Is back.....but why suspend for an additional 4 games?
I don't get it.

Cuz Goddell gotta show him who's in charge. I think it's unnecessary at this point. Did you hear Terrell standing up for him and calling Rog out??? Like him or not at least he had the balls to say something.

Michael Vick reinstated by NFL

By BARRY WILNER AP Football Writer

NEW YORK(AP)—Michael Vick(notes) is back in the NFL. Now all he needs is a team to play for.

Vick, free after serving 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring, was reinstated with conditions by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday. He could participate in regular-season games as early as October.

Vick can immediately take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games - if he can find a team that will sign him. A number of teams have already said they would not.

Once the season begins, Vick may participate in all team activities except games, and Goodell said he would consider Vick for full reinstatement by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latest.

Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely in August 2007 after the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback admitted bankrolling a dogfighting operation on his property in Virginia. At the time, Goodell said Vick must show remorse before he would consider reinstating him.

“I accept that you are sincere when you say that you want to, and will, turn your life around, and that you intend to be a positive role model for others,” Goodell said in his letter to Vick. “I am prepared to offer you that opportunity. Whether you succeed is entirely in your hands.”

“Needless to say, your margin for error is extremely limited,” the letter said. “I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support you and to dedicate yourself to rebuilding your life and your career. If you do this, the NFL will support you.”

Vick, once the highest-paid player in the league, said he was grateful for a second chance.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to commissioner Goodell for allowing me to be readmitted to the National Football League,” Vick said in a statement released by his agent, Joel Segal. “I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given.

“As you can imagine, the last two years have given me time to revaluate my life, mature as an individual and fully understand the terrible mistakes I have made in the past and what type of life I must lead moving forward.

The announcement came after a busy first week of freedom for Vick, who met with union leaders and Goodell on consecutive days last week. His 23-month federal sentence ended when an electronic monitor was removed from his ankle early on July 20 at his home in Hampton, Va.

He met with DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, last Tuesday and, on Wednesday, he sat down with Goodell at a security firm in Allendale, N.J.

Goodell suggested that preventing Vick from playing at the start of the regular season wasn’t a punishment but an opportunity for the quarterback to gradually make a transition back into the league.

“I have thought about every alternative, but I think this gives him the best chance for success,” Goodell said. “We are not looking for failure here. We are looking to see a young man succeed.”

But Vick’s issues are far from over and he needs a team to call his own. Already, the owners of the New York Giants and New York Jets said they have no interest in the 29-year-old quarterback, who was officially released by the Falcons last month.

Vick filed for bankruptcy protection last July, listing assets of about $16 million and debts of more than $20 million, and has a hearing about his plan to repay his creditors on Friday in Newport News, Va. That plan is built around his ability to make NFL-type money again.

He’s unlikely to command anything close to the 10-year, $130 million contract he once had with the Falcons, or to get endorsement deals after the grisly details of his involvement in the dogfighting ring.

Vick finally pleaded guilty after his three co-defendants had already done so. They told of how Vick participated in the killing of dogs that didn’t perform well in test fights by shooting, hanging, drowning or slamming them to the ground.

Vick’s appearances at federal court in Richmond, Va., all came with large groups of protesters outside. Many were with PETA and held signs depicting photographs of Pit Bulls ravaged in dogfights and decrying the brutality in the gruesome details that emerged in the case.

A smaller group came to show support for Vick wearing jerseys with his No. 7.

Vick has already taken some steps to begin rebuilding his image and showing remorse.

He met with the president of the Humane Society of the United States while serving the first 18 months of his federal sentence in the prison at Leavenworth, Kan. He plans to work with HSUS in a program designed to steer inner city youth away from dogfighting. He was not permitted to work with the program while in custody.

“I know that he’s thrilled, and I’m happy to have the process moving in the right direction,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said.

“It’s been a long process,” Segal added. “He’s thrilled for the opportunity to resume his playing career. He understands he has a lot to prove.”

Well..now thats he's in,Im wondering what team will take that chance with him?My Bucs were interested,but public backlash made them ease off of him.Whatever team gets him should get ready for a media frenzy

he is like the plague! When he does end up playing, PETA, protesterS, and any anIMAL lover out there is going to cause hell at the games...HES NOT WORTH IT...

FUCKIN LOSER!

Hey this commissioner is a hard ass and isn't putting up with any shit. I'm all for it. Sure he could have put Vick right back in, but he deserved some form of punishment from the NFL. This is the kind of guy the NFL needed to get people back in line and act like decent people. The NBA could use a guy like this.

weused2luvhim said:

He was already suspended by the NFL before he went to jail, Roger is now just piling on, especially since he's not going to a team right away. And although the NBA has its problems, they pale in comparison to the mess football players are constantly involved in. When's the last time a basketball player killed somebody?
[Edited 7/27/09 15:31pm]

SCNDLS said:

There are a lot more players in the NFL than in the NBA. Granted nobody in NBA has killed anyone yet, it'll happen before long. Of course football players are just meaner the basketball players also. The brutality of the sport has to be taken in to account also.

SCNDLS said:

T.O. shocked the hell out of me, and scored major cool points for standing up for Vick. He might be an asshole at times, but at least we know now that T.O. has big balls.

Terrell Owens is a dumbass. He doesn't have any balls - just a big mouth.

I don't know why Vick is going to work with inner city kids to keep them out of dogfighting. I am not aware that dogfighting is big with inner city kids. I thought dogfighting was popular in rural areas. I don't know why Vick doesn't go straight to his old hometown, and straight to where he knows dogfighting goes on, and do his work there.

Goodell's decision is weird. I guess he figured if Vick played in a regular season game without any preseason work, he'd get hurt. No games, then two games, then no games, then the regular season - if you can figure that out, you're a better man than me.

I think Vick's chances of finding work are slim. The way the economy is, I doubt any team can afford the loss of season tickets that signing Vick could create. Four years ago, no problem.

Now, every penny counts.

missfee said:

interesting. You don't see many pro players laying it on the line. TO takes a lot of heat for being self-aggrandizing. He doesn't gain anything for these comments, this time.

RodeoSchro said:

The Niners could use a qb.

RodeoSchro said:

Let me bring you to North Philadelphia where dogfighting is big,right along with cockfighting.Do you think all of those guys in the inner city are walking around breeding PitBulls for protection? I also think Goodell's decision is to let the season start (along with season ticket holders getting their comfort level in) and then a team can see by week four if they need Vick or not.If a team looks horrible and get Vick,they fans might not be as against it.

HE SHOULD HAVE DONE SOME TIME BUT NOT THAT MUCH TIME.

amorbella said:

PETA. Puleeeze

phunkdaddy said:

amorbella said:

Yeah, football fans for PETA . . .

phunkdaddy said:

People Eating Tasty Animals....meat is murder....tasty, tasty murder....

If only they had that same kind of passion for actual humans.... I love animals, but I think I'll save my outrage for the inner city streets that are running red with PEOPLE blood....

SCNDLS said:

There are a lot more football players than basketball players, ergo, more incidents.

missfee said:

He's always an asshole.
He doesn't have to know what he's talking about to talk.

ThreadBare said:

He gained cred in this thread didn't he?

SUPRMAN said:

Cred doesn't pay his bills.

reneGade20 said:

I know, right. Isn't a football made of pigskin?? So, if they're gonna protest Vick, they should've BEEN protesting the NFL just for that.

I swear, some people value an animal's life more than their fellow brother's/sister's.

SUPRMAN said:

.....and neither do others.

phunkdaddy said:

FUCK PETA!! Bunch of phonies.

uPtoWnNY said:

Tri Co-sign.

SUPRMAN said:

Even on a percentage basis there are STILL more arrests and charges filed against football players than NBA players. Again, when's the last time a basketball player killed someone, shot someone, killed a dog, was charged with domestic abuse, or even murdered by somebody else, etc? EVERY season in the NFL there's a new case. I do think that football's inherrent violence, repetitive head injuries, and rampant steroid usage are factors in this. But there are definitely more crimes committed by NFL'ers.

ThreadBare said:

And some of the shit he said was actually inflammatory and could've resulted in backlash from Goodell and he said it anyway. There's no upside to him publically backing Vick at all.

Turns out that Jeff Benedict's data was skewed and he ended up acknowledging to the NFL and NBA that he used incomplete information to generate his statistics. Who would think a Mormon lawyer would make shit up?
[Edited 7/28/09 7:18am]