Michael Vick's letter to the judge

[hondo]

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/pdf/vickletters/vick1.pdf

Also, keep going for letters of support from Hank Aaron and George Foreman, among others. Note that in the first paragraph, Foreman can't resist plugging his fucking grills.

About as shameless as anything in Vick's letter.

[Flying Headbutt]

The Foreman letter is fan-freaking-tastic. 

[Starman]

Yah yah yah, blah blah blah. He's sorry, sorry, sorry, boo hoo. He wants to be a spokesman for PETA.

Bull fucking shit.

PETA, the ASPCA, and all other animal rights groups should preemptively crush this shit in the bud, make a public announcement that they categorically reject any personal involvement by Vick, the Animal Murderer, in their efforts, direct anyone supportive of their cause to utterly disassociate themselves from Vick, the Animal Torturer, and state ahead of time they will not accept, in fact will utterly and unconditionally reject and defy, any court order or sentence agreement which calls for Vick, the Animal Murderer, to serve in any capacity whatsoever with their organizations, with one exception: "We Want His Fucking Money. All of it."

[Del_B_Vista]

At least he waited until page 2 to refer to himself in the third person.

[Just_An_SID]

I believe his letter.

Working around young African-American males who come from the inner city, it is amazing to see some of the warped beliefs that these individuals have, simply because of where they come from. 

I can't truly understand these individuals because I do not have these shared experiences, but when Vick says that he saw friends being arrested for guns and drugs but not dogfighting, I believe him.  It is very easy to see where dogfighting became something acceptable to him because it was common within his culture. 

I really don't think that Vick is a bad guy.  He's done some bad things, but then again, a lot of basically good people have done bad things.  Good and bad aren't 100%. . . there are shades of good and bad within all of us and I'm sure that we have all done things that we wouldn't like to be made public.. . . especially in the manner that Vick's problems were done.

Although I'm not sure about his PETA comments, the rest of that letter sounded pretty sincere.  And, it sounded like those were his words, and not written by somebody like me for him.

[Monday Morning Sportswriter]

The mayor of Atlanta wrote a letter? Geez.

[Double Down]

The part about smoking weed because he was heartbroken after his dad attacked him made me kind of sad. Maybe I'm naive, but I think I'd turn to drugs too if my own father trashed me in my darkest hour.

[KG]

The mayor of Atlanta wrote a letter? Geez.

That surprised me, because she usually comes across as a hardass.

[Just_An_SID]

The part about smoking weed because he was heartbroken after his dad attacked him made me kind of sad. Maybe I'm naive, but I think I'd turn to drugs too if my own father trashed me in my darkest hour.

That's what I mean.  I believe the letter is sincere.

[three_bags_full]

Big George is Coaching Me To Knock Out The Cancer? What the fuck is that about? Is that another plug for his grills.

[markvid]

The mayor of Atlanta wrote a letter? Geez.

That surprised me, because she usually comes across as a hardass.

It's better for Atlanta's coffers overall if he plays.

[heyabbott]

Any chance this will be Vick's roomie for the next year and a half?

[Point of Order]

Reading that made me very sad.

[CollegeJournalist]

The part about smoking weed because he was heartbroken after his dad attacked him made me kind of sad. Maybe I'm naive, but I think I'd turn to drugs too if my own father trashed me in my darkest hour.

That's the part that got to me. And the part about his daughter asking him when he's going to be home to play Dora games.

If my dad turned on me to the media in an effort to get some money, I'd either be stoned or drunk for awhile after. And if my daughter was asking me when I'd be home to play games with her, and I had to tell her "I don't know," I'd be even more crushed.

I may be naive, but I think he was pretty sincere. I think it's a young man that realizes he fucked up. On one hand, I'm glad he understands that. On the other, I can see the blind loyalty he had to his friends and family and the misunderstanding he had with some of the problems with dogfighting and his life.

[Rickys The Best]

I don't know how I feel about this. It's easy to feel sympathetic to Vick after reading the letter. But he's writing to the judge, so obvioulsy he's going to sound regretful and include sob stories. And maybe I'm cynical, but I highly doubt that was the only time he smoked dope.

Also, I understand fully his point about growing up in Newport News, where police spent more time on drugs and murders than dog fighting.

But he's also an adult who did a horrible crime. He's old enough to realize killing dogs is unacceptable, regardless of where he grew up. What he did was wrong, and it's horrible his family has to suffer. But he broke the law and deserves to suffer the consequences. It's not the judge's fault his kids will be without a kid.

Plus, everybody finds God/humbleness/etc once they face jail terms. That is nothing new. I am unmoved.