The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Indianapolis Colts this afternoon, reinforcing the fact that the NFL this year is totally an enigma. Everything gets shaken up every single week – but we’ll talk about that on Tuesday when we release the Power Rankings.
Eagles quarterback Michael Vick threw for 218 yards and rushed for 75 more (with a touchdown in each category) in his first game in 4 weeks. Although it’s a fairly unimpressive statline, there were half a dozen plays that inspired a “wow” from everyone watching. Mike Vick still has it in him. What’s ironic is that I found this letter earlier today and it kind of relates to this situation:
Dear Michael Vick,
Welcome back! We missed you.
Love,
Every Football Fan Except Roy Kolb
Vick is electric. When he is on the field, you watch the television. You don’t want to miss one of the handful of times where he breaks off a 30-yard run. He also doesn’t get credit for his arm; the dude can throw the ball with some force behind it. When combined with DeSean Jackson he makes up the most exciting duo in pro sports. (Take that, members of Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat.)
Anytime you talk about Vick on the field, someone has to be That Guy that mentions the dogs and the gunshots fired at the birthday party. I’ll address them both because I think that, at heart, Mike is a good guy.
Dogfighting
He was raised with it. Does that make it morally okay? Absolutely not. I like dogs as much as anyone that doesn’t own a dog and it makes me sick to think about what he did. But he’s shown remorse. He spent almost two years in jail. As a measure of comparison: Donte Stallworth killed a human while driving drunk and spent less than a week in jail. So, yeah. Vick is rehabilitated.
It seems so simple to most of us that making dogs fight each other and then killing them is wrong. But it was so commonplace and he literally spent his entire life with dogfighting. If you are one of the ignorant people that is reading this post from a white stallion of morality, let me remind you that slavery was even more common than dogfighting is, and relatively few people spoke out about slavery. Is slavery bad?
Hindsight is 20/20.
The Birthday Party
If you didn’t hear the story, Vick threw a birthday party at a club and left it open to the public. At least one of his dogfighting cohorts attended, and from there it’s hazy until Mike left and a gun went off. Here’s what I think happened:
Mike threw the party and left it open to the public because he wanted to gain popularity in the public eye. He did not invite his old dogfighting buddies, but they found out about it and decided to go anyway because they had nothing better to do with their lives. At the party, Mike denied them (or him, I don’t really know) and bodyguards and bouncers stepped in and threw the guy(s) out. The guy(s) kept pestering the bouncers and caused such a scene that Vick left. From there, everything escalated quickly and somebody shot off a gun when the argument got heated. Vick was not present. He was not even in the building.
The gunshot happened because Michael Vick is trying to grow as a person and live a better life – as I said before, he’s rehabilitated. To become better, he has to distance himself from his old friends and his old life. And let’s be honest, if you were friends with the most electric man in the NFL, would you let him leave you behind without a fight?
MIke Vick hasnt changed at all. People who do things as messed up as what he has done have been brought up condoning such things, people like that never change.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL is an enigma ur right, but to make the Eagles beating the Colts by 2 a basis for the comment is absurd. The Colts are plauged by injuries and have a weak running game at best. I am going to stick by the Colts for years to come but the Eagles beating a crippled team says nothing good about them. Not to mention Austin Collie was taken out with a brutal hit that should defiantly induce a fine from the NFL. I guarantee the Eagles will not win a game in the playoffs, if they even make it.
This is kind of like after Braylon Edwards caught the 76 yard TD pass, after me and my mom cheered she asked, "Isn't that the guy with all the problems?" Logically and truthfully I replied, "Yes, Braylon's a dirtbag, but you know what? I don't care. I care about when he runs and catches footballs, I don't care about what he is when he leaves the field." Needless to say, she agreed with me. Now, I'm not condoning dog fighting, it's an inexcusable action and Vick deserved every punishment he received and probably more, but he served the time he was given. He's trying to make something of his life and of his God given talents, you can't blame him or scrutinize him for trying to take advantage of his second chance. Is Vick a dirtbag? Probably. Is Braylon Edwards a dirtbag? Probably. But at the end of the day, do we really care if our star athletes are top-notch citizens? No, we care about whether or not they catch/throw passes and win their team games.
ReplyDeleteWho's Roy Kolb? Thought his name was Kevin.
ReplyDelete@amk90: "plauged" is not a word and "definitely" is not spelled "d-e-f-i-a-n-t-l-y". And to generalize all people as bad shows that you're really pessimistic, which is depressing. Vick is absolutely a changed man. The only aspect of his life that he hasn't changed is his game on the field. Listen to him talk to reporters and follow his actions outside of Lincoln Financial Field. He's as much of a model citizen as you will find in the NFL now.
ReplyDelete@Malone: Braylon is a jerk off the field, yes. But Mike Vick is not. That was the point of the post...
@Anonymous: Roy Kolb is Kevin's father.
have you ever met mike vick? or do you know anything about the man's upbringing? don't just generalize that he "literally spent his entire life with dogfighting." also, comparing slavery to dogfighting was pretty bold of you. these two things are totally different. aside from these two things i like your post a lot. i would have to agree that he did serve his time and is a better man off the field. good work man
ReplyDelete