I believe the suspension is just for Michael Vick pending the outcome of the investigation. You can’t even compare this to the Duke lacrosse team, two completely different cases.
With this case, you have a defendant who is also a witness (not a “victim” as in the Duke Case). The is sufficient evidence to support at least Michael Vick’s knowledge of the dogfighting since he was financially supporting the majority of the cost (if not the entire expense).
I am sure Michael Vick has an alibi for the Sunday’s he was on the football field earning his $150 million dollars.

It is absolutely appropriate to call for Vick to be suspended during the investigation. Suspended from his employment, suspended from lucrative contracts predicated on his good name, etc. Suspended, not terminated. Suspended.

And that’s what many of us have been calling for. (Not all of us, but many of us). It’s appropriate to put things on hold - i.e., “suspend” them - pending the outcome of ANY investigation.

As one example, it is done with police officers all the time during investigations of alleged wrongdoing or any time they have discharged their firearm.

Asking for Vick’s suspension pending the outcome of due process does not violate Vick’s rights.

take his money away and give it to kennels all over the u.s. to help our animals. you know when they call a person an animal they are not talking about a pet such as a dog or a cat they are talking about a michael vick that is an animal.

http://www.animal-internet.com.....icleID=843

http://www.nola. com/sports/ t-p/index. ssf?/base/ sports-31/ 1185087657300740 .xml&coll=1

Vick will have to scramble to avoid sacking
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Peter Finney
If he’s a student of history, perhaps Michael Vick is familiar with Pugnaces Britanniae, the war dog used mostly in battle, but later used for dogfighting contests, “blood sports,” inside the Colosseum during the days of the Roman Empire.

Way back, history tells us, there was a time gifts of valuable fighting dogs were exchanged between royal courts, also military accounts of campaigns using fighting dogs, all of which facilitated the spread of fighting-dog breeds.

In time, South America would give us the Dogo Argentino, Spain the Presa Canario, Latin America the Dogo Cubano.

Dogfighting once was completely legal, sanctioned and promoted during the Colonial period, continuing through the Victorian era in the late 19th century.

Today dogfighting is a felony in 48 states, a misdemeanor in Idaho and Wyoming.

Whether or not Vick is steeped in history, by now I’m sure he’s well aware of a law that places his NFL career as the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons in jeopardy.

Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury last week for his role in a dogfighting operation at a home he owns in Virginia.

The NFL called the alleged activities in the 18-page indictment “cruel, degrading and illegal.”

Vick maintains he had no idea what was taking place on his property.

The indictment said he did.

In April, shortly before authorities raided his property, Vick, according to the indictment, was there putting some of his pit bulls through tests to determine if they were “game,” that is, up to fighting to the death.

According to the indictment, eight of the pit bulls were not “game” and subsequently executed, by “hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground.”

In March 2003, says the indictment, Vick and another indicted party sponsored a female pit bull in a fight offering a $26,000 purse. When the dog lost, the indictment said, the dog was executed “by wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal.”

Later that month, according to the indictment, when another pit bull sponsored by Vick lost, the dog was shot to death.

So the game is on, a legal contest for one of the marquee names in professional football.

In 2004, Vick signed a 10-year, $130 million contract with the Falcons. So far he has been paid $44 million, including $37 million in guaranteed bonuses.

If it should happen that the Falcons terminate Vick’s contract for “cause” — personal conduct — the matter no doubt would wind up in the hands of an arbitrator. Should the Falcons go this route, the franchise would be subject to a hefty salary-cap hit, having to account for the bonuses Vick already received.

It’s no surprise, after the indictment of a high-profile athlete, a U.S. congressman was calling for the NFL to take a stance on dogfighting.

Vick, and a cloud of animal abuse, is just one more burr under the saddle of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The U.S. Humane Society estimates more than 40,000 people in the country buy and sell fighting dogs and are involved in dogfighting activities. Authorities maintain many in dogfighting circles also are involved in other crimes, including narcotics and illegal gambling.

In a story this year, the New York Daily News said dogfighting is “a multimillion- dollar industry that is part of an underground subculture that holds its events in secret locations. It is extremely difficult for authorities to prove who has dogs for fighting purposes.”

Two years ago, The Times-Picayune carried the story of a raid by State Police on what was “one of the largest pit bull breeding and training operations in the U.S.”

Louisiana SPCA workers confiscated 64 prized pit bulls from the Lafayette home of Floyd Boudreaux, described as a “celebrated dogman” who marketed pit bulls to buyers throughout the country.

State Police booked Boudreaux with dogfighting, animal cruelty, possession of a sawed-off shotgun and illegal possession of steroids.

Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana SPCA, will be testifying next month in the Boudreaux trial.

“Boudreaux has been fighting dogs since the ’50s,” said Maloney, “and he’s supplied dogs that have been used in New Orleans.”

Interestingly, when Vick and dogfighting became a possible problem for the NFL, the league invited Maloney to New York to meet with Goodell, who welcomed the views of someone who has been fighting an ongoing battle against all forms of animal cruelty.

“The publicity given to the Vick matter will open the eyes of those who had no idea how prevalent dogfighting is,” she said. “It’s not a sport. It’s a blood sport. And it’s glamorized by lots of people. For many football fans, Michael Vick is a role model. To have him linked with dogfighting is sad.”

Rhonda Evans, a sociologist and professor in the department of criminal justice at Louisiana-Lafayette , found that owners of high-dollar fighting dogs spanned all walks of life and social classes with a link to a “machismo mentality.”

“For them,” said Evans, “tough dogs are a symbol of manhood. Winning dogs build up their owners’ ego. They see it as valid, legitimate sport no worse than boxing or football.”

Maloney compares such a feeling to “a 16-year-old walking down the street, feeling superior, feeling tough, because he’s carrying a gun. A 16-year-old walking the street with a pit bull would have the same feeling.”

In a way, rap and urban music have glorified the “blood sport.” Jay-Z shows dogs preparing for battle in the uncensored version of his music video “99 Problems.” A pit bull is on the cover of a CD by rapper DMX titled “Grand Champ,” reference to a dog who has won five fights.

When Nike was criticized about an ad featuring a pit bull and Rottweiler about to go at it, Nike denied the ad encouraged dogfighting. A Nike representative put it this way: “People have to understand the youth culture we cater to. Our market is the urban, edgy, hip-hop culture.”

Vick is part of the Nike family. So it should be interesting to see how one quarterback’ s troubles play out on Madison Avenue. We’ll soon see if Nike goes beyond the first step it took, suspending the introduction of Vick’s latest shoe, the Air Vick Zoom V.

.Peter Finney can be reached at (504) 826-3405.

Love it, love it, love it.

I’m not an attorney, but I’ll bet if you changed the statement to “Michael Vick’s a D**k” most people would get it loud and clear. If there were complaints, you could always say, “Wwll, Vick IS a dork.”