying money”? Did Vick provide the money for the payouts, or did he offer betting credits to bettors to make these bets? In any case, aren’t we splitting hairs here? He was involved, no matter the role, in an illegal gambling ring; never mind the fact that he was also involved in such a disgusting act as dogfighting (which is also a felony, by the way).
Vick finally apologized for his involvement in the illegal dogfighting ring, finally offering an apology to Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank, as well as his Falcons teammates:
“First, I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that — that I’ve done and that I have allowed to happen. I want to personally apologize to commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, my Atlanta Falcons teammates, you know, for our — for our previous discussions that we had. And I was not honest and forthright in our discussions, and, you know, I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself to say the least,” Vick said.
I gotta ask: what took so long? Why wait until after the guilty plea to offer his apology? It was pretty clear that Vick was going down the road of a plea bargain weeks ago. Why not attempt to stop the bleeding as soon as possible, as I suggested last week? At least the apology seemed heartfelt; that’ll happen when you’re facing one to five years in prison, at least that much time out of the league (if not the end of his NFL career), AND the possible loss of some to all of the $22 million in signing bonuses he received, much less the $100 million or so left on his contract.
Speaking of his signing bonus money, the only reason why Michael Vick is still an Atlanta Falcon is because he must stay on the Falcons’ roster for owner Arthur Blank to attempt to recover some of the bonus money:
In Atlanta, the Falcons said they would not cut Vick immediately because of salary-cap issues. The team intends to pursue the $22 million in bonus money that he already received in a $130 million contract signed in 2004.
“We cannot tell you today that Michael is cut from the team,” owner Arthur Blank said.
“Cutting him may feel better emotionally for us and many of our fans but it’s not in the long-term best interest of our franchise.”
On ESPN’s First Take (their morning sports talk show), Skip Bayless and a pair of ex-football players debated over whether or not Atlanta should get back the $22 million in bonus funds. Skip argued that Atlanta should be entitled to the money, based on the fact that Vick will not be able to serve the duration of his contract. One of the two ex-players argued that they did not, and I could have sworn that their argument revolved around the fact that Vick could not serve the duration of his contract. If that’s true, what kind of argument is that? Whose damn fault is it that Vick can’t serve the rest of his contract?
In any event, yes, Vick should be forced back to pay, at the very least, a pro-rated fraction of his bonus money. In fact, I wouldn’t have a problem if Atlanta was awarded the entire bonus.
Vick will be sentenced on December 10, and we should know how long the NFL will officially suspend him soon after that. Now, I’m aware that even being associated with illegal gambling, under the NFL’s player conduct policy, could result in a lifetime ban from the NFL. I don’t think this will happen, and I still believe a team would be willing to sign him once he’s eligible to come back into the league, but now I’m not as certain as I once was.
By the way, this is a very interesting article written by Jemele Hill of ESPN. Why is a dogfighting-loving, illegal gambling ring-organizer taking so much flack, but a DUI/murderer and a person involved in a double-murder take take so little flak? Obviously one reason for this is the status of the players involved; Ray Lewis may be a huge star in Baltimore, but he is definitely no Michael Vick in terms of popularity. Is he taking all this flak because we’re a nation of dog lovers? Is it because he’s such a big star? Is it because we condemn illegal gambling? Or is it something else?
We’ll see what happens. Until next time.