00:00michael vick was one of the most popular athletes in the world and also one of the highest paid
00:12but one major mistake changed his trajectory and ruined his career let's take a look back
00:20at the shocking incident and find out what actually happened
00:24with the first selection in the 2001 nfl draft the atlanta falcons select michael vick quarterback
00:34virginia tech michael quickly established himself in the nfl as an elite player
00:41he garnered tons of attention for his explosive rushing ability in the quarterback position
00:47the lefty also had a strong throwing arm in his arsenal as well
00:50he was often considered a new age qb by sports commentators his play on the field was exciting to
00:58watch and many football fans gravitated toward his style of play he was heavily scouted by
01:06defensive coordinators but still incredibly hard to stop on the field the game was always winnable
01:12when vick had the ball for multiple seasons he would dominate in the national football league
01:18his fame had rapidly exceeded many star players he had big endorsement deals and also was one of the
01:26leaders in merchandise sales all the kids following his games wanted to be like mike and he was often
01:34seen as a quality role model for the youth however one unforeseen scandal would shed a light on the man off
01:42the field michael's cousin devon was arrested on drug charges when in police custody he provided standard
01:52information for their police records for his current residence he listed an address which was a property
01:59that vic owned in surrey county virginia the police went even further with their investigation of the drug
02:06bust a search warrant was granted and executed on the property he had listed what the police would
02:14find was shocking to say the least authorities searching the property found things that would
02:19indicate dog fighting had taken place such as blood-stained carpets this led to probable cause for
02:27another warrant to further investigate what was going on at this location apparently during vic's rookie
02:33year he along with a few other of his mates began a dog training and breeding venture only it wasn't
02:40just dog breeding and training going on bad news kennels was a state-of-the-art dog fighting operation
02:48the property had a fence that surrounded the area so the unlawful activities taking place would not be
02:54visible to the public eye the facility housed over 54 pitbulls and around 70 dogs in total it was filled
03:03with multiple breeding stations other equipment like treadmills were used to work the dogs out for
03:09optimal physical condition and animal performance enhancing drugs was also found on the property
03:16dog fights would be set up usually at night and attendees would gamble thousands of dollars
03:23it was quite an exclusive event allegedly only 12 or so people were invited to participate
03:29the united states department of agriculture executed their own search warrant and they found the
03:37remains of six to eight dogs in two mass graves allegedly if dogs couldn't continue fighting they
03:44would be put down in gruesome ways there were reports of hanging drowning shooting and even electrocution
03:51that took place vic among others would be charged by a federal grand jury with conspiring to engage in
03:58competitive dog fighting vic and his co-defendants initially pled not guilty to the charges in the
04:04indictment but with so much evidence stacked against them they decided to cooperate with law enforcement
04:12michael signed a plea agreement and statement of facts admitting to conspiracy in a dog fighting ring
04:18the nfl commissioner then suspended him indefinitely without pay
04:22in his first public statement vic apologized for his actions now i take this opportunity just to speak
04:30from the heart first i want to apologize
04:38you know for all the things that that i've done and that i've allowed to happen
04:43i want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts and uh you know what i did was
04:58what i did was very immature so that means i need to grow up i accept the responsibility for my actions
05:06and what i did and now i have to pay the consequences for it vic still however was sent
05:13to 23 months in federal prison companies that were proud to sponsor vic now wanted nothing to do with
05:20him due to his inability to pay financial debts vic resorted to filing for bankruptcy while in prison
05:28his career was up in the air his talent was unquestionable but would teams want to hire the man
05:36at the center of so many negative headlines these dogs have no one to speak for them they have no voice
05:43all they can do is bark so it's it's up to us to uh be their voice now bruce i just want to get
05:50your initial reaction because people are talking about michael vick's future the nfl commissioner roger
05:55goodell has said he wants to hear some remorse what do people appear to think about this what are they
06:00observing for and what would they like to hear from michael vick before this guy resumes his career making
06:05millions of dollars well i think people need to you know we hear the phrase dog fighting and
06:10people need to understand just how gory this activity is and the fact that vic actually took
06:16it even over the top i mean dog fighting at its most basic is two animals put in a ring who rip one
06:22another to shreds michael vick would take the losing dogs and hang them and laugh as they struggled he
06:29would electrocute them he would drown them he would take his family pets who weren't fighting animals toss them
06:35into the ring with seasoned fighting animals and laugh as those animals were ripped limb from limb so
06:41we think michael might have some serious psychological problems we think that he may be incapable of remorse
06:48and that he really needs to undergo some psychiatric evaluations uh to see whether he's capable of
06:53remorse and of course whether he is actually remorseful once released from prison vic did get another
06:59opportunity to play professional football again no matter how well he played michael's legacy was
07:06forever tarnished after the shocking news was uncovered years later known dog lover shannon sharp
07:14interviewed the fallen superstar on his podcast you could have had a car dealership you could have
07:20about five or six mcdonald's you could have franchise that the franchise you get that money
07:25what made you to think to say you know what i want to do something that i don't know if you thought
07:31that what you did was that harmful but i'm saying a dog fighting ring that's what you get you get a
07:36you probably got 25 million that had nothing to do with any of my friends that was you yeah i mean
07:41yeah i was kind of i grew up in i grew up under that so like i grew up saying i grew up watching it so
07:48it just never like i still had the hood in me right i still had the hood in me and it's like
07:52you know we're gonna stay true to our roots man you worked your ass off you had a lot of homeboys
07:57that didn't work as hard as you and stayed there you worked your ass off to leave there in order to
08:02just to go back yeah but nobody nobody nobody nobody went to prison though what do you think about this
08:08story were you a fan of michael vick did you still support him after the shocking news should he be
08:17forgiven for the despicable act leave a comment below and let me know
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