Michael Boddie, Estranged Father of Michael Vick, Traces Son’s Dogfighting to Childhood

According to Michael Boddie, father of Michael Vick, his son’s involvement with dogfighting can be traced back to his childhood in Newport News, Va.

Boddie recently said of Vick, “He's a natural dog lover. In our neighborhood in the projects, little boys would get dogs to chase cats in the lumberyard. The big thing with little boys, get a dog and sic 'em on the cats. That's what they'd do for fun . . . Yeah, (Michael) did that as a kid. Every little boy in the projects did that. It's a fascination thing. That's just part of his culture growing up.”

It was that culture that fueled Vick’s involvement in dogfighting several years later, a decision Boddie said he warned his son about. Boddie claimed that he told Vick several times that his involvement in dogfighting could jeopardize his NFL career but those warnings were shrugged off with a dismissive “Yeah, I know. But I've got it. I've got it well in hand.”

On Monday Vick will take the first step in admitting how out of hand it became as he pleads guilty to a federal dogfighting charge that will likely place him behind bars for 12 to 18 months.

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