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Celebrity owner now reluctant to discuss pit bulls

AUSTIN, Texas — You can't blame Michael Griffin for passing on an opportunity to discuss one of his favorite subjects.

Nope, we're not talking about his interception of Matt Leinart in the Rose Bowl. Nor the eight blocked kicks that made him arguably the best special-teams player to come through the University of Texas. Nor fulfilling his dream of becoming a first-round pick in the NFL draft.

None of the above.

Michael Griffin's passion away from the football field is his dogs. His six pit bulls. Joc, Rose, Gemini and Lefty live with him in Nashville, while Honey and Shaq live with his parents in Austin. He used to speak of his pets like a proud papa on graduation day. Now his most prized possessions are no longer conversation pieces.

When he played in Austin — before he became the Tennessee Titans' top draft pick in 2007 — Griffin would give the media weekly updates about his dogs, how he looked for dog shows on the Internet and how he enjoyed breeding them. We wrote about Griffin's hobby, one which he shared with several of his Longhorns teammates. Now the mention of pit bulls doesn't bring that infectious smile to his face as it did in previous years.

I found out the hard way Tuesday, when I contacted the Titans in hopes of setting up an interview. I wanted to ask Griffin about rookie camp and the move from college safety to professional cornerback. And with the firestorm surrounding Michael Vick these days, I wanted to discuss how his hobby had been affected in the past couple of months.

I was politely informed by a member of the Titans' media relations staff that Griffin has decided not to speak about pit bulls at this point. Turns out, he's been fielding a lot of dog-related questions lately, and the subject has become a bit of a distraction.

So much of a distraction that he was moved to explain the difference between the dogs he breeds and the ones used for dogfighting.

"The dogs I have, the way they're bred today, they're not even bred for fighting,'' Griffin told The Associated Press. "If they're aggressive, you don't breed them. They are bred for a look."

Griffin and Titans teammates Reynaldo Hill and LenDale White have defended their ownership of pit bulls, answering questions that have become relevant in the wake of Vick's plummet from superstardom. Griffin and Hill reportedly decided not to have their photos taken with their dogs as part of a story done by The Nashville Tennessean.

Griffin should continue to speak about his dogs and not worry what the perception might be. It doesn't matter that his twin brother, Marcus, is happy he can walk barefoot in the back yard without worrying. Hopefully, Griffin won't allow Vick to muzzle his enthusiasm for his dogs.

Right now, Vick is negotiating with federal prosecutors to broker a possible plea deal that would allow him to avoid a trial on dogfighting charges. Whatever the resolution of the charges against him, he could miss this NFL season and possibly the 2008 campaign, putting a promising career in jeopardy.

Vick could still face jail time even if he dodges a trial. The sad part is Vick has already ruined it for people such as Michael Griffin who like pit bulls. Vick is accused of abusing animals, fighting dogs for profit when he's already a $100 million industry, and likely enjoying it because of the image that goes along with this practice, particularly in the hip-hop industry.

Glamorized violence has followed the breed. We know the pit bull and rotweiler as the dogs of choice for drug dealers, both in movies and in real life. How sad that perception is meeting with a dark, cold reality in Virginia right now.

Vick bought into the lifestyle, and it has cost him millions. And now athletes with pit bulls as legitimate pets are hesitant to speak about their dogs. That's too bad. Maybe one day when this Vick mess is a thing of the past, Michael Griffin will smile again when he hears the words "pit bull."

Because nobody's smiling now.

Cedric Golden writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: cgolden AT statesman.com