one of my babies looks to be screwed


my current list of babies:

michael vick
tim hudson
lebron james
ichiro (slipping)
jeff francoeur (rising)

like one of my favorite tv personalities might say..."that's it. that's the list." there are other athletes (peyton, manny, barry, nash, wade, among others) that i root for or, for that matter, might even make my appointment television list, but the above five guys are the ones that illuminate or haunt my dreams (dependant on whether i've eaten something heavy before i go to bed) on any given night. ichiro is only slipping because i never see him any more. being on the west coast, he never gets play on espn and i don't have the extra innings package, so the only time i will even get a chance to see ichiro live this year is the all-star game. honestly, i think i am still in love only with the idea of ichiro as much as the player himself. i can't really call myself a fan if i never see him play, right? as for frenchy, he's the closest thing atlanta (who's starting to teeter towards sucking right now thanks to the freaking injury bug burrowing under the club's skin) has seen to my childhood hero, dale murphy. huge arm. loopy and powerful swing. really fun to watch. could rise even higher on the list by the end of the season if he can somehow keep the braves in the race for the postseason.

the number one guy on my list is mike vick. and comparing mike vick to the rest of the list is almost unfair as far as his general importance to my lust of sports go. mike is dennis miller to the rest of the list's chris farley. and that's not to take anything away from chris farley. he's funny and all. especially when he's yelling or throwing himself into tables or overdosing, but dennis miller actually tells jokes. he says stuff that you have to chew on, make the connection, laugh about and then enjoy that you got it for a few days after the joke, itself, was told. mike vick is like that. nfl guys have always had a hard and frustrating time with putting mike in a box. "he isn't a dropback quarterback." "he doesn't complete enough passes." blah, blah, blah. at least once in every game, he has a "moment" that you just can't help but give him your total attention. most of the time it's when he's breaking free of the pocket and threatens to show every defender how much faster and athletic he is than them. on occasion, it's when he unleashes the national weapon that is his arm and tries to throw a pass through one of his receivers. but there is always that "moment" that, if you watch the game, you will think about and dwell on it's "i am so glad i saw that in real time" quotient for days after the fact.

well, unfortunately for me, him, and all of us, mike is about to have a different moment. seems that mike likes to raise dogs to fight and kill each other. this story is everywhere, and it won't seem to go away. it won't go away, because most of the story seems to be true and raising dogs to fight and kill each other happens to be illegal. as for the whole dogfighting thing, i think it's pretty crappy, but no more than other kinds of animal cruelty which seem to be overlooked. i''ll point you toward aol fanhouse and this article without going into too much detail, since i agree with pretty much every word. as for mike being involved, well, i can't really say that i am shocked or amazed or disappointed or whatever. it almost sounds like something that i would expect him to be involved in. on field and off, mike embraces his inner gangster, which to me, makes him that much more interesting. whether or not mike is charged or convicted of anything doesn't really matter at this point. if you cuss around the new nfl commissioner, you're gonna get suspended.

i am going to cross my fingers that i don't lose him for the whole season. or longer. i am going to send the commissioner an e-mail and ask him to understand what mike means to me and atlanta and the league and judge him lightly. and i don't expect it to change a thing.

oh, dear, sweet mike vick. is a sports life without you a life worth living? if the falcons lose with a crappy ex-georgia three-year back-up at quarterback or joey harrington, would they even make a sound? the world may soon find out.

and i will be sad.