Athletes who refer to themselves in the third-person — and do so with a serious, non-mocking sort of way — can either be easy to despise, or extremely entertaining. When T.O. says “I love me some me!” we laugh.
That aside, after all the fuss about how Michael Vick owned a house busted with suspicions of dog-fighting, The Starting Five points out that reports out of Virginia Beach say the city lacks enough evidence to link Vick or anyone else to any illegal acts.
Would it be too much to say that society has gotten out of hand with its constant “guilty until proven innocent” labeling?
Vick was presumed guilty in this dogfighting incident and also with the incident at the airport with the water bottle (no wrongdoing was found, other than having a secret compartment in a water bottle is enough to have loud media folks calling for your head/job/badge).
Even Chris Henry, who finds himself immersed in trouble more often than not, was recently wrongfully accused of failing a drug test.
For as much as athletes prove they don’t know when to remain silent on certain issues, sooner or later we will have George Stephanopolous or James Carville taking a leap into the sports world to replace Drew “Next question!” Rosenhaus. Maybe then they could present professional athletes in a positive light — with commercials plugging their service to community, shaking of millions of hands, signing of millions autographs and the occasional gentle kissing of babies — so as to deter their althete-clients from sticking their foot in their mouth. Athletes today just aren’t well-versed in political-speak to babble their way correctly and safely out/around their problems.
Although I’m not sure if GS and GC would represent someone who referred to themself in the third-person… but how much do we really know their most famous buddy/client/pal, Bill “Mr. Hilary” Clinton?
6 Feedbacks on "Not Enough Evidence To Link Mike Vick To Dog Fighting"
da judge
I know Vick and I have friends that have hung out with him and I can tell you that he’s no angel. Your hero worship has clouded your judgement when you should be adding 2 + 2 and coming up with 4. Just watch and see how this comes out.
Mr. Rite
Just because Vick is no angel, that doesn’t mean he is guilty of the charges brought on him. Everyone should still reserve judgment and let the trial play out. Feel as you may but to crucify the man before the trial, it’s like we’re back in the old Salem witch trial days again… or even worse, about 50 years ago when the wrong skin color was an automatic conviction.
Innocent before PROVEN guilty… why does it have to personally happen to someone before they understand how important it is?
da judge
embattled star quarterback is expected to be sentenced to some time in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
Vick’s motivation to enter a guilty plea is likely fueled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement last month that it will seek a new “superseding” indictment against Vick by the end of August. With the cooperation of Vick’s three co-defendants, there will likely be new, and more specific, allegations against Vick. The federal grand jury in Richmond is expected to hand up that indictment sometime early next week.
?
Think he’s still innocent?
It just ain’t right when a brother does that to another brother.
Da Judge
Mr. Rite
If you were on trial, and all indicators pointed at you for being this large, venomous evil villian, wouldn’t you hope there were folks out there willing to hold out for judgment?
At any rate, the 3 co-defendants have more to gain by throwing Vick under the bus because, as most know, prosecutors want the big fish and not the little ones. This time last year everyone piled on the Duke lacrosse boys as “rapists” but the case turned out to be a farse. We did find out through the process that some of those Duke boys had some serious issues to deal with racism, but at any rate, the public convicted them and I didn’t hear too many apologies when the case was dropped.
As a society, we can’t be at a point where giving people the benefit of a doubt — innocence until proven guilty — is worth ridicule. Because, as I said, what if you were in the same position? You would deserve better.
da judge
Lawyer: Vick to plead guilty to dogfighting charges
By LARRY O’DELL, Associated Press Writer
August 20, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Michael Vick’s lawyer said Monday the NFL star will plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, putting the Atlanta Falcons quarterback’s career in jeopardy and leaving him subject to a possible prison term.
The offense is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, although federal sentencing guidelines most likely would call for less.
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“After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him,” lead defense attorney Billy Martin said in a statement.
“Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter.”
Hate to say I told you so….but I told you so…
I wouldn’t be so harsh on you but when you came out with your article that said “Not enough evidence linking Mike Vick to dog fighting” this is just as bad as saying he is guilty. You have to wait for the facts to appear before you can make any informed decision. I guess I just had access to more facts than you did. Anyway, good luck and take care and remember to be careful about who you choose to be your “friends”.
Da Judge
Mr. Rite
The PC was down yesterday but the piece on Vick is going up today. As assumed, I knew people would be going nuts, rejoicing at Vick’s plea agreement. This is one of the worst parts of the presumption of guilt… if you’re right you go “woohoo! told you so…” but if you’re wrong do you say, damn, maybe I should’ve withheld my judgment? I doubt it in a lot of cases but people go about things different. You did come here to say “I told you so…” and if you did have insider information I wasn’t privy to, so be it. But at the time, that was the report that came out.
What was your stance in the Duke Lax trial in the beginning? Were you one of the many who assumed guilt and then got burned by that same prosecutor? Did you go back and say “I shouldn’t have done that…” ? Not a lot of folks did. Anywho… hope Vick turns his life around because if he needed a wake-up call, this is one hellova one, right?
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