Philadelphia Business Daily

Is Philadelphia, a city with a major dog fighting problem, the right place for Mike Vick?

I would have thought he'd of been directed towards a smaller city like Green Bay or Buffalo. Philadelphia, next to the big cities in the South, just may be the dog fighting capital of the country.

Public Comments

1. Good as any.
2. Mike and Mike on ESPN quoted a director of the HUman Society on Aug 12 saying that it was a good way to combat the problem. Maybe he will be used for PSA in Philly. I have a dog, a dog from a shetler, and still disagree with his second chance. I would never harm my pet.
3. Don't worry -- I doubt that he'll go near a dog in the future, he's been burned so badly..
4. Having just moved to Philly I am very disappointed with the Eagles Franchise in hiring this person. While football is a sport and a big money maker it also creates heroes to our young people today. It's sending a bad message that as long as you "Do your time" you can go back to being the center of attention in another game which has been known for demonstrations of violence. Any person, celebrity or not, talented or not, who takes their power and uses it against the weaker and less fortunate needs to never again be placed again in the position to become a hero. There is nothing in my eye that can ever erase the horrible history of this man. Although I never really considered changing favorite teams, this choice of recruiting Vick cements my relationship with the Patriots Franchise. People acting against animals need to be sent a stern message that this is a crime that cannot be forgiven. Those dogs never got a second chance and I see this person known as Michael Vick as being lower than any other creature on the face of the earth.
5. Lol Vick lost 250 million dollars theres no dog worth him touching. Alot of people forgot that he was the financier not lie he just had a fighting ring at his house and watched it
6. Um. Let me put it this way. He *visited* Buffalo, and within a few hours the Bills were already being forced to announce that he wasn't in town speaking with them, because the city already was protesting *that he came here.* I went to college in Philly (and lived there before and after), and, frankly, there are enough people there who don't think Dogfighting is a big deal to make it work.
7. No.
8. Philly's a good place for Vick for a number of reasons. First, it fits what he was looking for. He wanted to join up with a Super Bowl contending team with a solid coaching staff and an established starting quarterback. It also helps that he and McNabb are close friends going back pretty far. Second, Eagles fans do not go lightly on people in general. They threw snowballs at Santa Claus in '68. They cheered when a Cowboys player injured his neck in '99. At old Veteran's Stadium, a courtroom was set up to handle arrests. It would be much different if Vick went to, say, the Raiders. The fans have come to expect this type of behavior from most of their players. Vick will be on a shorter....er, "leash" in Philly. Third, the Eagles organization is not one that puts up with any shenanigans, and that goes from the top down. Dallas is the kind of team that will happily take on problem players and only let them go when the NFL bans them. People in Philly such as Andy Reid and, to an even greater extent, owner Jeffery Lurie have proven themselves to be well-grounded, ethically conscious, and pretty forceful in making sure the people under them act that way too. Lurie was probably the toughest sell in making this go through, and he took a lot of convincing. In the end, though, he was convinced that Vick is deserving of a second chance, and if you have the chance to familiarize yourself with just what sort of man Lurie is, you'll see that his assent is no small thing. McNabb is the quarterback that Vick tried to model himself after ever since he came in the league. He's the right guy to have with Vick to help him out- if any part of you wants Vick to succeed, that is. The Eagle's higher-ups are the right kind of people to handle something like this, and Vick won't be operating under any illusions of third and fourth chances while he's there. And if Vick gives the Eagles fans anything- and I mean anything- to complain about, they will let him have it. You saw what they were doing to McNabb last year, and he's a darn good quarterback who absolutely plays his heart out. Taking these things into consideration, I think Philly is the best place for Vick on a variety of levels. I don't think there's any other quarterback that would work as well, and maybe two or three other coaching staffs/ownerships that would be comparable. I don't know anything about the actual stats on dogfighting in Philly, but even if it's pretty bad, I don't think it will be much of a problem. It certainly wasn't a huge factor in the decision-making process, and I don't think it should have been.
9. I sure hope so Prospero.