Terrel Owens says he's been to dogfights down South, that they're common. Clinton Portis wasn't surprised and said that dog-fighting was no big deal. Even Stephon Marbury chimed in when the subject arose. But leave it to Whoopie Goldberg to clear it all up for us. Evidently, we should cut the ex-Falcon QB, current felon a break because dog-fighting is a "cultural thing".

Thank you Whoopie. Even though you had no answers when Joy Behar asked you if animal electrocution and murder were "cultural things", you really cleared it up for me. So I'm perfectly willing to drop my beef with Ron Mexico and those who support him with such reasoning, with only one requirement.

They just have to acknowledge that the racism, seperatism, lynchings, and murders that took place in the first half of the 20th century, were just a "cultural thing". Slavery too; just a "cultural thing". The KKK, and hate mongers in general;  just a cultural thing.

You see folks, it's very easy. Once one excuses abuse, torture and murder as a cultural affect, one doesn't get to choose which abuses, tortures and murders are acceptable.

Like Heidi Klum says, "it's fashion baby, you're either in or your out".

One either blithers ridiculous excuses for sociopathic/psychopathic behavior or they don't.

Of course I can't help but wonder, like MattFaw asked, how much Whoopie would have had to say if it was David Carr who bankrolled dogfighting and tortured and murdered animals. Would it be a "cultural thing" then, Whoop?

Actually, I don't wonder. There's no question in my mind that Whoopie would have had either nothing to say, or she would be lambasting any white QB at every turn.

Because dogfighting is not a "cultural thing". It's a gruesome excuse to experience the most base and prurient primal instincts. Just like tying black me to the back of cars and dragging them until they're torn to pieces, is not a "cultural thing". Just like raping black female slaves is not a "cultural thing". They're just acts of depravity.

So let's call it by its right name folks. Whoopie is a flaming racist, hates white people and will dive headlong at any excuse to minimize the crimes perpetrated by blacks.

Now, making excuses regardless of how heinous one's actions are, that's a "cultural thing".

(For those of you who don't understand the term 'literary device", the title is merely an effort to see how much enmity I can provoke and still get buried by the Fox webmasters)

The NFLN just broke the story that the Jacksonville Jaguars have reversed course and chosne David Garrard over the offseason anointed starter, Byron Leftwich. Not only that, Byron will be leaving town at the behest of the JAX FO.

Leave it to Rich Eisen to practically sob over Leftwich's ultimate trade or release, only 9 days before the opener. If that wasn't enough, NFLN "insider" Adam Schefter, when asked if it was a money issue, said "no it wasn't a consideration, but it was a consideration". Okay, that's not an actual quote, just satire.

But here's the secret folks, it was about money. Money and progress. Leftwich was scheduled to make over $5mm this season, and aside from his string of injuries an 50% on the field ratio the last few years, Leftwich simply wasn't getting any better as a QB. Too much money for too little progress. Forget the strories of him playing on a broken leg at Marshall. He didn;t play with a borken toenail in Jacksonville. Five years later, his release was still "sundial fast", his weight was still an issue, his energy and leadership were questionable and he just didn't put points on the board. So goodbye Byron.

Before Rich Eisen soaks another crying towel, let's not sweat for the helfty Leftwich. He'll instantly wind up either in KC, Minnestota, Oakland, Atlanta, NY (either one) Cleveland, Dallas, or maybe even Tampa Bay. I hear Gruden plans to keep 10 QB's this year. I fully expect the NAACP to hang Arthur Blank in effigy though, if he doesn't immediately trade for Leftwich and sign him to a 10-year, $150mm extension. Anything less would be racism.

Let's not start crying about how unfair it is to Leftwich, shall we? The guy collected mint for being a part time QB and never raising his game a single inch. Now some desperate team will throw another load of cash at Byron for five more years of mediocre, part-time performance. The sad fact is though, the Falcons, Vikings, Chiefs, Browns, Bucs would be  better off with Leftwich than what they have right now. Even if Vick wasn't rotting in jail where he belongs, Leftwich still is the better man in ATL. Quinn is not ready, and I won;t even mention the crumbums starting in Minnysoda, KC and the undersized retread in TB.

So big deal, the Jags cut Leftwich. They got tired of paying $5mm for an average QB who gets hurt a lot, and now they're gonna pay maybe a mil or two to a average QB who "can beat you with his arm and his legs". Translation: In a few years he'll be a backup punter or starting for an Arena league team.

They'll be a few surpirses before this weekend is over, but for me, this wasn't one of them. Players constantly hold teams hostage until the last minute with the cry "it's just business". So Wayne Weaver kept Leftwich until the 11th hour even though the FO and staff didn't have faith in him. Well, you reap what you sow guys.  Loyalty is no longer a noun in NFL parlance for either side. It's a business, you know.

What a wonderful world in which we live, especially the good ole' USA.

It wasn't more than a few moments after Ron Mexico's brutally uncomfortable, sluggardly and ineloquent "apology" speech, that a legion of wonderfully forgiving folks started singing about a 2nd chance.

One brief and disingenuous act of contrition and how soon we forget:

We forget that he engaged in animal cruelty, brutality and murder for over 6 years.

We forget that he lied to both the man who handed him the biggest contract in NFL history (on pure speculation) and the Game's Commissioner about his culpability.

We forget that he hired one of the top-priced mouthpieces in DC, with every intention of evading responsibility and avoiding prosecution.

We forget that he never so much as whispered a word of regret or a smidgen of responsibility until the Feds had the cell door slammed and locked.

So now that his huge contract is a memory, his career in the ATL is over, and his chance to play in the NFL (ever) is tenuous at best, Mike Vick is sorry.

No Mike, I'm sorry.

I'm not buying it. Everything about Vick's character tells me he's a bad guy. The only thing he's "sorry" about is getting caught. That's made obvious by the 11th hour nature of his single act of contrition.

It took Vick seven seasons to not learn how to play QB. Does anyone honestly think one or two years off will make him learn to be a decent human being?

The kind of people who torture and kill animals are also the kind of people who torture and kill humans.

So yes, we do live in the land of 2nd chances, and that's a great thing. But there's no constitutional amendment guaranteeing a 2nd chance to sociopaths. And those who were taken in by Vick's sedate(d) and disingenuous allocution might want to consider if they would be so quick to speak the speak of rehabilitation had Vick tortured and murdered fifty men and women.

His Most Humble . . . .

So Mike Vick manufactures an act of contrition, and a press, worried about looking "judgmental" and "racist" describes the act as a "good first step". I'm not so sure.

I can't be the only one who noticed how desperately uncomfortable the, formerly "above the law",  ex-QB looked in making his first  relevant statement to the public since the story broke. He looked about as humble as Donald Trump's comb-over.

Sure he cited the three musts from "contrition for dummies" handbook. "Accept responsibility, found Jesus, ask forgiveness . . . ." but even those bare necessities sounded canned and disingenuous coming from a sedate(d) soft-spoken, Ron Mexico.

So pardon me, kids, if I'm not floating on the raft of poop Vick just set adrift. Just because he's managed to stop himself from flippping the bird at the fans and society in general, doesn't mean I believe he's on a mission from God now. The only think Vick has ever been able to fake was being an NFL QB.

Guys I'm Pulling For . . . .

Duante Culpepper

Hating the Raiders as only a Steeler fan can, it's hard to cop to cheering for any Raider. But I can't be more hopeful for anyone in the NFL than Duante Culpepper. Yes, Culpepper underperformed a huge deal in Minnysoda, and got the eight train. But what happened to him in Miami was unbelievably unfair. Regardless of the notion that Culpepper is a streaky QB whose streaks seem to last entire seasons, I've always loved his bazooka arm and his athletic ability. Aside from that, this Jamarcus Russel saga is bordering on insanity. The guy's never taken a snap and he's holding out over bonus money? For Culpepper's sake. I hope Russell continues his bizarre combination of idiocy and greed until Duante has at least enough time to prove that Miami was a fiasco.

Joey, formerly Joseph, (aka Joey) Harrington

While I'm not necessarily a Harrington believer, could a QB land in two worse spots than Detroit and Miami recently? Besides, I'd like nothing more than seeing the Falcons emerge from the poop-storm Vick tossed on them, to become a competitive franchise by playing an actual QB at QB. Maybe Harrington got what he deserved, maybe he just sucks. But no franchise and no city full of fans should be punished to death for putting their faith in a player who chose to immediatley and repeatedly shit on them.

Add to that the fact that Harrington, by a shade, is a better QB over his career than Vick, and gets sacked less often. Atlanta and the rest of NFL fans need to accept the reality that QB position does not require re-inventing. Every QB who the media ever labeled as re-inventing the position re-invented themselves out of a job.

What a wonderful lesson to be learned if the Falcons survive and even thrive with a QB at QB.

Guys I wish would stay home . . . . .

Priest Holmes

Don't get me wrong, It's impossible to dislike Priest Holmes as a man or a ball player. But at this point, you have to ask; why? KC is not a SB contender, and the odds priest would be released (if he even makes the roster) to sign with a contender are minimal. But the odds that he could be seriously injured in game action are high enough to wonder what is driving this man. As a RB, he has nothing to prove. As a competitor, he has nothing to prove. And I haven't heard that he's run out of money . . . .

What frightens me is the mere possibility that one of the NFL's class acts and former best talents will take just one more hit. One more that stops him from leaving the field for the last time, under his own power. That's something I'd rather not see happen.

I never played pro-ball, but I suited in High-School. I still remember the click-clack of those cleats on the cement, the sense of invincibility one gets when donning the pads and helmet, and the absolute thrill of performing for the folks cheering you on. i can only imagine how hard it is to move on from the biggest stage, in the niggest game in pro sports. I hear the longing in Sterling Sharpe's voice every time I see him on TV, his career cut short by a neck problem. But then I think of the late Darryl Stingley and it makes me wish Priest would move on.

Vinny Interceptaverde

Oh please. What is this guy, 65 now. So he's played in every decade since Edison invented the light bulb, big deal. I get the feeling Belichick keeps inviting him back for doing time with him in Cleveland . I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. You can get a much younger, 2nd rate QB to play 3rd fidlle for a lot less money than a 73-year veteran. And he'll probably throw fewer game busting picks.

That's what kills me about VinnyT. It's not like he's some wise old sage, whose best days are behind him. He's a sorry old choker whose best days were in high school. I mean this is the guy Jimmy Johnson benched for the National Championship game because he tore up his leg on a motor scooter the weekend before the match. This is the guy who never met a choke he didn't like.

Bill, if Jimmy from South Park were here he'd say, "it's like, come on".

And it is Bill. "It's like, come on".

I just finished reading yet another idiotic racism rant trying to excuse Michael Vick for bankrolling and participating in disgraceful, inhuman and brutal conduct over a period of six years.

The blogger, of course, defaulted to the chalk excuse that whitey was simply working to keep the black man down. This time, by letting the case simmer until sufficient evidence existed to prosecute Ron Mexico. The he segued into the "400 years of suffering" rant that's typical of all the folks who have taken the "free lunch" route into making excuses for being society's failures.

It makes me wonder why jews don't scream about societal injustice every time they get arrested. After all, the Egyptians did a pretty good number on them. Then the Germans did a number on the jews that makes slavery look like a Sunday Brunch.

Letst we forget the Armenians, victims of a Turkish Genocide that the world refuses to acknowledge.

Yet neither of those ethnicities screams injustice as an excuse for being a criminal. I guess they're resigned to taking responsibility for their actions.

But all the crying, protesting, Martin Luther Kinging, and a whole deck of race cards doesn't erase the simple fact that Mike Vick took a plea. So even if the new racists won't admit that Mexico is guilty, Mexico does. And he knows that the worst possible thing would be for the truth of his misdeeds to be visible to the public. So just like the coward he was to begin with, he took the easy way out.

But as that poor, misguided blogger stated, we should "face the facts". So let's face them.

The facts are:

Mike Vick got a huge contract.

Mike Vick took some of that money and bankrolled animal cruelty/murder and gambling

Mike Vick participated in that enterprise for 6 years

Mike Vick lied to everyone when they caught him and made his situation much worse by insisting that he was innocent, when he was the ringleader

Mike Vick hasn't gotten what he deserved, he deserved the superceding indictment for racketeering. But the judge might fix that somewhat by departing above the guidelines.

Mike Vick broke the law repeatedly and purposefully.

He got caught by accident, when the feds were following up a drug tip. Not because they were sitting and waiting to get him.

He couldn't have made the crime any easier to prosecute if he had invited the feds to bet on the fights.

People who break the law, black, brown, white, red, yellow, or any shade in between, should go to jail. That's how just societies work.

As the author said, and I agree, Mike Vick does need help. But that doesn't exempt him from punishment. If Vick didn't see that what he was doing was wrong, that means he's not only a perpetrator, but that he's a danger to society.  One fact that hasn't arisen in the press is that animal abuse is one of the most common indicators of dormant sociopathic behavior. So this may just be the tip of Mike Vick's criminal iceberg.

So before we even acknowledge this racism BS, let's face the real facts. Mike Vick was given a long rope and now he's swinging from it. And there's only one man to blame.

That man is a black man.