I saw this cartoon by Gary Varvel a couple weeks ago in the Times-News and thought it was hilarious, and at the same time, powerful. Since then its impact has not been diminished. If one was to type "Michael Vick" on Google Image Search, one may find a gory picture of a dog (bloody from forced fighting) among the pictures of Vick's football glory with the Atlanta Falcons and at Virginia Tech. Being a man, I am dismayed to see my best friend bleeding in this brutalized condition. A Nike "swoosh" appears in this blog not only because they sponsored Vick, but also because I'm a hockey fan. I'm not a fan of many (if any) commercials, but I have always remembered the commercial by Nike where Michael Vick scores a goal for the Colorado Avalanche. Players out-of-their-element was kind of the theme in this advertisement, which is set to a slow, inspirational, piano melody. Besides Vick and Brian Urlacher playing hockey there is Lance Armstrong boxing, Andre Agassi playing short-stop for the Boston Red Sox, Marion Jones as a gymnast, Randy Johnson as a bowler and Serena Williams playing professional volleyball. It's not really as cool a commercial as it used to be.

All those dogs look pretty ticked off... but Astro, I think, looks the most disturbed and disgusted. Rightly so.