The Back Alley Archives

Best thing I've read is a woman who wrote into the FTU said he should be set free and allowed to play football. But when he does bad, we beat and electrocute him.

We've always had standard dachshunds...had one before Kyle was born. In all the years of the boys growing up, there were only 3 bites and each time the boy had jumped on or completely startled the dog. The dog was just reacting, and the bites were just nips anyway. Standards are usually more calm than mini's. I know some people can't stand dachies, as they had bad experiences with them.

One of Vick's Co-Defendants cops a plea...

which means he's going to sing like a bird:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2952092

[img]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h103/ ... c18467.jpg[/img]

The 'Bad Newz Kennels' operation and gambling monies were almost exclusively funded by Vick," a summary of facts supporting the plea agreement and signed by Taylor states.

The plea deal requires Taylor to testify against Vick and his two remaining co-defendants if called upon to do so. Taylor cannot get a stiffer sentence or face any new charges based on any new information he provides, according to terms of the agreement.

Additional charges are possible, however, against Vick and the other two. Federal prosecutors have said a superseding indictment will be issued in August.

Vick's lead attorney, Billy Martin, did not immediately return a phone message.

It also must be noted – and I am not defending the sick behavior of anyone who a jury decides has committed an offense such as electrocuting a pit bull – that there are NFL players who've been charged with having committed deplorable crimes against actual human beings. Some of them have even been convicted, yet most of us manage to let it go when they do good things for the home team or emerge as value picks in the fantasy draft.

During my recent training camp travels, I stood in the St. Louis Rams' practice bubble watching 10th-year defensive end Leonard Little hone his impressive pass-rushing skills. The workout, which had been moved inside because of concerns about the hellacious heat, was closed to the public, but I didn't see any picketers outside.

To jog your memory, Little was the player who in 1998 drove home after celebrating his birthday, ran a red light in downtown St. Louis and caused a collision that killed another motorist, 47-year-old Susan Gutweiler. A breath test measured his blood-alcohol level at 0.19 percent, nearly twice the legal limit, and he eventually pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and spent 90 days in jail. When he returned to the Rams after an eight-game NFL suspension, Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested outside a Rams game, but few people outside of St. Louis seemed to notice, and Little went on to become one of the league's premier pass rushers.

It's a horrible story, but it might have contained at least a slightly redemptive touch had Little assuaged his guilt by urging others never to make the same mistake. He could have become a vocal and visible spokesman for consuming alcohol responsibly. He could have used his platform as a star athlete to try to save the lives of future drunk-driving victims.

Instead, Little drank and drove again. In 2004, Little was arrested for driving while intoxicated after being pulled over in Ladue, Mo., for speeding at 3:44 a.m. The arresting officer's affidavit stated that Little had "bloodshot, watery eyes and emitted an odor of alcohol;" that he had "attempted and failed three sobriety tests;" and that the player had "admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages."

Little, charged with a felony for driving while intoxicated as a persistent offender, was later acquitted after his lawyer convinced a jury that the arresting officer hadn't followed proper procedures in conducting the field-sobriety tests. Though another officer testified that he had administered a breath-alcohol test at the scene which showed that Little's blood-alcohol content was nearly double the legal limit of .08 percent, the test was inadmissible under Missouri law because of the unreliability of portable equipment. (After arriving at the police station, Little had refused to take a second breath-alcohol test.)

Point about Leonard Little taken -- but for which crime are we pillorying him? The manslaughter -- for which he bears the guilt of negligence and recklessness, if not exactly intent -- or his recidivism, which is clearly reprehensible, and also volitional, though hardly heinous in the act or its effect?

None of those dogs got drowned, body-slammed, or electrocuted by accident.