Wat Up, Dawg?

"These dog owners have a sadistic nature that gives them a perverse enjoyment from killing their animals if they don't perform," Trimble says. "Dogs aren't like us. They don't go to school or serve on juries. But they can certainly feel pain."

See Martha Stewart and Marv Albert back on TV and realize that eventually we'll let the despicable Vick out of the doghouse. But if the woman at Academy Sporting Goods in Plano last week is any indication, for now we're more concerned with halting a generation of dogfighters than pardoning him.

Begged by her son for a pair of Nike Air Zoom Vick IV signature football cleats, Mom snapped, "Over my dead body."

"What this case has brought to light is that there are more dog lovers than sports fans," Galloway says. "With the disclaimer that what Vick did is horrible and inexcusable, there are more important things going on in our world. But this thing has taken off like no other case I remember. It reminds us how powerful the animal lobby is. I don't know which would be worse for Vick, sitting in prison or walking the streets with the PETA commandos waiting for him around the corner."

Actually, both seem doggone appropriate punishments.