If ever I wanted someone to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, this was it.

We’ve had a few days to grow accustomed to the notion of Michael Vick going to jail, but it’s nonetheless a stunner to hear the actual admission of guilt in the form of a plea bargain. We’re now into the meat of one of the most sordid episodes in recent sports history and it’s clear that Vick, barring something completely unforeseen, is going to jail. Athletes have run afoul of the law since the turn of the previous century, but it’s not often we see the career of someone with Vick’s talent, profile and degree interrupted in its prime by a jail sentence. It’s possible his career will even be ended by this jail sentence, an NFL suspension and by the contempt with which he’ll be held for years after his release.

It’s the newest cautionary American tale: Football icon flips American dream on its head. It’s so totally overwhelming and wildly extreme it’s difficult to know where to begin. Vick is alleged to have not just run a dogfighting ring, which by itself is illegal and heinous, but to have tortured and killed dogs with his bare hands, lied to the man who’s paying him $105 million about his involvement and lied to the NFL commissioner’s face about his involvement. You wonder what Vick was thinking as the federal government knocked him out in what amounts to less than one round. Could the feds have had a more solid case against him? The dog-killing is such a showstopper, most folks don’t even realize the feds could have nailed him for gambling as well.

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