Michael Vick's statement following his guilty plea in U.S.
District Court in Richmond, Va., to a dogfighting conspiracy
charge:
"For most of my life, I've been a football player, not a public
speaker, so, you know, I really don't know, you know, how to say
what I really want to say.
"You know, I understand it's -- it's important or not important,
you know, as far as what you say but how you say things. So, you
know, I take this opportunity just to speak from the heart.
"First, I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that --
that I've done and that I have allowed to happen. I want to
personally apologize to commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, coach
Bobby Petrino, my Atlanta Falcons teammates, you know, for our --
for our previous discussions that we had. And I was not honest and
forthright in our discussions, and, you know, I was ashamed and
totally disappointed in myself to say the least.
"I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my
immature acts and, you know, what I did was, what I did was very
immature so that means I need to grow up.
"I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move
forward to bettering Michael Vick the person, not the football
player.
"I take full responsibility for my actions. For one second will I
sit right here -- not for one second will I sit right here and point
the finger and try to blame anybody else for my actions or what
I've done.
"I'm totally responsible, and those things just didn't have to
happen. I feel like we all make mistakes. It's just I made a
mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions. And you
know, those things, you know, just can't happen.
"Dogfighting is a terrible thing, and I did reject it.
"I'm upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I
found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over
to God. And I think that's the right thing to do as of right now.
"Like I said, for this -- for this entire situation I never
pointed the finger at anybody else, I accepted responsibility for
my actions of what I did and now I have to pay the consequences for
it. But in a sense, I think it will help, you know, me as a person.
I got a lot to think about in the next year or so.
"I offer my deepest apologies to everybody out in there in the
world who was affected by this whole situation. And if I'm more
disappointed with myself than anything it's because of all the
young people, young kids that I've let down, who look at Michael
Vick as a role model. And to have to go through this and put myself
in this situation, you know, I hope that every young kid out there
in the world watching this interview right now who's been following
the case will use me as an example to using better judgment and
making better decisions.
"Once again, I offer my deepest apologies to everyone. And I will
redeem myself. I have to.
"So I got a lot of down time, a lot of time to think about my
actions and what I've done and how to make Michael Vick a better
person.
"Thank you.''