Vick sees the light, to plead guilty

"After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick has asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding charges pending against him," Billy Martin, one of Vick's attorneys, said in a statement.

"Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter.

Vick can still do a lot of good after this by becoming a visible spokesperson against animal cruelty and dogfighting, provided he's willing to make that leap.

The states and the feds need to build on this and make eliminating, or at least reducing, dogfighting in this country by aggressively pursuing more of these cases. Vick is only the tip of the iceberg, and as long as he's the highest profile prosecution, there will be those who continue to claim that he was taken down just because he was a successful African-American.

And you know what? If the feds don't go after the rest of the dogfighting community with equal zeal, that will be a claim that's hard to refute.