This is a subject that brings a lot of emotions out of me for many different reasons. None of them are happy. Personally, Michael Vick's case is about as close to me as Sean Taylor's death was when it occurred. Both were black athletes who were in the prime of their careers when tragedy struck. Fortunately for Vick, he has a second chance. Taylor's life was taken away by underaged teens looking to rob his home under the assumption that he wasn't there. When they approached his bedroom door, he opened it simultaneously and a panic shot was let off that hit a major artery in his leg. He died a day later. With that said, both of these cases were very preventable and should NOT have occurred.
I remember precisely when Vick first made his mark in the sports world. As a redshirt freshman quarterback, Vick brought a relatively obscure Virginia Tech (VT) football team to national prominence with an athletic ability that NO ONE has ever seen (and still haven't) at the quarterback position. He took his VT team to their first national championship game as a freshman and I remember the game like it was yesterday.
Vick, who is from Newport News (known as "Bad News" around the way), is a native of Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads is about 45 mins away from where I'm from. I have family from all over the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia so its very familiar. Newport News is hood. There's no way else to describe it. If you're not from there, then its not a place you would like to visit. Being located in northeastern North Carolina, our news coverage area tied in with Hampton Roads. Therefore, it was nothing to turn the television to the 6 o'clock news and hear about the various robberies, shootings, stabbings, etc. coming out of Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. His cousin is Aaron Brooks who played for the University of Virginia and was a starting QB in the NFL. NBA star Allen Iverson is also from Newport News. Alonzo Mourning is from Chesapeake in Hampton Roads...Bruce Smith...you get the idea.
THEREFORE, to see him come up from nothing in Hampton Roads and be on TV in the NCAA Football National Championship against a powerhouse in Florida State was something to root for. Of course, Florida State was heavily favored and won the game, but Vick sent a message to the college football world when he single-handedly lead his team to a one-point advantage at the end of the third quarter against one of the most notorious and best defenses in college football. He stayed just another year.
Then came the NFL...the number one pick, the 100 million dollar contract, the huge Nike endorsement, the NFL Madden cover...at one point, Vick WAS the face of the NFL. A black QB was the face of the NFL. Go f***** figure.
The knock on Vick (of course) was that...
...he was inaccurate. Which was very true at times.
...he was too short. He isn't as tall as the prototypical NFL QB.
...he was too athletic and should play another position. Once again, QBs aren't usually the best athletes on the field.
1. I'm not denying Vick's accuracy was something he needed to work on. At all. But, if you're gonna be particular, let's talk about his lack of talent. In six years, the falcons didn't provide Vick with ONE Decent receiver. His best wide receiver was freakin' Alge Crumpler. Alge Crumpler is a tight end (and a repeat Pro Bowler while Vick was there). I repeatedly saw Vick's receivers drop pass after pass after pass, but that mostly goes unmentioned. Donovan McNabb is JUST getting decent WR talent and he's been kissing Andy Reid's behind for YEARS (but, that's another blog in itself). His running back was Warrick Dunn. I'm not knockin Dunn, but we know he's nothing more than a scatback. Vick was the QB and the premier RB in the backfield behind a weak offensive line. Kiss my a**.
2. Too short? Doug Flutie was 5'9 and Drew Brees is the same height as Vick. Brees led the league in passing yards last year. Height isn't a problem. Kiss my a**.
3....This angers me more than anything. Why? Because the black quarterback has always been in the crosshairs of coaches. Yes, crosshairs as in a gun. Killed off. The perception is that black quarterbacks are too dumb to be quarterback. Hmmmmmm...okay. Black players are too athletic and that athletic skill set should be put to use in other areas of the field. Hmmmmm...okay. It sounds like, to me, that the quarterback position is restricted to mostly white males. I say this because, if you look across the country you'll see converted black quarterbacks. Where? Look at Anquan Boldin, a Pro Bowl WR who came to Florida State and changed positions. Look at Hines Ward, another Pro Bowl WR who played college QB at Georgia. Look at Antwaan Randle-El, a WR from Washington, that was a 5'10 quarterback at the University at Indiana. That's just a few. If you look in college, the number converted black QBs probably doubles (at least). I'm not saying that some of them shouldn't have changed positions. As you can see, it has worked out. But, why do black quarterbacks have to be amazing to remain a QB and whites have to prove that they suck before they're yanked? In addition, a lot of black quarterbacks are perceived as "too dumb" to play QB in the NFL. At the NFL combine, the wonderlic test is looked at as a gauge for intelligence. How about Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Terry Bradshaw, two of the NFL's Hall of Fame quarterbacks, scored a 15. A freakin 15. Vince Young scored a 16. Hell, Donovan McNabb scored a 14 and Alex Smith, a former #1 overall draft pick of the 49ers in 2005, scored a 40. McNabb is a 5-time pro bowler and Smith is a backup. Kiss my a**.
Then came the dogfighting incident.
First of all, I don't condone dogfighting. At all. I'm totally against any animal brutality. I don't hunt. I don't agree with hunting, either. I don't even like when people kills bugs or small animals just because they're there. But, you're telling me...I can kill a person--a human being--and get less (or no) time than killing dogs. Are you kidding me? I just witnessed Donte' Stallworth get a few days in jail for running over a person in the influence of alcohol. Years before that, Leonard Little of the Rams did the exact same thing. No jail time. The privilege of athletes and celebrities angers many everyday people and for good reason. If you are a certain color, you better believe that the anger is doubled.
What about the hypocrisy of hunting and horse racing?! Both, that involve the slaughtering of animals??
..and don't give me that, "its legal" bulls**t. If hunting was a majority-black pastime, do you really think it would be legal? A bunch of black people with shotguns? Really? People have talked about the brutality of horse racing for years...there have been TV specials on it...yet, its fine because of how much money it makes and who makes it. Kiss my a**.
The really screwed up part of all of this is that Vick was a starting QB in the NFL. He had a plethora of endorsements, engagements, etc. He lived in Atlanta. He gave his cousins a house and they ran the operation out of a "kennel" in Virginia. There is no way that he was the ringleader and controlled the operation. I believe he fought dogs and probably killed a few, but not to the extent of the people that were there everyday. He had no time to do that. Yet, when his "family" saw that opportunity to get off relatively scratch-free they blamed everything on him. Some family. Since Vick owned the house and financed most of everything (they had no money), he took the fall. THAT'S why this is a tragedy to me. This could have been avoided. Blacks athletes have to remember what they are, regardless of their status. There will always be people looking to bring you down and YOU WILL FALL if they come after you. It seems like we have forgotten that.
What continues to amaze me is how many rooted and still are rooting for this man to fail. Not just because he is a black athlete, but because he's Michael Vick--the anti-protypical NFL QB in every aspect of the phrase (athletic, shorter, black, black-cultured, with speed that forced defenses to plan their entire game around him and he had a lot of money lol) that BEAT THE PRECIOUS LORD BRETT FAVRE-WHO-DOES-NO-WRONG AT LAMBEAU FIELD IN THE PLAYOFFS. The ONLY loss that the storied, beloved Green Bay Packers have ever received on their home field in the playoffs. You don't think that made him a lot of enemies? He lost all of his endorsement, his money, most of his possessions and did jail time. Over dogs. I'm just saying.
So I root for him with everything I got. Everything.
...Against those naysayers that say that he has to come back as a WR, RB or Wildcat QB...but, wait isn't a run-first scheme supposed to fail? Why are more teams using the wildcat? Kiss my a**. Yet, he has more playoff wins than Tony Nono-err--Romo. Once again, Kiss my a**.
...Against PETA. F*ck PETA. Hypocrites. Police and whites used to sick dogs on blacks during the civil rights movement. Kiss my black a**.
...against those people who rejoice at seeing another black man fail. Especially, other blacks.
Go Mike, go. Make your comeback and do it your way. Don't let these MF'ers break you and strip you of your blackness and what makes you, you. Kobe did it. (But, Kobe was more "white-friendly" and fake as hell to begin with. LOL)
