We Can All Learn a Lesson from Michael Vick.

The ongoing Michael Vick saga is coming to a close with Vick’s own guilty plea. Many questions arise from his upcoming official admission of guilt.

Is his career over? Will we know exactly how many dogs were tortured or what kinds of activities took place inside those walls at Vick’s Hampton, Va., home? How long will he spend in prison? Will we ever know what happened behind those gates that he “allegedly” didn’t know about?

A wise man once said if you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas. Vick’s supposed friends and family members didn’t help his case, either.

Vick’s cousin, Davon Boddie, initially opened up the can of worms when he was arrested on drug paraphernalia charges leading to his subsequent arrest, and, more importantly, a thorough search of his home.

If I were running this depraved freak show, or at least had knowledge of it on my own property, I’d be running it with smarter people than Vick did. And more loyal friends. I wouldn’t want or expect two of my best friends to take a plea deal and leave me out to dry if they were in some ill-conceived dog-fighting ring when they were just as guilty as I was.

Robert De Niro once said in the 1993 film “A Bronx Tale” that “there’s nothing sadder in life than wasted talent.” Vick had all the talent in the world despite a few shortcomings on the field.

As a quarterback he was the opposite of the prototypical pocket passer we see right across the river, for example, but was a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare.

And he lost it all. Endorsements, the most lucrative NFL salary in league history, respect, admiration and his family and “friends.”

See last October’s game against the Bengals for how blessed Vick was with athletic ability, when Vick not only juked his way around the Bengals’ defense but also passed all over it. It was in those brief flashes of brilliance we saw what an unbelievable all-around athletic talent Vick was, even though he could never completely silence his critics.

He lost all of this just to see two pit bulls tear away at each other. It’s hard to believe that people get a rush from that kind of activity. It’s hard to believe, I thought to myself, that people actually take pleasure in watching and gambling on “man’s best friend” gnawing and tearing away at another dog. It’s hard to believe that dogs were electrocuted, crushed and drowned for not “performing up to par.”

I sometimes wonder why I haven’t been blessed with this talent. God knows if I were, I wouldn’t be wasting it like some people. And most importantly, I wouldn’t be electrocuting dogs for losing a dog-fight.