Michael Vick reflects on his dogfighting past in his soon-to-debut TV series, 'The Michael Vick Project'

Michael Vick returned to the site of his gruesome dogfighting crimes, looked at an empty dog bowl left behind in a dingy cage and wondered how he ever could have risked fame, freedom and fortune for "Bad Newz Kennels."

"This is hard to imagine myself doing this years ago, man," Vick says, cameras rolling.

His visit to the property he once owned in Surry County, Va., where he trained pit bulls for vicious fights and helped drown or hang dogs that didn't do well, is a teaser of what's ahead in his docu-series "The Michael Vick Project."

Vick candidly tells how he became entangled in a dogfighting ring that sent him to prison and temporarily halted his NFL career as part of a series that debuts next month on BET. Vick says the 10-part series that premieres Feb. 2 will show he's a changed man after a tragic fall from stardom he says "was all my fault."

"At times, it's hard to talk about it, but for the most part, if you talk about it and let it all out, it kind of helps put the demons to rest," Vick told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Michael Vick returns to Atlanta to boos, leaves with 2 TDs and cheers

Back in the city he once ruled, Michael Vick put up a pair of touchdowns -- one running, the other passing, both of them his first since 2006 -- and basked in the cheers of the Georgia Dome crowd as the Eagles dominated the short-handed Falcons 34-7.

"It was as loud as it gets in the Dome," said Vick, who teared up on the bus ride over to the stadium. "I heard the chants all through the stadium and it sent chills down my spine. They were just letting me know that people still appreciate what I've done."

He was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Falcons and one of the most dynamic players in the NFL before his stunning downfall for dogfighting. After serving prison time and losing two seasons in the prime of his career, he’s trying to rebuild it all as a backup in Philadelphia.

Vick ran for a 5-yard touchdown in the third quarter, his first since Oct. 15, 2006. With the game out of hand, he slipped a 5-yard scoring pass to Brent Celek early in the fourth, his first TD throw since that final season with the Falcons.

"It couldn’t have happened at a better time," Vick said. "I want to become one of the top quarterbacks in this league again."

Michael Vick says he wants another dog, denies having electrocuted pit bulls at Bad Newz Kennels

At a speaking engagement at a Boys and Girls Club in Newark, N.J., NFL star and convicted dogfighter Michael Vick said he wished he could have a dog again "more than anything in the world."

According to NBC New York, Vick told the assembled school-age children that he hopes to one day own another dog -- he's currently legally prohibited from doing so -- but that whether he'll be able to is "up to my judge at his discretion."

Interestingly, Vick declined an offer by BAD RAP, the Oakland-based rescue group that has worked to rehabilitate 10 of the dogs seized from his Bad Newz Kennels, to see the dogs when his team, the Philadelphia Eagles, played the Oakland Raiders in October.

During the Boys and Girls Club appearance -- which was arranged by the Humane Society of the United States, the group with which Vick has formed an unorthodox partnership on its anti-dogfighting campaign -- Vick also answered questions from the children about the Bad Newz operation and his part in it, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. 

Dog lovers cry foul over comments from Jay Leno and Chris Rock about Michael Vick

Talk show host Jay Leno's interview with comedian Chris Rock last month caused many animal-loving viewers' jaws to drop. Did they really just say that? they wondered.

The answer is sure to displease animal advocates who've expressed outrage about the actions of NFL star and convicted dogfighter Michael Vick: Yes, they really did say that.

During the interview, the two comics' chatter turned to the controversial arrest of filmmaker Roman Polanski in late September.  Rock expressed shock that members of the Hollywood community stepped up to defend Polanski, who fled the U.S. more than 30 years ago after being accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. 

Sounds reasonable so far.  But that's when Leno steered the conversation in an unexpected direction, using Vick's case as a contrast to Polanski's: "It's amazing to me -- you mistreat a dog, and you lose your career, and you go to jail for two years."  Rock's response added insult to injury for dog lovers: "Yeah, look at Michael Vick! What the hell did Michael Vick do, man? A dog? A pit bull ain't even a real dog."

Main Line Animal Rescue takes its pro-pit bull, anti-Michael Vick message to San Diego

Pennsylvania-based group Main Line Animal Rescue, which famously opened Oprah Winfrey's eyes to the problem of puppy mills, has more recently turned its attention to the plight of pit bulls and the NFL career of Michael Vick.  Back in September, Main Line decided to try a new tactic to help animals and started taking out newspaper ads in cities where Vick and his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles, were scheduled to play. 

The ads, the first of which ran in the Washington Post to coincide with an Eagles-Redskins game, urge animal lovers to "Consider volunteering at your local shelter on the day of the game. Spend some time walking, or brushing, or bathing, or hugging a homeless Pit Bull."  But beyond the call to volunteerism, they also feature a pledge from Main Line: For each time Vick is sacked in the upcoming game, the group offers a donation of five bags of kibble to an area shelter.  

The Washington Post ad produced results far greater than Main Line envisioned; dog food donations poured in and, when all was said and done, the donated-kibble tally was measured not in bags but in tons.  (In all, four tons were donated to the Washington, D.C., Humane Society.)

This weekend, Vick and the Eagles come to Southern California to play the San Diego Chargers; naturally, Main Line is at it again.  The ad above ran in the San Diego Union-Tribune today, and the group plans to donate dog food to a San Diego-based shelter at a later date.

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Pit bull group says Vick won't see his former dogs when Eagles visit Oakland

-- Lindsay Barnett

Pennsylvania rescue group makes good on its Michael Vick offer, donates 4 tons of food to Washington, D.C. shelter

We told you last month that the Pennsylvania-based group Main Line Animal Rescue, best known for using a Chicago billboard to convince Oprah Winfrey to air an exposé about the cruelties dogs endure in puppy mills, is trying a new tactic in its battle on behalf of dogs. 

Furious over the Philadelphia Eagles' signing of convicted dogfighter Michael Vick, Main Line opted not for a billboard but for dog food: It offered to donate five bags of kibble to feed needy dogs in a Washington, D.C., shelter for each time Vick was sacked in the Eagles' game against the Washington Redskins.

Turns out, the plan worked out even better than expected -- and that's an understatement.  Dog-food donations poured in from sources including a Pennsylvania pet store and even celebrity chef Rachael Ray, who offered up a supply of her own brand of dog food, Nutrish.  Earlier this week, Main Line made good on its offer when volunteers delivered a whopping four tons of dog food to the Washington, D.C., Humane Society.  (According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the humane society plans to share the bounty with other area rescue groups.)

"Considering how little Vick's being played, we couldn't wait for him to be tackled," Main Line's founder, Bill Smith, told the Inquirer. "So we thought we'd just go for it." Go for it they did -- and a lot of homeless Washington-area pets stand to benefit. That's a lot more than we can say for most other stories involving Michael Vick!

RELATED:
Berkeley Breathed's new book was inspired by one of Michael Vick's pit bulls
Pit bull group says Vick won't see his former dogs when Eagles visit Oakland

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Main Line Animal Rescue

Michael Vick doesn't play but draws animal rights protestors in Oakland; Raiders upset Eagles

OAKLAND, Calif. - Michael Vick heard it all in his first road game, from supporters to animal rights activists and protesters eager to boo him. Or bark at him for that matter.

"I'm just trying to do the best I can," Vick said afterward. "I want to help more animals than I hurt. I understand there are people who want to do that. I'm still trying to do whatever I can to be the best ambassador I can be. I'm trying to move on with my life."

It didn't help he hardly played Sunday and his Philadelphia Eagles lost an ugly one at Oakland, 13-9. Vick played in a road game for the first time since being reinstated to the NFL following an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

Outisde the Coliseum, Charles Wright caught plenty of flak for wearing an old-school Vick Falcons jersey.

Berkeley Breathed's new book was inspired by one of Michael Vick's former pit bulls

Beloved cartoonist Berkeley Breathed had an unusual inspiration for his latest children's book, "Flawed Dogs." No it wasn't one of the Santa Barbaran's many rescued pit bulls, but it was one of Michael Vick's infamous dogs who was set to be put down.

"The book happened because I came across both a picture and a quote at about the same time -- a picture of one of Michael Vick's fight dogs. It was set to be put down, but a shelter in Utah decided to take the dog and a few others at the same time and try to rehabilitate them," Breathed told CNN. "This was the first time the dog had ever received any affection in its life.... It's the most moving picture of a dog I've ever seen, having gone through an impossible transition and fallen back to where dogs naturally go, which is just loving people."

Best known for other animals, most notably the skittish penguin named Opus and utterly bizarre Bill the Cat, the Pulitzer Prize-winner sat down with Hero Complex blogger Geoff Boucher earlier this month and talked about his career so far, his regrets and his plans for the future.

Video of Breathed reading from "Flawed Dogs" after the jump.

Pit bull group says Vick won't see his former dogs when Eagles visit Oakland this weekend

OAKLAND, Calif. — A Bay Area pit bull advocacy group says Michael Vick has declined an invitation to visit eight of his former dogs this weekend when the Philadelphia Eagles are in town to play the Oakland Raiders.

The group BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls) told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it extended the invitation through the Eagles to Vick last week to view his former dogs that were part of the dog fighting operation at Bad Newz Kennels in southeastern Virginia.

BAD RAP co-founder Tim Racer said the group picked a location that would have allowed Vick to view the dogs from behind a window at a distance that satisfied the conditions of his parole that bar him from being near animals.

Philadelphia Eagles give $150k in animal grants

Months after facing criticism for signing convicted dogfighter Michael Vick, the Philadelphia Eagles are making good on a pledge to support animal welfare groups.

The team on Monday unveiled a program called TAWK, which stands for Treating Animals With Kindness. The initiative aims to reduce animal abuse, encourage spaying and neutering and end dogfighting through public education and awareness.

The Eagles awarded grants of $50,000 each to Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, the Humane Society of Berks County and the Humane Society of the United States.