No More Vick-tory

The sorry saga of Michael Vick is finally near its conclusion.

In short, Police found dog breeding and mating devices (something called a "rape stand", among others) in a property owned by Vick, the Atlanta Falcons star quarterback. Disturbingly, dog carcasses have also been found in the property, with evidence suggesting that some of the dogs that have been especially bred for an underground and illegal dog-fighting ring, allegedly sponsored by Vick, have been executed in an inhumane manner (i.e., by hanging or drowning).

While vehemently denying his involvement at first, Vick saw his situation becoming bleaker and bleaker when a number of his "friends" decided to turn against him and entered into plea agreement with the authorities.

Seeing nowhere to go to, Vick finally and belatedly decided to enter a guilty plea to some of the lesser charges, and promised to co-operate fully with the authorities by revealing everything he knows about any offences committed (not limited to the offences above). His next destination? Possible jail time of one to two years, which will be decided in December by the trial judge who has a reputation of being "tough but fair."

A star athlete facing a long jail term? It's simply unheard of.

Vick has no one but himself to blame for his fall from grace. His initial denial shows how much he has underestimated the seriousness of the situation. His decision not to enter into a plea agreement with the authorities as early as possible is even more mind-boggling. Instead, he foolishly believed that his friends wouldn't turn against him and thus, unfortunately, became the easy prey for others involved and now has nowhere to go.

Good decision-making is arguably the most important quality of a successful quarterback. Judging by this incident alone, you just can't trust Vick as a leader for your team on the field anymore.

Not to say he can't be trusted as an honourable person either.

What's worse, Vick has been asked to return a huge portion of the signing bonuses to the Falcons, and has lost all his major sponsors.

While he might have won some big money from the dog-fighting ring, he now stands to lose somewhere close to $100 million thanks to his poor judgment, arrogance and stupidity.

Not to say this could also mean that his once-promising football career is over.