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10/02/09(Fri)01:51 No.1875376"Before
we went out on the field, [Vick] told us how the dogs went at each
other's throats one last time, and when Zebro broke free, his snout and
face were completely covered in blood," McCoy explained. "That's
when—and I'll never forget this for the rest of my life—Mike looked at
us, smiled, and said, 'But it wasn't Zebro's blood. It was Maniac's.
Now let's go out there and have some fun!'"
"Jesus Christ," McCoy added.
Teammates
said Vick continued to reference the story throughout the game as a
motivational tool, at one point shouting, "Remember Zebro!" when the
team faced a difficult third-down situation.
In addition, as
Vick finally entered the game to a loud ovation, his teammates said
they were further disturbed when Vick compared them to his dogfighting
crew, the "Bad Newz Kennels." Vick said the group would do anything for
each other, especially when it came to the mass execution of dogs who
failed to win the multimillionaire $1,000 in illegal prize money.
Vick then broke the huddle by loudly barking three times.
"The
only reason the Chiefs scored in the second half was because I was
still thinking about what Mike said during halftime about 'trunking,'"
said linebacker Omar Gaither, referring to the practice of putting two
pit bulls in a car trunk, closing the door, and allowing them to fight
for 15 minutes until one is dead. "Why is this freak on my team? Why
are people cheering for him? Seriously, answer my questions. Why?" |