You've seen the images by now and, yes, you've probably even formed your own opinion about dogfighting. But, there is another lesson to be learned by the Michael Vick affair and it's a lesson your relatives, especially your mothers or grandmothers told you quite often.

It's not that raising dogs for the purpose of fighting other dogs is just plain wrong. No the lesson they taught is this – you're judged by the company you keep.

Now, I'm all for keeping in touch with your "homeboys or homegirls" in your old neighborhood or city. Or even with the posse you grew up with and continue to see even though you're in another city. (Heck, I have two very good ones in New York.)

However, when your "posse" is doing illegal things at age 10, and now 20 years later they're doing VERY ILLEGAL things that your money and your house is paying for, then "Houston, we have a problem."

You are judged by the company you keep and Vick's warm, close and personal homeboys didn't seem to have any problem sending him down the river without a paddle to save their own sorry rear ends.

It's a shame that now he's about to face some serious jail time that Vick didn't learn or take heed to the lesson many of us heard.

You definitely are judged by the company you keep.