Days after Michael Vick’s involvement in the barbaric act of dogfighting came to light, the dog-lover inside me boiled over with fury.

I was furious about all those involved in dogfighting from famous athlete to country bumpkin hiding in some rural backwater. I was furious that another superstar athlete with his future paved with gold could throw it all away for the gratification of his own bloodlust.

I wrote in these pages all that fury that boiled over. About how much I would like the gunshot-victim old dog of mine to decide his punishment on behalf of dogs worldwide. About his being just a miserable piece of junk.

Vick, a star quarterback in the most prestigious football league on earth, showed little remorse at first. Only when he went to trial and was sentenced to serve 19 months in a federal prison did he begin to express his emotions.

The fury I held, once Vick went to prison, turned into opportunity. Michael Vick COULD become the best thing that ever happened to dogfighting. He could emerge from prison a new man, having spent nearly two years (hopefully) wallowing in a cell thinking of nothing but those dogs hanging from chains while being electrocuted.

He emerged from prison with apologies and promises to be a new man. It’s hard, though, to believe the sincerity of someone who has a past as checkered as his. Actions would be the only provable way to see Vick’s sincerity.

The Philadelphia Eagles took a chance, knowing the firestorm of criticism that would follow from a country that treats dogs as members of the family. Protests and picket lines formed before games. The outrage was still fresh in the collective conscious.

Less than two years after his release, he again is roaming the football field putting up gaudy statistics. He has roamed the NFL football stadiums and turned them into his own personal playground.

He’s also been roaming schoolhouses throughout the country, preaching his story of killing dogs. He implores kids not to get involved in what he once did. He is a key spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He seems sincere.

For each amazing play he makes, his national microphone gets bigger and bigger. He uses that microphone to prove to all those who still doubt — and many will forever — that he is a changed man. We don’t see his every move, but he will always be under a national microscope because of his star status and our love of athletics. Should he get involved again in dogfighting, we all will know it.

But for now, by his actions, he is proving that he really might be the best thing to happen in the battle to stop dogfighting.

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Sean P. Murphy is web editor. He can be reached at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com