NIKE should drop Michael Vick

Why is Michael Vick still in the NFL and why does he still have a deal with NIKE? The fact that neither has dropped him is shameful. What are they waiting for? NIKE only needs to look a few miles from their headquarters at what happened to Portland Trail Blazer Qyntel Woods who was charged with dog fighting.

When most people think of dog fighting they think of two adult pit bulls going at each other in a ring. If that were all there were to it that would be repulsive enough. The truly disgusting part of this crime is how the dogs are trained. Puppies are bred specifically for viciousness.

At an early age their aggression is tested in puppy fights. Puppies not displaying enough viciousness are either killed outright or, more often, used as “bait” for training mature dogs. The puppies are thrown into a pit with an adult dog specifically so that that dog can literally rip them to pieces. Dozens of bait dogs may be killed in the course of training one fighting dog. Dog fighters often troll the “free to good home” ads in local papers for bait dogs. People who think they’re giving a puppy or adult dog away to a good home may be giving it to a sadist who will kill it cruelly.

In my book dog fighting is exceeded as a crime only by murder, rape and child molestation and its practitioners every bit as dangerous to society. I cannot conceive of the evil that must live in one’s soul to enjoy such cruelty. Would someone who tortures small animals balk at doing violence to people? Don’t the FBI profilers tell us serial killers all start out by torturing and killing animals?

My personal hope is that Michael Vick will be convicted for his crimes and receive the maximum sentence. He’s a twisted man who doesn’t deserve the national sports spotlight.

To anyone who might declare “innocent until proven guilty” – I’ve seen the aerial and close up photos of his dog fighting compound. Anyone with a facility like that is guilty as sin. The longer NIKE and the NFL wait until the final verdict, the more they will be viewed as complicit.