A Simple Mike Vick Poll

[Dixie Flyer]

Should the Falcons or the NFL ban Vick from football?

[bledsoe3]

Innocent until proven guilty.

However I think he is guilty.

[packerz4]

big jerk, i think he's guilty. but what does it have to do with his job? would we lose our jobs if we did it?



UPDATE:
ok, i think he committed a crime, wait till the justice system finds him guilty, and i think he is not a role model, but i still have trouble with him losing his job over it... what about other crimes like: drug possession, rape, DUI? all kinds of those crimes have been done by football players. should they all be fired?

for the record, i hope his dogs eat him. and i'll forever hate that he didn't do something to stop the fighting on his property... i don't buy that he didn't know it was going on.

[len19070]

Mike Vick, as well as many other sports figures has a history of doing Stupid things.

Being Stupid is not a crime. If it were we wouldn't have enough Prisons.

Dog Fighting is.

And setting a bad example for those who look up to him, mostly young people is just wrong on so many levels.

That being said, "innocent until proven guilty" should prevail. Our News Media has a proven track record of blowing things out of proportion.

Try him in Court...Not the Media.

Happy Trails

Len

[Gage]

Who's Vick? Is he a newbie that I should know? I must be missing something.

[tonyj]

Another instance where the punishment should fit the crime. He should be punished by having to participate in dog fighting.

And yes, if I were guilty of what he allegedly is, I would lose my job.

[Steve_Cox]

The Falcons arn't going anywhere this year anyway, so they might as well change the roster. I'm sure they will do what ever is most financially practical for the team owners. This is a chance to save a few bucks....I mean dollars.

[caseydog]

I'm a huge supporter of innocent until proven guilty, so I don't think he should be permenently banned at this point.

But at the very least, in this case, he should have known something was happening on his property, even if he did not actively participate in it.

I think the fact that this stuff was going on at his house is enough justification for a suspension. Permanent banning can wait for a conviction.

If he is aquitted, you reinstate him, appologize and give him his back pay -- and I would tell him all this up front. If aquitted, then the suspension can be his punishment for not knowing what was going on in his own backyard.

Personally, I don't think he is going to want to play right now. He will get booed, have stuff thrown at him, and all sorts of crap.

CD

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Football was my first love...
Growing up, I knew every pro player's number and what college they came from.
Today... Football is like an old book I read many moons ago, but sometimes dust off to flip through the pages.
Watching Mike Vike play his final college game, brought back those fond memories of how I used to feel about the game... He was one heck of an exciting player to watch that is for sure...
I followed him a bit when he turned pro, but became turned off by the way he carried himself on and off the field.
I wasn't shocked to hear that charges had been filed against him...
What did shock me... is what was done to the dogs that wouldn't fight.
It just doesn't get anymore sicker than that...
I know the system says innocent until proven guilty and that's what I clicked on, but being that the FBI is involved in this case, things are looking pretty grim for Vick...
The FBI sure the heck isn't involved just because of the high profile status of this case...

[Joseph]

When he is proven guilty I don't think he should be banned...

...I think he should be stripped naked, coated in bacon grease, and thrown into the cage with his dogs.

Joseph

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Does Atlanta play Cleveland in Cleveland this year???

[asianflava]

big jerk, i think he's guilty. but what does it have to do with his job? would we lose our jobs if we did it?

Fired from your job is a possibility, but not BANNED from your profession.

Vick is a brilliant QB on the field, that doesn't mean he is brilliant off the field. He most likely knew about the whole thing but he shouldn't be banned from football. Made to sit out a season or two (to serve his jail time) sounds more like it. If he was smart he would have set it up in Wyoming or Idaho where it is a misdemeanor.

[tonyj]

Fired from your job is a possibility, but not BANNED from your profession.

There are many professions (mine included) with certifications that stipulate convictions of certain offenses (felonies or moral turpitude) will indeed ban you from your profession. Why should sports be different?

[Laredo]

There are many professions (mine included) with certifications that stipulate convictions of certain offenses (felonies or moral turpitude) will indeed ban you from your profession. Why should sports be different?

SPORTS should NOT be different. Moral turpitude ought to be cause for stripping the contract and confiscating any endorsement money. You don't want to see it taken for the ASPCA, well then put it into the players' pension pool.
Sick idiots like Vick don't deserve to profit, for sure.
IF he didn't know what was going on before the first investigation, he sure should've known before it went to the Feds. (This goes back several months.)
Some of the evidence I've heard on sports talk shows -- somebody wore a wire to a fight where Vick had to pay them cash for the loss, allegedly -- suggest to me that not only does this cretin need to be in jail, but the property needs to be confiscated.

[caseydog]

By the time Vick got into pro sports, it was well known that pro athletes, especially highly paid stars, were expected to live exemplary lives. It is well known, in advance, that if you want to make millions in the NFL, then you have to live a squeaky clean life. Yet, big-time celebrity athletes always act suprized when they get dragged through the dirt when they f--k up.

That's why I have little pity for him, even if his cousin was doing all this. He had to know that living in the spotlight also means living in a fishbowl. You just don't let stuff like this happen.

Too many athletes want the fame and fortune, and none of the attention that comes with it. It's part of the deal. You gain millions of dollars, and lots of fans, and you lose your "regular Joe" status. Live with it.

CD