Michael Vick

I don't know if you've been following the Michael Vick dogfighting case, or if you care at all about it. I have been a Michael Vick fan since his playing days at Virginia Tech - I graduated in the VT class of 2000. I watched him move on to QB the Falcons in Atlanta - he's a tremendously exciting player to watch. After reading the 18-page indictment, I thought he came out looking very guilty, and probably deserving of some jail time. I didn't know much about dogfighting, or what it takes to "succeed" in dogfighting, or any of the other details that are associated it, and just really didn't care that much about it. I understood that this was a cruel way to be entertained, and that it results in many dogs dying cruel and painful deaths. Well, last night my wife and I watched the in-depth coverage on Bryant Gumbel's Real Sports on HBO (episode debut was 8/14/07). The segment on dogfighting is about 20 minutes long, and halfway thru it I looked at my wife and I could tell she felt the same way I did: FURIOUS!!! I got flushed red, hot and sweaty, and my heart was pounding in my chest. Honestly, watching the abominable treatment of these animals was just completely horrible. As bad as watching the dogs rip each other to shreds in the fighting ring was, the worst part of the program showed how these criminals often steal household pets out of people's backyards, then use them as chew toys for their hyped-up psycho fighting dogs so they can learn how to kill. Any dog lover will tell you that dogs can convey their emotions with their facial expressions. Seeing someone's poor stolen pet get it's back legs viciously BROKEN in the jaws of a pit bull was awful. Another man's small black lab puppy was stolen, and had it's leg broken by a club so it could not run away. Another pet bulldog had it's mouth taped shut so it could not defend itself at all. In the sprit of getting all the information on something, please watch that show if you can. All I can say is I thought dogfighting was generally bad before - now my feelings are so much more intense, fierce, and deep. If the legal system finds Vick guilty of these charges, he is dead to me.