Michael Vick is back, concurrent with the increase in the market

LOL...my husband (huge eagles fan) has been on the phone for the last 20 mins about Vick. It IS the news!

hubby is still chatting about it....only night he's been home this week before midnight too. c'est la vie!

Is your husband an animal hater too?

yes pasrli. Eagles fan = animal hater. Obviously.

figures. uwsanimalhater should be in jail for 2 years too. What the heck? Does he hate dogs more than cats?

bored huh?

no, this guys is repulsive

how much is he getting?

wow. eagles fan here. totally shocked by the signing. very intrigued and cautiously excited. but the media frenzy will be crazy.

bigdude - hubby is shocked as well. our phone won't stop ringing either! :(

The guy has paid his dues and deserves a second chance. Hats off to the Eagles. Smart move.

Paid his dues? They should have done to him what he did to the dogs. Payback is a bitch.

killing animals is one of the criteria used in determining risk of psychopathology in children. i'm not sure what it means when a grown man does it. my husband claims its not that abnormal in the "dogfighting culture". all very strange....

though, i suppose its very normal to kill animals in hunting, farming, etc. People are just extremely sentimental about dogs...

torn on this issue.

playing football for $millions is a privilege, not a right. so i don't buy the argument that he deserves to play in the league because he's paid his dues - it's not all about whether he has the talent, but the NFL as a business needs to weigh the + versus - impact of allowing him to play.

then again, plenty of people in the NFL and other legit businesses hunt for sport. i don't think that's any better or worse than what he did and yet there isn't a huge public backlash on that. Brett Favre never caught flak for shooting deer. why not? because dogs are somehow more important in the chain than deer, fish, bears, etc.? i don't see much of a difference.

at the end of the day though, i guess i don't care which way this one went. if he was banned from the league, no big deal, many more players like him. if he was not banned, great, it'd be fun watching him. if he has the speed and agility he once showed, he's an intriguing addition to any team. that is a fast eagles offense. should be fun to watch, if nothing else.

drdrd - so what should we do to those who hunt for pleasure? shoot them all in the head?

i don't have a beef with those who think he should be punished. but at a minimum, the application of punishment / perception should be consistent for all, which i don't think it is.

are you really going to compare breeding and training dogs to fight to the death with going deer hunting?

Manually strangling puppies? You're seriously okay with this?

Animal abuse and torture is one sign of future serial killers.

What Vick did was far, far different from hunting.

a better comparison would be cockfighting, also illegal. Had he been arrested for that, there wouldn't be nearly as much public outcry. As previously stated, people are extremely sentimental about dogs. Not condoning what he did, just saying....

What he did was horrible but Michael Vick paid his debt to society and merits a second chance. The guy that really pisses me off is Donte Stallworth. He kills a man and ends up serving just 24 days.

"Animal abuse and torture is one sign of future serial killers." - mostly indicative in children. not so much for adults...

i don't see much of a difference. both actually disgust me equally. how's it any better "tracking" down a defenseless animal and blowing a hole in its head. just so you can stick its antlers over your fireplace. seems pretty lame and pointless to me.

i'm not defending his actions. but as UWSmom points it, people are sentimental about dogs and i'm convinced most of this outrage is driven by that. and i tend to be pretty rational and not driven by emotion / sentiment, and get annoyed when others are in personal and work life.

and, to put a finer point on uwsmom's point, [Western civilization] is sentimental about dogs. i and many other asians don't really care. i eat it when i see it on a menu while travelling. doesn't mean i agree with senseless killing of them, or any other animal for them.

of course, others would argue that i'm no better for eating animals...

so why do you think hunting is legal and encouraged and breeding dogs to fight to the death is against the law and considered contemptible?

cc- perhaps b/c its needless. As I told my husband, if Vick and company had eaten the dogs, he may have had a better chance ;)

cc - don't really know. but then again, the law doesn't always make sense. maybe b/c as uwsmom says, dogs are more sentimental. nobody cares about the deer that eat our trees and crash into our cars. like i said, i find both to be disgusting and silly.

Alpine had the following commentary on the Vick signing:

http://tinyurl.com/6nyjhl

>Western civilization is sentimental about dogs. i and many other asians don't really care. i eat it when i see it on a menu while travelling. doesn't mean i agree with senseless killing of them.

I'm pretty sure you seeing it on a menu means there has been some senseless killing.

It's too bad more Asians aren't sentimental about their food. Whale, dolphin, shark, reef species, rhino and others are routinely slaughtered for Asian superstition.

wow, some of you. real gems.

This is not about being sentimental about animals. Even those who kill deer for sport and not for food make sure that a kill is clean and aren't out for animal suffering. This guy was out for animal suffering. He's psycho.

You want this guy around your kids? No. So why do you want him on TV for your kids to watch, as if this behavior is ok.

Paid his debt to society? Ah, so now he's a good person? You want this guy around your kids?

sevansbk - please. who is sentimental about their food? western civilization, who destroys massive amounts of ocean and forest to raise gluttonous amounts of chicken and cows, and then slaughters said chicken and cows in more "humane" ways like the brain bolt? why is it ok to sell tons of chilean sea bass and bluefin tuna at whole foods, yet the outrage against sharks and whales? Because americans like seabass and tuna, but not shark and whale? but i digress...

antonyG - i agree with you in some sense. it's the explicit act of training and subjecting the animals to tremendous pain that really was disgusting. he is nuts. but at the end of the day, I just can't separate two acts where the end is ultimately about killing for sport. i'm equally disgusted.

don't want vick around my kid, but then i've never held athletes or celebrities as heroes or anything more than entertainers. i want to watch a good football game and if he still has his rocket arm and 4.2 speed and helps the eagles win, great. and hopefuly, along the way, he can do something for the dogfighting issue that is rampant in philly. his advisor even mentioend it as a reason he's signing in philly.

"This is not about being sentimental about animals. Even those who kill deer for sport and not for food make sure that a kill is clean and aren't out for animal suffering. This guy was out for animal suffering. He's psycho."

Spot on. My problem is more that we aggrandize this psychopath. Torture is not in any way similar to hunting. Anyone read about happened to his dogs? Because I am more than happy to post links.

The problem is that by allowing him to return to being a celebrity, you give the other non-celebrity psychopaths the idea that it's okay to do this stuff. Both cockfighting and dogfighting are on the rise. Any dog owners out there happy about the prospect of your dog getting lost or stolen and torn apart for "training"? I kind of imagine not.

but he could help the team win.

150 yrs = stealing money from your friends...Bernie Madoff
2yrs = killing some dogs...Michael Vick
24 days = killing people...Donte Stallworth

AR, so could a lot of people. Also I don't really give a rat's tail which teams win.

evnyc, joke. in poor taste, but meant as irony.

i'm in no way an advocate of abuse, in any form.

"Torture is not in any way similar to hunting."

What do you call shooting an animal for 'sport' and following its blood trail as it slowly bleeds to death?

AR, I'm sorry, I should have known better. Obviously I feel strongly about it.

Corlearshook, I love your name, and believe me I'm no fan of hunting either. But there is a difference between severely and repeatedly injuring an animal over time before strangling it to death. Sportsmanlike hunters, of which there are unfortunately few, will track the animal and kill it as quickly as possible.

Oops, sorry, got distracted: "But there is a difference between severely and repeatedly injuring an animal over time before strangling it to death AND a relatively quick and painless death."

There really is no nice way out of this world.

evnyc - so should we kill him? is it ok for someone you are basically calling a psycopath to be a clerk in a store or a gas station attendant or a real estate broker, just not a football player? or should he be in jail for life? He committed a crime, and served out his sentence. he is bankrupt, lost 2+ years out of a career that best case is 15yrs, all of his endorsements, etc. - his earning power has, rightfully, been crushed.
This is America - we believe in 2nd chances, and you can't fully judge him until you see how he continues to respond.

and i say this as a huge Giants fan. I hope the surrounding publicity circus and inevitable catcalls from the fans to bench McNabb after his inevitable 2 game slump bring the team down.

He should be forced to scrub out stalls and provide basic veterinary care for animals at the Humane Society until he learns some empathy towards animals. I'm pretty sure jail doesn't teach anyone anything except how to be a better criminal.

I'm quite sure his earning power will be just fine. And respectfully, printer, I can and do judge. What he did was abominable.

"The problem is that by allowing him to return to being a celebrity, you give the other non-celebrity psychopaths the idea that it's okay to do this stuff."

Not so sure about that. The guy lost all his money and went to jail for 2 years. I think he was punished pretty harshly and an example was made.

"playing football for $millions is a privilege, not a right. so i don't buy the argument that he deserves to play in the league because he's paid his dues - it's not all about whether he has the talent, but the NFL as a business needs to weigh the + versus - impact of allowing him to play."

Clearly they have and have decided to let him play. I do agree a league can reject anyone for any reason...like a coop board. Right of association.

Printer - couldn't agree more -
evnyc - work for the humane society? What? so does that mean you want every child molester to work at a day care until they can learn to stop molesting kids? Should bank robbers have to work at banks after they're out?

The guy did the crime - he pleaded guilty - he served his time - he lost millions of dollars and his reputation - now let him go back to work even, if his work will provide him millions.

The animal loving crazies are out of control in our society.

Its the NFLs reputation to risk and the governments job to punish the offense itself. What the fuck are the rest of you talking about?

rhino, jazzman, on the same page as you.

Okay, let's look at how Vick expresses his regret:

"For the life of me, I can't understand why I was involved in such pointless activity," Vick said. "Why did I risk so much at the pinnacle of my career?"

"'There was a point in my life where I felt it was wrong and I knew it was wrong,'' he said. ''To this day I have to live with that shame and that embarrassment.'"

"'I understand to a certain degree, but our country is a country of second chances,'' he said. ''I paid my debt to society. I spent two years in prison. ... That was a humbling experience. I can't explain how deeply hurt and how sorry I was.'"

Poor Vick! HE is clearly the one who has suffered. HE is the one who was hurt and humbled. He didn't get his teeth pulled out so that he can't eat solid foods, as he did to one of his dogs. He doesn't suffer from post-traumatic stress. It's all about HIM and how he has suffered. That's not a change. Those two years were pointless warehousing.

And you idiots parrot exactly what this guy says about his own release.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/14/sports/AP-FBN-Eagles-Vick-Signs.html

If he actually changes from the experience of working on behalf of the humane society, I'd be happy to forgive. And I'm not even going to respond to the child molester remark, because it's not in any way analogous.

"If he actually changes from the experience of working on behalf of the humane society, I'd be happy to forgive."

You actually sound like the one who thinks its all about you. You write as if your opinion means something in this matter.

I think it is a joke that it now becomes how sorry he is or how he expresses his regret...blah blah blah. He served his time. I see no reason for him to have to continue to prove how sorry he is. He doesn't need anyone on this board's forgiveness. He screwed up and most certainly won't do it again. Who cares if he really thinks what he did was wrong?

"You actually sound like the one who thinks its all about you. You write as if your opinion means something in this matter. "

This is an opinion board. Yes, the opinion means as much as your opinion. Although at least that guy isn't in favor of a sadistic psychopath.

I'm not in favor of him at all. I just realize (1) this is a real estate board, (2) I am not the NFL commissioner and (3) I am not the local prosecutor.

evnyc, with you all the way. I'm hoping for some big animal-loving D this season.

Guard your beagle, Vick's an Eagle!

Comment I saw on another blog: "It's not like he's going to spike a poodle after each touchdown this year...though that would be AWESOME!

But, remember, he declared bankruptcy... so he will only be buying 3 brooklyn condos next to the projects.

Maybe he can become a broker now.

columbiacounty
about 3 years ago
Posts: 12101
Member since: Jan 2009
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are you really going to compare breeding and training dogs to fight to the death with going deer hunting?

c0lumbiac0unty, what do you think about this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/nyregion/providing-birth-control-to-deer-in-an-overrun-village.html

vick wouldnt have served one lousy day in prison were he not some uppity multi-millionaire black football player.

and bd2103--playing football for millions of dollars is anything but a "privilege"--you sound like some loser elementary school teacher--it's his right to do anything he wants, within the confines of the law--he committed a crime, served his time, he's an amazing athlete, he was hired to do what he does--

his treatment of animals was abhorrent, but the severity of his punishment was exceptional, given the crime--you got a problem with him serving his time and going back to work, call your congressamn--get the laws more in line with your sentiments

and for those who dont want him playing in frt of their kids, get real--there are so many public figures who are poor models for our kids--youre nuts if you think you should be the arbiter of who can be a public figure based on what you want your kids seeing--parent your kids, so they can make judgements for themselves--

>you sound like some loser elementary school teacher-

What do you have against elementary school teachers?

what do you have against living a remotely normal life?

google hikikomori, then turn off your computer, and go outside for a few minutes.

hikikomoriburg--ghastly place you live

I have a great deal of respect for most school teachers.

I have little respect for teachers who harp on the "privilege" of standard circumstances.

seems obvious, but when a hikikomori like you needs to post as often as you, stoopid questions often come up.

there, ive thrown you this year's bone---enjoy---see you next year, loser

Don't flatter yourself, hikikomori seems to roll off your tongue for a reason. You've demonstrated you can't get along with family. You can't enter into a real estate deal without acrimony. You work from home rather than with colleagues. And now you have issues with elementary school teachers, what exactly did they do with your children?
I won't be marking my 2014 calendar for you.

you get a 3 post bone this year. believe me, there's no flattery in engaging you--as there's none in having an argument on the street with a mentally ill homeless person.

It is impressive how youve catalogued tiny bits of info ive provided over the years, and expanded upon nothing into some bizarre fantasyland about my children, my family, my office.......

In case you ever get anyone's goat, there is complete consolation in the fact (demonstrated clearly over years and thousands of posts on this site) that you have a sad, pathetic life.

You know nothing of mine.

There, now you'll have to wait til next year, calendar notation or not.

There's that temper again.
Funny how it rears its head on a thread about Michael Vick whom you somehow seem to defend as a victim, "Vick wouldnt have served one lousy day in prison were he not some uppity multi-millionaire black football player."
But elementary school teachers, they are the problem, " some loser elementary school teacher".
And yes, you've repeatedly attacked your ex-wife here, made comments about acrimony in your real estate dealings, seem to have trouble working with others, and then there's your odd propensity to speak like pre-teenage girl.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-eagles-michael-vick-riley-cooper-forgiven-20130731,0,7630398.story#axzz2agBLElI9

Opportunity for yikes: http://nypost.com/2013/10/17/want-to-own-a-piece-of-an-nfl-star-you-may-soon-be-able-to/

No doubt, another friend of yikes: http://nypost.com/2013/11/07/incognito-rubbed-golf-club-on-female-volunteers-privates/