Isn't an important question, What did the NFL know?

It seems to me that a league with each team having a "Head of Security" employed, many of whom served in the FBI or Secret Service, would have known what was going on with Vick.

Doesn't the league have a head of security that checks the background and credit history of each official?

With at least 33 security experts, wouldn't they have looked into their premier players before handing over "the face of the NFL" to him?

But then again, this is the league that allowed known organized crime figure, Ed Debartolo, to own a team.

I think the NFL really could have a stink on itself if people really started to look into who knew what and when in the Vick case.

One last thing. ProFootballTalk.com is a great web page.

If the police stumbled on to this by accident, how could you possibly have expected the N.F.L. to be in the policing business?

Excellent question mrliberal! You're right, the NFL is not in the business of being the police.

The NFL is in the business of security though. It routinely looks into the backgrounds of potential draft picks. Mike Vick was dog fighting since he was a child in Virginia. Not one single teammate at VaTech knew about this? Not one single player on the Falcons knew about this? I find that hard to believe. They also look into the whereabouts of their employees to make certain there is no impropriety.

Vick was displaying erratic behavior the past couple years. Two instances were flipping the bird to the crowd in Atlanta and having a water bottle, at the airport of all places, that smelled like pot. Neither were crimes, but they were a display of behavior that may cause an organization with say 33 "security experts" to look into what else was going on with this guy. We are not talking about some back up nose tackle here, we are talking about one of the most famous players in the NFL.

Vick owned a home in the mountains of Virginia. I don't want to sound like a racist here, but it is strange that a black guy ownes a home in the mountains of VA where there are basically very few other black people. Vick didn't grow up in the mountains, in fact, they are far from where he grew up along the coast of VA. Only two questions needed to be asked from security at that point. Why do you own a home there? What type of dogs do you breed? They could prove that Vick owned a business there by checking incorporation records and they would know he was raising pit bulls. That would at least cause a red flag for me and I'm just some dummy that can type on a web page.

Here is what I think happened. I think the NFL got a smell of this and decided not to look into it. Thinking something is wrong and knowing there is something wrong are two different things. Once you know, you have to act. They didn't want to know so they didn't investigate. If I am wrong about this, then the NFL if full of a bunch of completely incompetent security people. They were at least smart enough not to look into this matter.

If there was one single sports reporter out there with a set of you know what, they would investigate this question of the NFL more fully. Most are not smart enough. I legal reporter really needs to pour over this case. There is a scoop out there for some aggressive reporter.

Fear the Roo!

Me too.