More photos » Steve Helber - AP

8 months ago: FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008 file photo, former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is escorted out of the Sussex County Courthouse after pleading guilty to dogfighting charges in Sussex, Va.l Vick left a Kansas prison before dawn Wednesday, May 20, 2009 to begin home confinement in Virginia, one of his attorneys said, the latest step on a journey that Vick hopes will lead to his reinstatement. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, file)

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Let me get this out of the way: Michael Vick is a convicted criminal.  Accused, tryed, and convicted:

RICHMOND, Va. -- Michael Vick was sentenced to prison Monday for running a dogfighting operation and will stay there longer than two co-defendants, up to 23 months, because he lied about his involvement when he was supposed to be coming clean to the judge who would decide his fate.

The disgraced NFL star received a harsher sentence than the others in the federal conspiracy case because of "less than truthful" statements about killing pit bulls.

Let me paint a picture for you.  Dogs, kept in horrid conditions and trained to kill each other, are placed in a ring while people with a longneck in one hand and a wad of cash in the other, bet on which one will win or, most likely, kill the other animal.  Dogs that don't perform up to standard are killed by electrocution, hanging, or drowning.  I am neither a prude nor a card carrying member of the MSPCA, but I do find it hard to believe any rational, sane human being thinks this entertaining.  If you DO find this entertaining, then I feel sorry for you.  You are clearly missing a gene or important protein in your DNA.  You need help.  Soon.

Now, let's get on to the football aspect of this rant.  Prior to Brady's season ending injury in 2008's Week 1 matchup against KC, teams rarely thought of their backup quarterbacks.  Yeah, we can toss him in if the starter needs a break during a blowout that's going either way, but why on earth would we carry two starting quarterbacks?  First, there's very few QB's who can start and compete at an NFL level and the number is significantly less than 32 (not all of them are good, mind you).  If a guy was at that level, would he want to be stuck behind another QB?  No, he wants to run his own show.  Second, these guys don't come cheap; a franchise would be hard pressed to field a competitive team when two quarterbacks are tying up that much cap space.

We don't need a starting level backup for Tom Brady, do we?  Brady, O'Connell, Gutierrez, and Hoyer are enough.  So why on earth are we even discussing this?  Peter King:

I recall owner Bob Kraft and his wife, Myra, being up in arms about the team drafting Nebraska defensive lineman Christian Peter with his eight arrests and four convictions in Lincoln for aberrant behavior. The Patriots released him a couple of days after the draft. So that makes the Vick signing problematic and unlikely. But who knows? Maybe Bill Belichick can convince them Vick would be the kind of difference-making weapon Randy Moss was when the team got him from Oakland, even though Moss was thought to be an impossible guy to work with. There's the Corey Dillon case, too, another example of Belichick taking a problem child and making it work for the benefit of the team.

Peter, I usually like what you do, but you've missed the mark here.  There's a difference between Moss and Vick: Randy's not an ex-convict.  Before I go on a diatribe about the differences in the way professional athletes are treated compared to you and me, let me just say that if I was convicted of a crime, there would be no way I'd be welcomed back by my former employer.  I would most likely lose everything.  Not Vick.  He still has his house, his cars, and assuredly millions in the bank.  And people are talking about giving him his old job back.  Shame, shame, shame.

If that isn't a fine example to set for our youth, huh?