StrangeSox

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/foot...0730/index.html United States of America v. PURNELL A . PEACE , also known as "P-Funk" and "Funk," QUANIS L. PHILLIPS , also known as "Q," TONY TAYLOR , also known as "T," and MICHAEL VICK , also known as "Ookie," Defendants. Peace, 35, Phillips, 28, and Taylor, 34, are acquaintances of Vick with ties to the area around the quarterback's hometown of Newport News, Va. Phillips played with Vick at Ferguson High and later worked for Vick's marketing company, MV7. Taylor's name was on the licenses for the Vick property on Moonlight Road in Surry County, Va., that is at the center of the investigation. Ookie is Vick's mother's nickname for him. • In or about May 2001, TAYLOR identified the property at 1915 Moonlight Road, Smithfield, Virginia, as being a suitable location for housing and training pit bulls for fighting.... On or about June 29, 2001, VICK paid approximately $34,000 for the purchase of [that] property.... Vick, the first player taken in the 2001 NFL draft, bought the 15-acre property 51 days after signing a six-year, $62 million contract with the Falcons. • In or about early 2002, VICK, accompanied by PEACE, purchased approximately 4pit bulls from Cooperating Witness Number 1 (C.W. #1) in Virginia. Four cooperating witnesses are mentioned in the indictment, none of whom are identified. "I was surprised by the number of confidential witnesses," says William Frick, an attorney in South Carolina who in 2004 successfully prosecuted David Ray Tant, at the time considered the No. 2 dogfighter in the United States. "In drug cases, people talk all the time. But in dogfighting cases people don't talk unless you've got them over a barrel. You can have the dogs and all the equipment, but a guy can say he is just a breeder. Getting that witness is key." • In or about early 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYLOR, and VICK established a dog fighting business enterprise known as "Bad Newz Kennels." At one point, the defendants obtained shirts and headbands representing and promoting their affiliation with "Bad Newz Kennels." Bad Newz is the street nickname for Vick's hometown. In the dogfighting subculture a brand name and a reputation make for better business. • In or about the spring of 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and TAYLOR traveled from Virginia to North Carolina with a male pit bull named "Seal" to participate in a dog fight against a male pit bull named "Maniac." ... [bad Newz Kennels] lost the purse when "Maniac" prevailed over "Seal." The indictment *doesn't give blow-by-blow details of any fights, but it's reasonable to assume that Bad Newz and its opponents followed the so-called Cajun Rules, widely considered dogfighting's bylaws. Three of the 19 Cajun Rules prevent an owner from putting a substance on his dog that could impair an opponent. For example, Rule 15: "No sponging shall be allowed, and no towels or anything else taken into the pit by the handlers except a bottle of drink for his dog and a fan to cool him with. The handlers must taste their [dog's] drink before the referee to show that it contains no poison." • In or about the fall of 2003, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYLOR, and VICK traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, to South Carolina with a male pit bull named "Magic" to participate in a dogfight against a male pit bull owned by individuals from South Carolina... The majority of fights and incidents detailed in the indictment occurred during the spring or summer or at unspecified times of the year. In 2003, however, Vick allegedly attended two fights in the fall, his third NFL season, during which he missed the Falcons' first 11 games because of a broken right fibula. Several other fights are listed as having occurred "late" in a year, which also would have been during the NFL season. • In or about late 2002, PEACE, PHILLIPS, TAYLOR ... traveled from Virginia to Maryland with a female pit bull named "Jane" to participate in a dog fight against a female pit bull owned by "Show Biz Kennels" of New York. The purse for the dog fight was established at approximately $1,000 per side, for a total of approximately $2,000. As a dog racks up wins, the purses for its fights rise. In the case of Jane, a dog prominently mentioned in the indictment, the purses for her fights rose from $2,000 to $3,000 to $10,000 over the course of a year. A good fighting dog might have a hard time finding willing challengers in its area. Jane was allegedly taken to Maryland, North Carolina and New Jersey for fights, all of which she won. • In or about March of 2003, VICK retrieved a book bag from a vehicle containing approximately $23,000 in cash. The cash was provided to [Cooperating Witness #2] as payment for winning both dog fight matches. The two fights between dogs allegedly owned by Bad Newz and those of Cooperating Witness #2 had the highest purses, including the most lucrative fight -- a total purse of $26,000 -- and another for $20,000. On the 16 fights for which purses were given, $114,200 (not including side bets) was wagered, with Bad Newz Kennels winning $45,200 and losing $69,000. In December 2004, Vick signed a 10-year, $130 million contract, including a $37 million signing bonus -- the largest contract in NFL history. • From in or about late 2004 through 2005 at various times ... PEACE, PHILLIPS, VICK, and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury continued operation of the animal fighting venture at 1915 Moonlight Road and hosted approximately 10 dog fights.... Some 30 fights are mentioned in the indictment. Vick and/or others from Bad Newz Kennels allegedly participated in fights in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. Dogs from those states as well as from Texas, Alabama, Florida and New York fought at Moonlight Road, according to the indictment. The allegation that the enterprise crossed state lines elevates the charges to federal offenses. Vick could face additional charges at the state level, but not until September at the earliest. Dogfighting is a felony under Virginia law, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $2,500 fine. • In or about April 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground. John Goodwin, animal-fighting expert for the Humane Society of the United States, says he has heard many tales of how dogfighters disposed of dogs who *wouldn't fight but had never heard of someone "slamming" a dog into the ground until it was dead. "I assume these were young dogs," says Goodwin, "because the effort it would take to kill a full-grown fighting dog in this way would be incredible." Federal investigators reportedly found numerous dog carcasses on the Vick property.

I love me some Josh Fields.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jul 25, 2007 -> 04:57 PM) Thats fine, and probably a good idea. However, this "outrage" over these US Attorney's being fired is completely manufactured. This has been going on for a long time. Is it really fair to make an example out of Gonzales? Wouldn't it be better to change the how the process works rather than just go after this guy for doing (albeit later than most) what many of his Predecessors had done? There seemed to be a few very pissed off Republican senators at the hearings this week. Its not just the Democrats. This administration is just completely ignoring law and precedent, as Balta laid out. Gonzalez is a joke with zero credibility and loads of incompetence. He needs to go, immediately.

Now that contempt citations have been issued, Bush will tell prosecutors not to persue them. This basically puts his administration above the law.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jul 25, 2007 -> 12:08 PM) It has been for a long time. Was completely politicized under B.Clinton too. Dems know this, they just really want a trophy conviction of a member of the Bush team of to make all these expensive and seemingly endless investigations 'worthy'. This whole thing has nothing to do about justice, and everything to do about political revenge. Lets clean the mess in government up instead of just letting it get worse. I'm sick of the shoulder-shrugging and the "well, they did it too!" I don't care -- firing good people simply because they wouldn't blatantly pursue only your political opponents is completely wrong and goes against the very foundations of this country. It needs to be investigated and fixed. Now, if Gonzalez gets in trouble for anything, it'll be the same thing Libby did -- play CYA too much and get caught up in your own lies. If, on the other hand, Gonzalez' testimony is 100% true, he's not capable of running a 7/11. Either way, he needs to go.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jul 25, 2007 -> 11:59 AM) This whole investigation is just political bs. Put on some dog and pony show for the furthest reaches of the left base, get political revenge for the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings, blah, blah, blah. Acutally, that's what they're trying to determine -- if the Justice Department was completely politicized.

QUOTE(Sox It To Em @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 10:03 AM) Same here. I haven't watched a full game in about two months. I still love the Sox, follow them closely online, and visit this site several times a day, but I have more fun ways to spend my evenings than watching them lose meaningless games. Maybe I'll have them on TV as background noise while I'm on the computer or something, but that's about it. If that makes me less of a fan in some people's eyes, so be it. That's basically where I'm at. If I'm sitting around with nothing to do, I'll put it on in the background. I don't purposely take time out of my day to watch this god-awful team.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 05:26 PM) I got flamed pretty good in the off season when I started comparing the Sox to the Marlins. I wish I knew how to find wtf I actually wrote but every time I try the search engine is off. And even if it wasnt I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. There's a way to search specific url's in google under "advanced."

QUOTE(MHizzle85 @ Jul 21, 2007 -> 05:12 PM) Perhaps you can turn this into a drinking game. A shot for every run the bullpen gives up. You are going to be very drunk very quickly.

Yes, another hit!

Yes, another walk!

QUOTE(AirScott @ Jul 21, 2007 -> 11:02 AM) Maybe I can defend this a little more... Eric Hinske isn't known as a great bunter. The bunt he put down was perfect...how many times out of 10 do you think he executes like he did? Eric Hinske is also a terrible batter. Why even bother with the shift to begin with?

Logic + Ozzie = does not compute

Just because bullpens are volatile doesn't mean you can't make bad moves and decisions about them.

QUOTE(Linnwood @ Jul 19, 2007 -> 09:03 PM) Is it just me, or does the crowd at Fenway think every BoSox pop-fly is going yard? And every pitch within 1 ft. of the plate is a strike. Its ridiculous. The fans in the corner of the UD are probably moaning about (not-so) close balls and strikes.

I forget how obnoxious Boston fans are. Particularly when it comes to balls and strikes.

I always laugh when people equate meteorology with climitology. Predicting daily local temperature fluctuations is much different than studying the earth's overall climate and atmospheric makeup.

QUOTE(max power @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 09:08 PM) We are last in the league in relief right? If this isn't the worst BP in the last ten years, I feel very, very sorry for whatever fans had to watch THAT team. Bobby comes in and takes care of business immediately.

Tying run at the plate. You shouldn't get the tying run to the plate when you go into the 9th down by 7.

And now they've made it a ballgame.

Bullpen is picking it up where they left off, unfortunately.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 07:38 PM) Hopefully Kenny sees this for what it is, a glorious event of our hitters starting to come together at the right time. So we can trade a few of them, and restock the system. Hopefully he isnt the hope against logic, and thinks that this team can play 35 over 500 ball to win the division. I keep hearing everyone with the sox talking about making a run. Hopefully that is just a bluff, and the only run we are making is our scouts looking at whatever is out there for what talent we have. Indeed. Let's get everyone's trade values up, trade a few pieces for key prospects, and reload for next year. Oh, and try to finish above .500. That'd be nice.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 07:21 PM) So am I just going to get that post every time I post a "gut feeling"? The truth is, you can't PROVE, nor can these other people, PROVE beyond 100% shadow of a doubt that "global warming" exists. Let me put it this way. About 99% of the "global warming" scientists wouldn't have a job or funding to do research if they said it was just "climatalogical changes" in the earth and that humanity couldn't destroy earth (short of a nuclear explosion) if they tried. The earth will always adapt and change. We might not destroy earth, but it might change and adapt into an uninhabitable climate for several thousand years. Global warming exists without a doubt. The center of debate now is on the cause of it, is the rate of change something to cause alarm, and if there's anything we can or should do about it.

What did happened to the 2007 White Sox? Where are they being kept? Because it doesn't look like them on this field.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 01:35 PM) If that were true, we would have social security reform, new immigration laws, and I could go on and on... put the bulls*** rhetoric away. They might not have passed all of the laws he wanted, but when was he ever investigated or questioned? When were any of his actions ever really given a second thought instead of just brushed aside?* *This isn't an R or Dubya exclusive party. Politicians care more about their side "winning" than running an above-the-board, ethical government.