Marty Mac's World: Vick learned hard way he isn't untouchable

Michael Vick on Monday was sentenced to 23 months in prison and there are people who believe the sentence was too harsh. Likewise, there are those who think the sentence was too lenient.

Whatever – and who cares? Michael Vick is going to prison, and in my mind is the image of Michael Vick looking into a TV camera earlier this year and saying something to the effect of, "No matter what happens, people always are going to love Mike Vick."

Well, Mike Vick, who loves ya, baby?

Vick is in prison because he was a stupid criminal and that's what often happens when one rolls that way. Vick, however, is 27 years old. There are many ways in which he can continue to enjoy life, be productive and be a good son and father.

Yes, I have three dogs and have been around dogs all my life, so participating in killing and fighting dogs, to me, is just rotten, inhuman and despicable.

However, may we put a little perspective in the house?

Can we take a bit of the furor and intensity that has surrounded Vick's involvement in this case and point it toward the widespread apparent lack of respect for life, especially among our youth? In nearly every Sacramento-area community, youths and young adults are being killed, threatened and are afraid to walk their own streets because of conditions beyond their control.

We need some balance among those who can turn on and off their emotional uproar and recognize there are many elements of our society of which we need to gain control and/or correct and/or straight eliminate.

In the Vick case, what I really would like to know – and still have not learned – is whose concept it was to begin the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation Vick has admitted to funding.

What I also would like to know is what made Vick continue to lie about his participation in the operation. And what made him think he could smoke marijuana while being tested by the feds and not get busted?

This guy seems to have taken the "untouchable" concept and run with it like an Olympic sprinter. Maybe it was Vick who started the dogfighting ring and brought his boys into the mix.

Among the many reports we've heard, seen and read about Vick during the investigation, more than a few have centered on how Vick was taken down by continuing to hang out with friends from his old Newport News, Va., neighborhood. There might be truth in that portrayal. However, many pro athletes, lawyers, broadcasters and the like have kept their ties with childhood friends and haven't been pulled down. At some point Vick, and everyone else, has to realize what is real and what isn't. Just because an individual or individuals had your back in the sixth grade doesn't mean he or she hasn't become a latter-day idiot you would be better off avoiding like a viral infection.

Mayweather smacks Hatton – and me, too

I was on the record as thinking welterweight Ricky Hatton would defeat "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather. I'd never seen Mayweather stand and throw and wondered if he had it inside.

No longer. The Mayweather-Hatton bout was a fight. Forget the rules, these guys threw down as if each one had stolen the other's mama's TV. It's likely when Hatton woke up Sunday morning, he still felt as if Mayweather's left forearm was lodged between his throat and chest.

Hatton pressured Mayweather constantly and the "Pretty Boy" was anything but. Hatton thought he would be able to gangster Mayweather, but it turned out this was a battle he could not win. In all, a great fight and one every boxing fan should check out on HBO. During a time in which we all sit down to watch a boxing match and wonder when – not if – something shady will occur, this was along the lines of Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns, only with more animosity.