Michael Vick apologized.

Not only that, he made a statement without reading from a script. Not only that, he admitted guilt. Not only that, he has accepted the plea agreement, which is at least one year of his life in the slammer. Not only that, he says he will accept whatever penalty the NFL deems necessary.

Wow.

Isn't it refreshing to hear someone of his repute and finances imply that the buck stops at his desk.

You'd never know it hearing from those who either don't believe Vick's act of contrition or don't care about it.

Understand, Vick has been a lightning rod for much of his NFL career, most especially the last couple of seasons. He is nothing like the standard NFL quarterback, who are mostly dropback passers and white.

While he is a life-long quarterback, he just might be the best running back in the NFL. Last year he was the first quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season with 1,039 on just 123 carries. At worst, he probably is the best athlete in the NFL.

Anyway, his career aspirations and whether he can lead a franchise are still up for debate for a later date. What isn't is his crime, participating in dogfighting.

It was heinous. Anybody in that business of raising dogs to kill has a screw loose. Of course, they don't look at dogs or any animals with any importance, but it's just not right.

Vick has reiterated the above paragraph basically admitting he was as sick as the dogs he was training and killing.

Now what?

Could this plea agreement be a win-win situation for Vick and legislation to maybe end dogfighting? Absolutely.

I can't comment on the dogfighting industry because I know nothing about it. My guess is Vick will blow some whistles on bigger contributors to this barbaric business and become the government's poster child in trying to end it.

I can comment on Vick the football player and person. As he said, he has hit rock bottom. This is as low as he has been - both as an athlete and especially a person.

He had a rough start. His mother was 16 and his father was 17 when he was born.

Vick was deemed special as a boy and pretty much skated when it came to rules and regulations. High school? Didn't matter. College (Virginia Tech)? Same here.

Then he is handed millions and millions of dollars.

Do I need to explain this any further?

Michael Vick was a disaster waiting to happen. Michael Vick-like stories rarely end like "The Wizard of Oz."

But Vick is lucky. Not only is he just 27 years old, but according to some of the NFL greats, his best years are still ahead of him as a player, and especially as a person.

He can redeem himself and his career.

I have not been the guy's biggest fan as a "running" quarterback. But I must admit, he has the ability to change the course of a game at any moment. That trait will still be around one or two years from now.

Better yet, he can affect a lot more people and a brutal industry of killing dogs, by doing the right thing, which he appears to have done.

Bill Burt is executive sports editor of Eagle-Tribune Publishing. E-mail him at bburt@eagletribune.com.