The Idiot File: Michael Vick: Why Does America Honor Him, Because He Throws A Football?

Millions of people, young and old alike, want to be like Michael Vick. As well, in whatever city you travel into, there’s bound to be someone who has a Michael Vick jersey on, or at minimum has a Atlanta Falcon’s cap on.

Now, whatever dignity Michael Vick may have left is slowly evaporating.

From ESPN:

In a weekend interview with ESPN's "Outside the Lines," a source who said he's been involved in dog fighting for more than 30 years referred to Vick as one of the "heavyweights" of the dog fighting world.

"He's a pit bull fighter," the source said of Vick. "He's one of the ones that they call 'the big boys' -- that's who bets a large dollar. And they have the money to bet large money. As I'm talking about large money -- $30,000 to $40,000 -- even higher. He's one of the heavyweights."

If any of this is true, he may go down as one of the creepiest athletes who I have seen a long while. I’m a pet owner (I have a beagle), and to send animals out to fight, no matter what they are for sport is just wrong and evil.

You would think at this point, Michael Vick being a multi-millionaire many times over and the face of an NFL franchise would know better than to end up on the news for something illicit, but he, like many never learn.

Being a professional athlete is akin to being a CEO – you are the face of a company, and whatever you did, positive or negative affects the standing of it.

The news above was from this weekend; however, there’s now this.

Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter rejected a warrant to search the property formerly owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for remains of dogs, according to a television report.

ABC affiliate WVEC-TV in Virginia is reporting that Poindexter and the county sheriff "did not like the language" of the warrant approved by a state magistrate and the search was scrapped.

A warrant was requested to search Vick's former property in Surry County, Va., after an informant told authorities seven dogs were destroyed and buried on the lot in late April.

WVEC-TV reported that investigators were going to look behind the main house on the property for the remains of pit bull dogs. The informant, according to the television station's report, also described another time when up to 30 pit bulls were buried on the property.

Police raided the Vick-owned property as part of a drug investigation on April 25 and seized 66 dogs, 55 of them pit bulls, and equipment that could be associated with dog fighting.

The investigation is focused on dog fighting because while some equipment seized could be typical of a legitimate breeding operation, which Vick is registered to have, there also was a "pry bar" used to pry apart a dog's jaws, and bloodstained carpeting.

According to the warrant obtained by WVEC-TV, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General requested permission to enter a building on the backside of the property to pull up floor boards and wall boards looking for signs of blood. The USDA also wanted to search for items that might have been used to bury animal bodies, the station reported on its Web site.

In a weekend interview with ESPN's "Outside the Lines," a source who said he's been involved in dog fighting for more than 30 years referred to Vick as one of the "heavyweights" of the dog fighting world.

"He's a pit bull fighter," the source said of Vick. "He's one of the ones that they call 'the big boys' -- that's who bets a large dollar. And they have the money to bet large money. As I'm talking about large money -- $30,000 to $40,000 -- even higher. He's one of the heavyweights."

Vick, who has not been charged, has contended all along he rarely visited the home, where his cousin, Davon Boddie, lived, and has said he didn't know a large kennel on the property could be involved in criminal activity. Vick put the home up for sale shortly after the investigation began and agreed to a sale price with a buyer on the first day.

Oh please. I’m sure he knew, and is lying through his teeth. I smell a cover-up and unwillingness to potentially sully an athlete – an incredible one that.

I’m sure the investigation may or may not find anything; however, just because of all of this, I will never think of Michael Vick in the same way – guilty, or not.

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Michael Vick may think he'll get away with it, but the court of public opinion will take care of him.

We have an athlete well over a 100 million dollars here, and I know if it were any of us, we'd be up the creek right now.