Be ye judged by the company you keep ... and vice versa

  A disclaimer on this post: I am a big believer in due process, the burden of proof and innocent-until-proven-guilty. It is fair and accurate to say someone "allegedly" did something until it's proven in a court of law.

That said, all those convictions tend to fly out the door when it comes to animal abuse. I cannot watch any Animal Cops shows; my urge to gun down the perps through the TV screen is too strong. I hear about something like dogfighting and my first thought is, I would buy the pay cable special where the heinous jackwipes who did that had their wrists and ankles broken with a crowbar, and then were tossed into a pit full of the animals they mistreated. Poetic justice, motherfuckers!

Now that you know my biases, on to the post ...

So Michael Vick has been indicted on a federal conspiracy charge for his role in an illegal dogfighting operation. The indictment is here. I read it in the interest of making sure I understood what the charges were, and then I had to go take a break from the computer until the rage subsided. It is entirely possible Vick's completely innocent of any association with dog fighting whatsoever

An indictment by a grand jury doesn't mean Vick's had anything to do with, say, starving 52 dogs so they'd lunge for anything they could eat (including each other), or hosing down a dog with water and then electrocuting it, even if these things did happen on his property ("Gruesome Details in NFL Star's Indictment Cause Public Outcry That Swamps Humane Society," SFChron, Jul 19, 07).

By my primitive, non-legal reckoning, all this means is that a grand jury has to ask if a crime really happened here and there's a reason to believe Vick is guilty. Sports Yenta provides a more nuanced legal analysis here that is, fortunately, written in plain and easy-to-understand language. Read it if you don't want to wade through the grisly indictment.

Thus endeth any understanding I have of the legal bind in which Ron Mexico currently finds himself.

Here is what I am curious about: will Michael Vick's remaining commercial endorsements dry up, and will his sponsors suffer any fallout?

Back in 05, Forbes named Vick to its list of top 100 celebrities, noting his endorsements with Nike, Coca-Cola, Kraft and Rawlings. For whatever reason, most of Vick's endorsements ended prior to this, and as of today, nearly all his former endorsees are backpedaling furiously. ("Vick's Marketing Deals Fade Into Sunset," AJC, Jul 18, 07)

Vick's biggest deal is with Nike, which released a statement today saying they'll postpone the launch of the Vick V shoe:

"Nike is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick and we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent. We do believe that Michael Vick should be afforded the same due process as any citizen; therefore, we have not terminated our relationship. We have however made the decision to suspend the release of the Zoom Vick V and related marketing communications. Nike will continue to monitor the situation closely and have no further comment at this time."

However, what Nike did not say is what they will do with the Nike Air Zoom Vick IV, a football cleat model that is still, as of this writing, on the market. As Darren Rovell notes in a SportsBiz post:

(I)f the shoe never comes out, Nike will lose less than $1.5 million. Assuming Nike sells the shoes to retailers for half of the retail price ($100), that would mean that there are about 30,000 pairs of shoes that were prepared to hit the shelves. Vick's training shoes are made in fewer numbers than the Vick cleats, which are already on the market and will stay on the market.

So there exists the possibility that Nike can point to the alacrity with which it acted on forthcoming products while continuing to profit from existing Vick-related products.

Here's another commercial connection I'm sure we'll see more of in the following weeks: Vick's team, the Atlanta Falcons, are owned by Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank. Although Blank has no official role at that company anymore, is that going to matter if some angry animal-rights person decides to draw a dotted line between a football that still has Vicks on the roster and the business that the owner built?

I sort of hope it happens. Assuming anything in the indictment is provable and true, this isn't the kind of thing where people's reactions can be swept into the same pile of "nutbar!" as those who parade around in lettuce bikinis because they'd rather go naked than wear fur, or those who break into labs to vandalize them. This is a case of people buying puppies and abusing the hell out of them for financial gain. It's harder to dismiss opposition to that as "extremist."

Now we just have to see if any vocal opposition surfaces at all.

(If you're looking for a place to channel your disgust over this whole thing, consider donating to Pit Bull Rescue Central or Out of the Pits, an organization that rescues abused pit bull dogs. If you know any other groups, please include them in the comments.)

Comments

[Kate the M]

I can no longer watch Animal Cops either because it, "angries up the blood" (Simpsons). My (now deceased) dog was likely abused by his original owners, unless it's normal for a dog to be born hand-shy and fearful of men. If I ever run into said original owners....whew.

[Becky]

I am a big believer in due process, the burden of proof and innocent-until-proven-guilty. It is fair and accurate to say someone "allegedly" did something until it's proven in a court of law.

That said, all those convictions tend to fly out the door when it comes to animal abuse.

Lisa, my husband said nearly the same thing, and I don't blame you one bit. Every time I hear about this I need to go hug my dog. (Who is the sweetest, cutest thing ever, and came from the pound. Support your local animal shelters!)

[drunken monkey]

"hosing down a dog with water and then electrocuting it"

This is exactly the bit my boyfriend pointed to when he was telling me how horrified he was by everything that came out, and how much deeper Vick's hole had just been dug.

My boyfriend also said that he thinks Vick is fucked, if the investigators have this much, and that if Vick's as guilty as he's looking, he hopes he goes to jail for a long-ass time. I agree; sick fucks, the lot of them. I don't really expect people who would treat a puppy like that to put human beings on a scale that much higher, when it comes down to it.

[Siobhan]

I already sent an email to Nike. I know, I know, due process, but still. Fuck that guy.

[marion]

Oh, c'mon, Lisa, have some sympathy. Michael Vick desperately needed the money. It's not as though top NFL stars get paid millions of dollars per year.

Seriously, at this point I'm thinking the hosing-down-followed-by-electrocution thing sounds pretty good for the humans involved in this. Do it carefully, and you don't even have to kill them. It would just hurt. Really bad.