Quote of the Week I

	Emmitt Smith may prove to be as dangerous with a microphone as he was with a football. AP
	MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

"In light of the seriousness of the charges, I believe that Mr. Vick should be suspended from the league, effective immediately.''
-- Former Democratic presidential nominee and current Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Quote of the Week II

"He's the biggest fish in the whole doggone pond right now, so they're putting the squeeze on him [Vick] to get to everyone else. Now, granted he might have been to a dogfight a time or two, maybe five times, maybe 20 times, may have bet some money, but he's not the one you're after. He's just the one who's going to take the fall -- publicly.''
-- All-time NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith, speaking Saturday at his enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Two issues here.

1. Nice to see Emmitt knows so much about the federal government's case. Didn't anyone ever tell him, "When there's an important issue out there, give an educated opinion if you have a good idea what you're talking about. If you're not sure what you're talking about, the only thing you can do by opening your mouth is look like you're 11 years old.''

2. It sounds very much like Smith empathizes with Vick's plight and doesn't find it very objectionable that Vick might have put a few bucks down on dogfights. Is he serious? Is there anything justifiable about Vick going to a single dogfight, or gambling a dime on a dogfight? Should the feds, once they had evidence from four corroborating witnesses that placed Vick in the middle of one dogfight after another, have ignored the evidence and not gone after him?

I have a bad feeling about Smith's tenure at ESPN, and it hasn't even started. His comments on Vick are so idiotic and inappropriate that a few people at the Worldwide Leader have to be thinking, "Uh-oh. What if we've gone and hired someone who's very famous but not very smart?''

Quote of the Week III

"My 7-year-old [Danielle] loves animals. We were out shopping for a dog. We were in the car, and I can't listen to sports radio anymore because she heard how they drowned and electrocuted some animals. I looked back there at a red light and she had tears in her eyes. She said, 'I don't understand why somebody would drown a dog.' Now I had to explain it as a parent. I said that sometimes people do stuff that is so terrible that you've got to offset that guy by doing something good. She just kept wiping her tears. She was really bothered by it. It's a stupid thing to do, obviously. But these guys get so arrogant, they don't think about it. You got $30 million, $40 million in the bank, they're on top of the world, no remorse and no one can stop them.''
-- Former Green Bay safety LeRoy Butler, in an interview with Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Quote of the Week IV

"I am confident that the hottest places in hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God's creatures in such cruel and brutal contempt.''
-- West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, on those who participate in dogfighting and raise dogs for dogfighting.

Stat of the Week

What a country. Exactly 18 hours and 14 minutes after the news broke that Vick had been indicted on dogfighting charges, an e-mail arrived from bodog.com, an offshore gambling site, setting odds on Vick's future.

How long will Michael Vick be suspended by the NFL?

No suspension: 5/1
1-4 games: 4/1
5-8 games: 2/1
9-12 games: 1/1
13-16 games: 2/3

Which will be the first company to terminate its endorsement contract with Michael Vick?

Nike: 5/1
Kraft: 9/5
Rawlings: 2/1
Powerade: 7/2
Coca-Cola: 4/1
EA Sports: 5/2
Hasbro: 2/1

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me

John Crumpacker of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the 49ers will begin camp Sunday with four players with names derived from "Zachary'' -- Zak (Keasey, a fullback), Zac (Herold, a tight end), Zach (Anderson, a defensive end) and Zachary (Hilton, another tight end).

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week

I did not travel over the past seven days. But I did notice this gem from Sunday's New York Times that I simply had to pass on.

Flight attendant Rene Foss, who thinks the best way to handle mayhem in the air is to smile and act as if everything is going just fine (regardless of whatever mayhem is happening around her), has written a book called Around the World in a Bad Mood! Writer Joe Sharkey quotes Foss in the Times: "Most airlines are working with minimum staff. So you have two flight attendants, 112 unaccompanied minors, a handful of crying babies, four wheelchairs, a couple of air marshals and some drunks. It's a circus on the fly, and I'm the happy clown!''

Gee, I can't wait to start my training camp trip this week. For the first time in all the years I've been making my odyssey to 15 or more camps, I'm driving more than flying this year -- and it's because I have seen the nightmare of air travel grow over the past year or so. Especially during the summer, I am flying only when I would have to travel more than five hours in a car.

The travel note next week, therefore, could well be about the Bob Evans biscuits on the Ohio Turnpike.