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.

Sometimes you get that for which you wish. . . .

While it's true that Ron Mexico took the coward's way out of more severe racketeering charges and will reap the enormous benefits of a federal system that rewards expedition, he's still going to jail.

Thank you God and thank you lawful society for proving that  these atrocities may go under-punished, but at least will not go unpunished. And while we're at it, thank goodness for Roger Goodell for doling out the absolutely perfect punishment.

SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY!!!!!

How sweet is that? What will the NAACPWM (NAACPwithMoney, that is) have to say about this? They can't cry that it's too long. They can't cry that the punishment is too severe. All they can do is thretaen to cry if it goes on too long. But by the time Vick leaves prison 1-2 years later, maybe a good deal worse for wear, never having been an effective QB anyway, will the NAACPWM consider him such a hot topic? Likely not. They'll probably have a richer perp to prop up as poster child for "rehabilitation".

The irony is, Goodell's NFL suspension of Vick won't even take effect until after the NFL's most exciting felon has done his time. And Vick better practice up on his contrition because his "blame everybody else" sneer isn't going to go over too well with his judge. He'd be wise to get some Botox and humility lessons before his sentencing hearing or the judge will likely depart above the federal guidelines, both for the sentence and 3-year minimum supervised release. Needless to say, Vick's PO will be far less likely (if Vick continues his sneering) to allow the Atlanta Felon to leave the state for away games essentially making him (more) useless to any NFL team willing to tackle the PR nightmare of signing such a sick perp.

So even if Goody is kind, and only give Vick a year, he's done for this season. He likely won't start  his sentence until November, and even is he gets as little as 18 months, his best bet is August 2009. But is Goodell going to let a felon with such a gruesome case and conviction get away with just a year. In light of what we've seen for even near offenders, the answer is no.

I'm thinking Mike meets with the Good Commish in 2009 and gets a 2-3 year vacation, making him eligible for NFL play in 2011 at the earliest. How fitting that would be.

Mike had better practice up on wiping that pig faced sneer of his disgraceful mug, because it doesn't get any easier for the ex-QB. He'd better practice up on owning up and other acts of contrition like his life depends on it, because his life does depend on it.

You see, when it comes to the Federal System, no one is as slippery as Mike Vick thought he was. But if he even thinks he's got a shot at returning to the NFL, he'd better learn, right quick, to admit that he's exactly the scumbag the indictment shows him to be. Or he's going to be facing more time and more suspension.

That's how the crime and punishment system works Mikey, those who don't repent don't get our early.

Then again, maybe he'll love Arena Ball. All the NFL rejects go there.  

We know that the same attorneys, who on the day of his arraignment boldly professed that it was "the first step in proving his innocence", have now meekly recommended that he take his first steps in an orange jumper.

We know that the reminaing two of his three co-defendants have implicated Vick as the bankroller and willing animal murderer in the "BadNewz" operation.

Yesterday, even Arthur Blank has turned to less than subtle messages to his team's ex-"QB"about how he lied to the Falcons and The NFL. He went on to say that he anticipated a plea deal last night.  

Yet Friday came and went. Proving further just what Mike Vick is all about. It shouldn't surprise us. Mike Vick is all about Mike Vick, and he's really stupid too. Any QB who flips off his home fans and throws his team mates and coaches under the bus obviously thinks he's not responsible for his work. Not responsible for developing into an even average QB, not responsible for improving his game above sandlot level, and not responsible for bankrolling and particpating in the gruesome torture and murder of defenseless animals.

Vick's disregard for the owner, the organization, his team mates and decent society in general is consistent with psychopaths and sociopaths alike. Sick, selfish, and sleazy perps do the kind of things Vick does and of course, they expect to get away with it. It's sad to say, but those characters behave that way because of their utter disregard for others.

So while I had expected Vick's attorneys to usher in a plea deal yesterday. I'm completely unsurprised that Ron Mexico did not take their advice. He's gripping tightly to the notion  that the laws of decent society do not apply to him.

I chuckle at the press's repeated statements that Vick's team is "negotiating" a plea deal with the Government. It doesn't work that way, especially when the star defendant has nothing to offer because all of his co-defendants have prepared to testify against him. Perhaps Vick is considering handing over his dope dealer or supplier, so that could be slowing a deal. Short of that, the Government hands the defendant the deal and the defendant signs it, with no guarantees by the way.

So for at least the present, it appears that Vick is willing to continue to hang the Falcons out to dry, all while making the worst decision this side of buying tickets on the Titanic.

He mustn't be considering the fact that the Feds don't pursue superceding indctments with lesser charges. That if he waits another day or so he'll be looking at racketeering charges. The instant that new indictment hits, the old deal is off the table, and his "high priced" mouthpiece is trying to cut twenty instead of six.

Of course RMex is stupid/selfish enough to think that, despite a tidal wave of evidence against him, he can somehow walk away from this. That's how sociopaths and psycopaths think.

But he's kidding himself. As are many of you, if you're thinking it doesn't get worse every second from here on in. Kidding himself if he thinks he'll ever don an NFL uniform again. Kidding himself if he thinks the press or the fans will ever forgive him if he goes to trial and the gory, posterized blowups of his sickness are writ large for the public to see.

As Bill Simmons would say, "the guy has a fork in his back". In this case it's a pitchfork, because that's what they use to shovel shit.

So maybe that's why Vick is sitting and waiting. After all, he's not used to getting caught, is he? He's spent a career avoiding punishment and racing away unscathed. So for his sake, one of those high priced sleaze-protectors should sit him down and tell him that this isn't the Georgia Dome in which he's playing, and he's not merely trying to slip a tackle. The game was over the minute the Feds started the clock.

Mike Vick betta recognize, brutha's. He's playing in a whole new league now. Everbody gets tackled in this game.