Pay That Man His Money

Sal Paolantonio, the same guy who told me that Laurence Maroney would start this past Monday, is back today with some breaking news.

Not only will has Michael Vick lost his job, his sponsors and most of his fans, but a recent ESPN report writes that he's also likely to lose a good chunk of his cheddar.

Vick's (former?) team the Atlanta Falcons have asked the quarterback to give back a portion of his signing bonus that is said to be in violation of his contract - signed back in 2004.

Don't worry, the NFLPA will definitely have something to say about these matters.

The NFL Players Association will argue in the hearing before the NFL's special master, University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Stephen Burbank, that Vick has already earned the bonus money, which was in the form of roster bonuses, and that under the current collective bargaining agreement reached in March a team cannot retrieve money already earned.

Special master? Like He-Man?

Players have had a decent track record with Burbank at the helm. Ashley Lelie won his court case with the Denver Broncos last season and he didn't even earn that money.

The Falcons are seeking $22 million of the $29 million paid. Bring on the Special Master.

Sources: Falcons to ask return of bonus money at hearing [ESPN]

Michael Vick Loves The Weed

A little afternoon delight for you folks.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that All-Trouble quarterback Michael Vick has officially tested positive for marijuana through a urine sample. The sample was submitted on Septmber 13th.

In court documents Wednesday, Hudson ordered that Vick submit to any method of testing, "for determining whether the defendant is using a prohibited substance." Hudson also ordered Vick restricted to his Virginia residence everyday from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. This home confinement, said the judge in a court filing, "will include electronic monitoring."

Adding a little insult to injury, the judge has urged Vick to participate in not only substance abuse therapy, but mental health couseling. Mental health. What is he trying to say? That possibly Michael Vick isn't right in the head?

You don't say.

(Picture courtesy of KSK)

Vick Tests Positive For Marijuana [AJC]

Marshawn Lynch, Orator

Busy day here, with not a lot of news to discuss.

Lance Briggs is still stupid, Michael Vick is still in trouble, and Bernie Kosar is still a drunk.

For now, check out this video of Marshawn Lynch forming sentences that I never thought to be possible.



(h/t to E via Mr. I)

In Case You Were Looking...

Michael Vick has found God.

Apparently, in the last few months of not playing football, Vick has had enough time to locate and become one with God. In what was one of the more predictable apologies in quite some time, ESPN breaks down the details - as if they sent about half of the ESPN News department to cover the four minute speech.

Vick said he now has rejected dogfighting and has found religion as a result of the federal charges. "Dogfighting is a terrible thing. I reject it," he said.

"I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward to better Michael Vick the person, not the football player," Vick said.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that God is actually "Dog" spelled backwards, so he may have just been a bit confused at the podium.

In what will be a point of contention, Vick has plead guilty to funding the gambling that reportedly took place - and not gambling himself. Regardless, Vick will likely lose about $100 million due to this conviction, and this doesn't even include the money that both the Atlanta Falcons and Nike would like to recoup due to this case.

Morning YouTubeness: Fear Not, Hotlanta

Good morning to all, especially people of Atlanta. To cheer you up through the misery that you may be experiencing due to the PR implosion of your football team, this video may do the trick. With a 30-something running back in Warrick Dunn easily on the tail end of his career, you may actually have some more of this to look forward to this season. Enjoy.

It's Plea Bargain Time

It's official.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick will plead guilty to federal charges regarding dogfighting.

While the charges could land Vick five years and a $250,000 fine, Vick's plea bargain is said to "request" a jail sentence of 10-12 months.

"After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick has asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding charges pending against him," Vick 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."

While I'm pretty sure apologies aren't going to cut it this time around, it will be very interesting to see what the legal system has in store for Vick. Oh, and don't count out Roger Goodell, who hasn't had much to say...yet.

Life Comes At You Fast

While Matt Schaub has relocated to the QB punching bag that is Houston, he's probably the happiest guy in the world right now simply because he's not in Atlanta.

Not only has Michael Vick likely played his last down in the NFL let alone the Falcons, third-string quarterback D.J. Shockley is now out for the season with a brutal knee injury that he sustained this past weekend in a preseason game.

The homegrown Shockley was a fan favorite from day one, attending the University of Georgia and bringing a ton of athleticism. The Falcons will now go to battle this season with Joey Harrington and two guys that most fans have never heard of before: Chris Redman and Casey Bramlett.

Thinking here is that Jim Mora, Jr. wakes up in the morning and just starts laughing hysterically every time he reads the paper.

(AJC)

Kenny Rogers Has Nothing On This Guy

Instead of "holding and folding," The Smoking Gun shows us that not all gambling comes in the form of cards or casinos for that matter.

In my previous Vick post, I mentioned the other two individuals involved in the Vick case cutting plea deals in order to minimize the sentance. Well, TSG posted an updated their information to contain a court hearing that took place this morning.

During an appearance this morning in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia, Quanis Phillips and Purnell Peace each copped to a felony conspiracy rap and signed plea agreements pledging to cooperate with federal investigators. In nearly identical fact summaries, both Phillips and Peace stated that the dogfighting ring's "operation and gambling monies were almost exclusively funded by Vick."

The two individuals proceed to kick Vick's name around a bit more when discussing the alleged executions that we've all heard about.

Through all of the ESPN and various reports around the internet, we know that the gambling issue is the big hang-up in the case, as this could provide the NFL with enough grounds to force a lifetime ban on the quarterback. It will be no surprise if this is one of the main discussion points in a possible plea bargain from Vick himself, but it would be very tough to drop these charges given the alleged issues to this point.

(h/t TSG via MDS)

Wave That White Flag

One of yesterday's posts discussed the pending Mike Vick situation and ESPN's take. Well, it appears that the WWL has expanded upon their bevy of field analysts and commentators by including a legal jargon from one Lester Munson.

Munson's latest report pretty much says that if Vick doesn't reach a plea bargain - similar to his three "friends" that have already turned on him - that the federal indictment that is waiting in the wings can actually grow in size, as it's something that is considered a "superceding indictment." Not a term I've been privy to in the past, but it sounds pretty sweet to me!

The new charges could come any day. The new charges might include a racketeering allegation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (known as RICO). RICO originally was designed as a weapon against organized-crime hoodlums but has been used frequently in other prosecutions. A charge under RICO would make Vick's situation significantly worse. It would make the government's case against him easier to prove, and it would increase the prison sentence Vick would face if convicted.

So the fact that Vick either has to plead guilty and hope for the best or hold out and get hammered by even more charges sounds like one of the most asymmetrical, yet completely justifiable, situations going today. I'm about as far from a legal analyst as you'll find, but this one may make me search my cable guide for "Court TV."

Checkmate, Mike.

Get This Guy A Friendster Account

OK, I'll start this off by saying that I've never even been on Friendster. However, judging by the name alone, I'm going to assume that it is a site where one goes to find and/or meet friends both old and new. And if anyone needs new friends right about now, it's Mike Vick.

With co-defendant Tony Taylor agreeing to a plea bargain a couple of weeks ago, it's now being reported that the other two co-defendants not named "Vick" will also search for a plea deal, thus agreeing to testify against Mike Vick himself - now the last man standing. (Term "man" used loosely)

With these three men (with arguably a lot less to lose) turning against Vick, ESPN is reporting that the quarterback will now contemplate the same fate. Vick's defense team was obviously shocked by the plea deals. How do I know this? Well...

Collins R. Spencer III, a spokesman for Vick's defense team, said the lawyers were surprised by the plea deals.

"They didn't see it coming," Spencer said.

That's how.

Several legal analysts over at ESPN (via MDS) report that Vick's obviously in serious trouble at this point, despite the witnesses not being "upstanding citizens." This case is unfolding a lot faster than many had anticipated, but it is not surprising that it is Vick's back that is up against the wall.

Delaying the Inevitable

Good old Yahoo! Sports broke a report late this weekend that the NFL would be suspending Falcons quarterback Mike Vick for the entire 2007 season. Now, this makes sense to a lot of us given the recent news surrounding his "hobbies," along with Roger Goodell asking (read: telling) Vick to not show up at Falcons camp.

But hold the phone. Skip Wood (possibly a fake name...at least I hope that it is) of the USA Today says that the NFL is denying that this is taking place.

Yahoo! says that the suspension could be handed down this week, but the NFL says the following:

"No decision has been made," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said, adding that the league is still awaiting the results of its independent review and is not likely to take action, if any, until its undetermined conclusion.

Now while it's great of the NFL to say that this hasn't been decided upon, they're not exaclty saying that it won't happen eventually. Vick's court date is scheduled for late November. The NFL obviously wants to focus on the NFL, and NOT further live in the PR nightmare that is the Vick situation. Given the suspensions of other players for lesser enfractions (granted multiple lesser enfractions) than those being pinned on Mr. Vick, here's thinking that it's only a matter of time before the suspension is handed down.

Joey Harrington, you're "now."

Weekend Wrap-Up

I haven't really decided what I'm going to do about the weekends. I, for one, would rather be outside with a beer - nowhere near a computer - but maybe that's just me. So for now, I think I'll just sprinkle a few links regarding what went on over the last 48 hours or so. Suggestions are definitely welcome.

In a love story for the ages, Chris Cooley will be marrying his longtime girlfriend. She just so happens to be an ex-Redskins cheerleader, who was booted from the squad for dating the tight end. I love that they call him Captain Chaos in D.C.

Romeo Crennel took a huge stance by electing to have his starting quarterback decided by a coin toss. No, really.

Despite all of the hype and youtubness about PacMan Jones' wrestling debut, it appears that the Titans want nothing of the sort. This comes as a big surprise considering he was a first round slection and all.

The Jaguars apparently had a rough night. Tim Couch is likely second-guessing that whole contract thing. (h/t to the Fanhouse)

A few suspensions were handed down.

No Michael Vick? No problem, as that Joey Harrington guy did alright. Yes, the Falcons lost to the Jets, but hey...think positive.

And finally, Steely McBeam. The Steelers new mascot with the questionable-at-best name. Yea, well it appears that Pittsbugh isn't a big fan. I'm sure pictures like this don't help much.

That's all she wrote folks. Until tomorrow...

No Quarterback Challenge For You!

Bad news for all of you folks who enjoy watching the quarterbacks of the NFL wear visors and throw footballs at moving cardboard cutouts. You'll have to wait another year. This season's version of the quarterback challenge will not be televised.

Why? Because Mike Vick was a part of the challenge, which had taken place in the Cayman Islands during the month of May.

If it's any consolation, Josh McCown (now of Oakland Raiders fame) won the event so you're likely not to miss too much. We may want to add Josh to the list of Vick-haters, because no one is going to believe he won anything unless they get to witness it themselves.

If he's still in the league next year, he'll get to defend his title. Congratulations, Josh.

(h/t The Fanhouse via PFT)

Who's The Real VICK-tim?

Yeah, yeah, bad pun, but get off my back! I'm new at this blogging game and from what I've seen it's all about the puns as Playboy mags are all about the "non-articles." So, bite me.

Speaking of biting (oh man, I at least got this segue thing on lock!), Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick and the dog-fighting controversy he's wound up in is all the rage in caninephiliac circles. Who knew there were so many practitioners of dog-love, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

In any case, there seems to be some capitalist pigs that want to make a quick buck from the controversy and I know right now you're saying, "D-Nice, are you new to the United States as well?" No, but I can still be incensed about something, right? Like, oh, I don't know... the fact that your mom keeps drunk calling me? Okay, I'm kidding... I changed my number a few months ago because of her.

(Boy, D, great way to get an audience for a fledgling blog. Whatever.)

Well, it seems a Florida-based company is trying to profit off the Vick situation and selling dog chew toys that resemble the much-maligned QB. The "best" part is that on the company website, it says that all proceeds would go to the Jacksonville Humane Society, but the JHS have heard zilch from the company, who has to be making lots of straight cash, homey. Sorry, kind and charitable people... you lose again.

Isn't it crazy to think about how powerful the internet has become where the Average Joe can come up with an idea and then whore it to the masses on the web. For example, the domain name owners of MichaelVicksDogFights.com are trying to sell the URL for close to $30,000! What the?!?! Oh, and don't try it, they also have RonMexicosDogFights.com. Greedy bastards couldn't throw the rest of us a bone, huh? Goddamn I'm getting punnerific with this blogging ish, aren't I?

I wonder what could be next exploiting Vick's good name ("good" as in cool-sounding, not as in innocence... at least not necessarily)? Well, here are a couple of things I would shoot a person for if I saw them:

- Michael Vick Dog Rape Stand with a cutout of Vick's headshot placed at the top of it, so when lil cute Destroyer is having his way with some bitch (calm down people, it's what you call female dogs... and some of my exes), he can use Vick as motivation. And while I do have some potential dog dialogue in my effed-up head, I'll spare you all any further glimpses of my perverted insanity.

- Michael Vick Dog Inseminator (sorry) with a rubber replica of Vick's body as the squeezy thingy and yeah, you can guess which part of his body is connected to the tube.

Yup, if I see either of those things, people will meet their maker. I'm just glad the internet wasn't as popular in 1994... otherwise we would have seen a lot of O.J. Simpson dolls with knife accessory aimed at white women with blond hair to purchase.