Two Minutes to Midnight in Vick Case

Preheat case to Media Frenzy, cook until Friday, serves one [cell]

There are enough details out there now that you don't have to be Jeffrey Toobin (shoutout to CNN, thanks for picking up my last piece even though the image I used in that post had drugs, profanity and a possible Hollywood copyright violation in it, I'm prepared to negotiate for a regular column, have your people call mine*) to figure out what's happening with Michael Vick.

He has until now, this hour to accept a plea deal. Michael's lawyers are trying to get him less than a year in jail but the feds are not inclined to grant that request because if they were we would have already read about it already. His co-defendants have alreay entered guity pleas, and AP reports that Michael is trying to make a deal as we speak (or rather as I write or more specifically as I type).

His maximum exposure is six years in prison so we know the feds are not demanding that, since at that point Michael would have no reason to accept a deal, better to fight it in court and try to sway a jury. I would guess the feds are offering three years with maybe a credit for good behavior or using his profile as a fallen star to educate others.

And if Michael does not accept the plea deal, which I have variously read half his legal team does not want him to do (of course! They are not facing jail, they are expensive attorneys and they get paid more for a longer trial and appeals! Even now Michael has hangers-on), there are other charges coming out, probably more complex ones related to racketeering and more heartstring-tugging ones related to animal cruelty.

And it's been at least a week since I heard anything about Michael being a person of interest in a dogfighting investigation in Arizona...

Meanwhile, tough guy commissioner Roger Goodell swears this isn't hurting football.


When did football become about crime and politics?



* Update: CNN appears to have taken down the link to Curly R from this article. I guess maybe the drug references, profanity and possible Hollywood copyright violation were off-putting after all. But I'm still here, waiting for CNN to call.

Doomsday Clock from here.