[hijack]
Outback Steakhouse was founded in Tampa, Florida. Convicts had little to do with it.
[/hijack]
FWIW… Today, Hardball is going to debate what Vick’s fate should be.
Just Buccaneers?
A joke, perhaps?
It’s already happening.
If it was founded in Tampa, I wouldn’t be so sure.
Don’t ruin my humorous (to me, at least) aside with facts.
And if those Floridians who founded that chain weren’t later convicted while a nice, well-tempered person like Charles Manson sits in prison, then there is something terribly wrong with this country.
the commonwealth is considering charges. should those charges shake out, mr vick will be looking at 40 years in va’s prison system (8 dogs times 5 years). don’t think the falcons would even remember who he was at that point.
it is a very good thing i’m not in charge of professional sports. i would constantly remind player that it is a priviledge to play, not a right. careers would be rolling left and right.
i do hope that mr vick did not put all his money in the dog operation, and did sock some away in rather safe legal investments.
The 12-18 months in federal prison should not cause irreversible damage. Mike Tyson was able to regain the heavyweight title after serving three years.
My guess is that a comeback would be possible, if there are no state charges.
Yeah but the heavyweight division was a bunch of chumps at that point. It’s different for NFL players. Consider running back Jamal Lewis, who after four months in jail saw his yards-per-attempt plummet by almost a full yard.
Does anybody else think that there are probably several other NFL players in a cold sweat right now as they frantically try to erase all evidence of their own involvement in betting on dog fights?
From some of the comments by other players, I get the sense there is a subculture of dogfighting aficionados in the league.
It would be a trifle surprising if Vick were the only one. Let’s hope that no one else is bankrolling a dogfighting operation.
My understanding is that several NFL franchises are eager to hire him.
The pretzel franchise, the Nachos franchise …
I’m waiting for Vick to roll on Joey Porter.
If you think about it, this could be Vick’s leverage for getting back in the league: “Ban me for life and I’ll go to the media about all the NFL players who are into dogfighting and gambling.”
Not that I necessarily disagree with you, but my niece owns one and is thus supporting part of my extended family, so I must take family ties over humor and my dislike of Florida (and I was born there!) Just don’t order the Bloomin’ Onion. You do not want to know what it’s fried in…
He’ll probably have to give the government that information, and I imagine it will end up becoming public either way.
Did anyone hear Stephen Marbury (NY Knicks) defending Vick today. Obviously Marbury felt the press wasn’t paying enough attention to him and sent out the troll to get some ESPN time. He can’t really be stupid enough to believe that openly siding with Vick is a good professional move, right?
I doubt it. Vick appears to be at the pinnacle of the pyramid the feds are after in this prosecution. I don’t see him having to give up the names of individual NFL players. More likely, he might be pressured to give up info on other dogfighting operations of which he may be aware. Now if any other players are running dogfighting operations (as opposed to just showing up and gambling) their names might come up.