"What Good Is It For Me to Have Thoughts?"

FLOWERY BRANCH - I understand that professional football players aren't paid to be great orators.

Their physical ability leads us to put value on their thoughts and words. Even if they aren't the best talkers, they are still experts in their field and can tell you stuff you don't already know about football.

But when they wander too far from their comfort zone, it's like watching a moose on skates.

Such was the case yesterday when Atlanta Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking was asked whether he read the Michael Vick indictment.

"I don't have ...," Brooking began. "Our legal system, is in place ....What good is it for me to have thoughts or judge Mike or have an opinion on it. Our legal system was set in place to have due process take its course. I don't think it does us any good to sit here and comment on that or have an opinion on it. We're sitting up here today to try and bring closure for our football team."

Wide receiver Joe Horn and corner DeAngelo Hall both tried to get philosophical about the fact that Vick allegedly ran a dogfighting operation for half a decade.

"It can happen to anyone," said Hall.

"No one's immune to the trials and tribulations of life," said Horn.

Fellas, this isn't like leaving the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe. It's a barbaric criminal enterprise with a gambling charge riding shotgun.

Mystifying to me was the team's expectation that the talking about Vick on the first day of camp was going to bring "closure."

The frying pan just hit the burner. The heat rises from here.

I asked head coach Bobby Petrino if it was naive to expect a ceasefire on Vick talk.

"Yeah, I'm not sure about that," he answered (What's he going to say.."Yeah, I'm naive."?). "Like I said, we had the 90-minute press conference and I'd like to stay on focus with our football team. We all have different feelings for Mike. The Michael Vick I know worked hard and did everything we asked him to do. So we're hoping things work out OK for him."