Winners:
1. The Feds - yep, they got their man. And all it took was an all-out effort from the government... millions of dollars spent gathering insufficient evidence to convict, so they had to pull out the RICO act, use media manipulation (in the form of one of the most graphic indictments every released), turn every person in Vick's crew into a snitch, and have the NFL apply pressure in the form of putting Vick's career in jeopardy to get Vick to cop a plea on one count. And that will net him about 12 months in the pen. Good work everyone! Tax dollars well spent. At least you sent a message... that if you are a big name athlete, we will get you. Well, not Barry Bonds, but we did get Michael Vick!
But in reality, they did come out winners. If this had gone to court, even with all the snitches turning on Vick, it would have been hard to win the case. There wasn't enough physical evidence to tie Vick to the scene of any of the dog fights, nor any paper trail really. He would have been hard to convict, which is why the government was pushing the plea deal with its entire weight. 12 months and a guilty plea from Vick is far more favorable than losing in court (OJ Simpson, part deux?).
2. Michael Vick - Yeah, you read that right. He, too, is a winner. Fighting the feds isn't easy. If the feds want to put you behind bars, they usually do. And Vick's innocence isn't really the issue here.
Plus - say what you want about Vick's role in this affair, but the odds are very likely that he was involved somehow. No, that doesn't mean he was actually killing dogs, or even participating in fighting. But a pitbull fighting operation does require financial backing, and Vick likely provided that. My guess: maybe his boys persuaded him that this is a business they wanted to get into, since they were quite familiar with it (having grown up in the rural South); Vick agreed, and fronted the cash. My advice to Vick and other black athletes - next time buy your boys a barbershop or something. There's always going to be a bull's eye on your back... don't make things worse by making the target any bigger.
Given that Vick may have had a role in financing this operation, he gets off with an appropriate sentence, and ends his troubles. He issues a statement today "apologize for all the things that I have done and I have allowed to happen." He gets to "apologize to Commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, Coach Bobby Petrino, and my Atlanta Falcons teammates", for "not (being) honest and forthright in our discussions". He gets to state that "Dogfighting is a terrible thing", and "I reject it".
By the time the sentencing comes along in December (at the tailend of the NFL season, when it is most exciting), he'll be a forgotten story. His sentencing at that time will be a footnote, getting mentioned on ESPN and the football media, but not being discussed much. He'll get a 12 - 18 month sentence, which would probable draw heavy criticism if announced today, but will fly through with little outrage or discussion in December. He'll serve his sentence, and be back in the NFL (if he wants to come back) in 2010. The longer this process had dragged out, the more the media would have dragged his name and image through the mud. Now he can move on to the rehabilitation portion of the process.
Such is the life of the black star gone "bad". Latrell Sprewell was once the whipping boy; eventually he was "rehabilitated". So too will Vick.
Oh, the plea goes a long way towards that, too. He doesn't cop to engaging in any gambling (a huge barrier to re-entry to the NFL) or actually killing any dogs himself.
3. Roger Goodell and the NFL - Everyone's a winner! Seriously, the "indefinite suspension" takes the cake. Straight out of Media Manipulation 101. Okay, so Goodell looks tough on Vick, giving him the "indefinite" suspension - this works because a "permanent ban" would lead people to expect it to be permanent... Goodell has no intention of kicking Vick out of the NFL. He wants him back, especially since his comeback in three years will be also be a boon to league coverage. His comeback will undoubtedly end up on Monday Night Football (or whatever they call it these days). Bet on it.
And a suspension of any stated time length would not satisfy those with a blood lust for punishing Vick. You know who they are - just read the comments on any internet post related to Vick. They want him punished! If Goodell says "Vick is suspended for a year" they'll demand more!. Two years? More!! Thus Goodell gives them an indefinite number, and waits for the blood lust to cool off. By the time 2009 rolls around, the Vick blood lust will be substantially cooled off. Without the gambling issue to cloud a lift of the suspension, Goodell will lift the ban right in time for either the 2009 season, or the 2010 season at the latest.
4. New Media + ESPN - You can get with this, or you can get with that. Sometimes these things remind me of what a Marketing teacher one told me: "What if Coke and Pepsi were both owned by the same company?"
"What?!?" I said, confused by the question.
"What if I told you they were? Would you be surprised?"
"Um, yeah. Aren't they competitors?"
"Are they? Are they really? By the way, when was the last time you had an RC Cola?"
"A what?"
"An RC Cola. Or any other brand of cola not sold by Pepsi-Co or Coke-Cola. Dr. Pepper?"
One upon a time, Royal Crown Cola was very popular in the US. So was Dr. Pepper. And various other forms of pop. RC Cola had the first Diet cola on the market, 30+ years before Coke and Pepsi (called "Diet Rite"). Then the "cola wars" started, and pretty soon it was "Coke vs. Pepsi". So, yeah, I know that Coke and Pepsi aren't owned by the same people; that was not the professor's point. It was to illustrate how effective an oligopoly can make people think they have a choice when they are really limiting their choices.
By the way, RC Cola? It had less than 2% of the market share during the cola wars; now it has been brought by Cadbury-Schweppes (which also owns Dr. Pepper now and 7UP), and it's share is climbing again.
Um, the relevance here? Well, the blogs have been fighting with ESPN since, well, I would say about two years ago. In doing so, it has lead to a sort of oligopoly; either you side with ESPN, or you side with the ESPN haters. Meanwhile, CBS Sportsline, Yahoo, Fox Sports, etc. are all wondering whether they are relevant. This Vick story fueled more of that.
5. Pit Bulls - on the one hand, they got a measure of justice in that all of the accused copped pleas. Good for them. But even more to the point, they seem to have gotten some creditability as "dogs". When the f*ck did pits become "dogs". Dogs are cute, and loyal. Pits are vicious killing machines.
They were genetically engineered (through breeding) by the British to kill other animals (particularly bulls). Where do you think pit bull fighting began? Most civilized countries ban them as pets - Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand. The UK bans them under the "Dangerous Dogs Act". Canada - they are banned in Winnipeg and Ontario (no pits in Toronto!). Even in the US, several cities and counties have bans on pits, including Miami-Dade County.
Between 1979-1998, 118 human fatalities in the US were caused by pit bull attacks. Man's best friend my ass.
Okay, obviously no animal deserves to suffer, and dogfighting is a bad thing. But I did find it odd from the beginning that there was a huge outrage over this "animal abuse", when I find other creatures more deserving of pity. The docile cow gets no love; and the noble pig? None. But these baby-eating sons of Cerebus? Please... I feel more pity for salad abuse.
Losers:
1. The Atlanta Falcons - specifically the team, its fans, and owner Arthur Blank. The team - its players and fans - get to watch a 4-12 team. Joey Harrington is your quarterback. Your team sucks, and may suck for a long, long time. The owner, with his refusal to stand behind his player, as probably hurt his reputation among NFL veterans. The fans won't be happy, either. Especially the black ones, as Atlanta does have one of the largest African-American middle and upper classes in the country. Which are probably none to happy with the NFL and Arthur Blank. Well done. We can only imagine how much money the Michael Vick incident is really going to cost the Falcons and Blank.
Anyway, we'll finish this post with a link to Keith Olbermann's speech on the Vick saga. Found via The Big Lead, it can be seen here on Awful Announcing.
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Thanks Temple3.
Perhaps, but for the immediate future the Falcons are big losers. In the long term, it really depends on how good their management is. Yeah, the NFL is easier to bounce back to the playoffs than in the NBA (where the Hawks have toiled in the lottery since Dominque was human highlighting it seems), but I still think the Falcons have a long way to recover.
They need a franchise QB, and having traded Matt Schaub to the Texans (where he will do well, if they ever fix their O-line), the Falcons are going to have to address that in the draft next year. They also lack an every down running back (Jerious Norwood is a change of pace guy), or any decent WRs (Michael Jenkins with 39 receptions is their #1 guy?). Their line is okay.
Defensively they also have big holes. They are at least a few years from respectability, and that's only if they draft well.
But you are right, they (the management, if not the fans) are probably happy to get rid of Vick's "underperforming" (as he is often described) contract.
SML,
Another thing to consider about the Feds: the same day the get Mike Vick to plead the head boss (Gonzales) resigns. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Where I kinda disagree with you is on the Feds use of the hype machine. With the amount of dog lovers out there, I would think it would hard to bring the case to court due to the manipulation of jurors. Imagine the selection process.
As of right now, Vick is a felon. In the eyes of everyone he should be seen as guilty. There is no defending him right now. Sunday, perhaps, but no longer. Hopefully in America we don't use torture, so admissions are out of free will. But I give Mike Vick the benefit of the doubt, I do hope he is used to bust bigger dog rings and I think he will come back - 08 in jail, 09 in arena, '10 in the NFL as a backup, starting by 11. Probably be a good idea to watch some Steve Young tapes while locked up too, see how mobile QBs can win in their 30s.
Goodell hasn't been easy on any of the players that have tried to get back into the league, so it will be interesting to see what happens with Vick...if anything at all. I'd be very surprised if he gets back in immediately. I'm going to be interested to see what team is willing to pick him up though. I have to believe that his skills will somewhat diminish (because of age and inactivity) so that will leave teams trying to decide just how valuable he is as a player and compare it to the negative feedback the team will receive for signing him. I don't think it will be a case of 'there is no such thing as bad advertising'
Your rant on Pits is kind of harsh but freedom of speech and all that stuff.
While I don't feel sorry for Vick and think he'll get what he deserved, his crime needs some perspective. While Vick's alleged role in dogfighting is barbaric, there are athletes who beat their wives and have never seen the inside of a jail cell... case in point, Julio Mateo and Brett Meyers in the Phillies organizations.
In May 2006 in Boston, Brett Meyers allegedly punched his wife several times in the face in front of a crowd who called 911 and reported the abuse. He was put in counseling, missed his scheduled start but is still stinking up the bullpen even as we speak for the Phils. (His wife refused to press charges). And he had to be restrained last Saturday from attacking a Philadelphia reporter in what could have been another assault to his record.
And Julio Mateo allegedly beat, bit and choked his wife when she reportedly was going to leave him after a history of abuse. He was suspended for ten days, demoted to AAA and then traded from Seattle to the Phillies in July. He continues to stink up the joint in AA Reading for the Phils.
In both cases of domestic abuse, the players did not do jail time. Isn't assault on a human a crime worthy of punishment just as assault on an animal?
SML, I remember RC very well and used to buy it! Didn't Miller recently attempt to do the same with Budweiser? Good analogy as I never thought of it like that. I think the thing is that so many of us bloggers want to hold media accountable, but it is easiest to go after the big fish than just "media" (who is "media" anyway?). A smaller company may be doing the same exact thing as ESPN but gets one third of its readers, so why bother...
I actually came over to say that the idea of STOPPING MIKE LUPICA sounds great. I might have to change the name of my own blog for a minute!! Damn.
I thought you'd have the Falcons fairly high up on your list of winners.
They suck it up this season - trade anyone and everything to get to Brian Brohm, recover Vick's salary, and start fresh in 2008. In addition to dumping Vick's salary, this lost season will allow the Falcons to DUMP every single high-priced vet on the team without a whimper from fans. It's a free season without blame or recriminations for anyone on the team.
What could be better? They're not a Super Bowl team, but with Vick, the expectations were enormous. Every year since that Green Bay has been considered a failure. The Falcons get their money and Arthur gets a Blanck slate.