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Culpepper Released; Vick Indicted

By David Fucillo

EDITOR'S UPDATE 3:15PM - Ignore the part about neither story being on the main part of the front page. The Vick story is now front and center.

Well a relatively quiet news day has certainly picked up steam.  Neither of the stories have anything to do with the 49ers, but they're certainly interesting nonetheless.

  1. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, along with 3 other individuals, has been indicted for conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in animal fighting venture.
  2. The Dolphins announced that they have officially released Daunte Culpepper.
Both articles were listed in the Headlines section, but not as definitive cover page stories, although either of these is definitely more worthy of it than memories of Jean Van De Velde's epic collapse in the British Open in 1999.

While they have nothing to do with the 49ers, they are certainly big stories leading up to training camp.  Culpepper's stay in Miami was contentious to say the least and turned downright bitter since word leaked that the Dolphins were interested in Trent Green.  Here's what Culpepper had to say after his release:

"As I was going through this process I heard about a quote by Gandhi that best expresses my thoughts about this victory: 'First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win,'" Culpepper, who serves as his own agent, said in an e-mail. "Now that I have won my freedom and I get to choose my next team, I am just like many other people who have to go out and find employment so that I can take care of my family."

While he has go find employment, I don't think many people are doing it with millions of dollars in the bank...but maybe I'm wrong.  I was always a fan of his talent and hope he is able to find a good situation.  The Jaguars are a rumored destination, but I would think that could create some chemistry issues when you've already got Byron Leftwich and David Garrard on board.

The Michael Vick story is a whole other ball of wax.  Personally, I stopped paying attention to the story around draft time because it just seemed to get more and more repetitive.  Now it seems like either Michael Vick is guilty as sin or he's being targeted for his celebrity.  There were two interesting quotations from Virginia Attorney General Gerald Poindexter:

At the time, Poindexter expressed surprise at why the federal government was involved.

"What is foreign to me is the federal government getting into a dogfighting case," Poindexter said. "I know it's been done, but what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity? Would they have done this if it wasn't Michael Vick?"

A day later, "They launched a separate, independent federal investigation," Poindexter said of the government, which has had a representative involved in the local probe all along.

So who really knows what's going on with this story.  At the moment I don't really know what to think so I'm just going to let things play out, whether there be a plea bargain or a trial.  We'll see what we'll see.

To pick up on the main discussion point in the comments, do you think Goodell suspends Vick prior to the start of the season? If so, how many games?

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