If Michael Vick Can’t Play in the NFL, How Can He Become a “Different Person?”
Disgraced football superstar Michael Vick completed his prison sentence under house arrest Monday at his home in Hampton, VA.
Vick, 29, who had been caged in a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas since December of 2007 for serving as the kingpin of an illegal dog fighting operation, was released by the Atlanta Falcons this past June and he is currently a free-agent suspended from playing in the NFL.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he will consider reinstating Vick provided he exhibits “genuine remorse” for brutally slaughtering and torturing canines for his own entertainment purposes.
The NFL’s head honcho continued and he labeled Vick’s actions, “Not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible.”
“He’s going to have to demonstrate to the larger community, not just to the NFL community and me, that he has remorse for what he did and he recognizes the mistakes that he made,” Goodell informed the USA Today last month.
Vick, who received treatments for herpes under the alias “Ron Mexico” and still decided to bang women and share the disease anyway, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy protection in July 2008.
It has been reported that Vick, who lost both his NFL and product endorsement incomes because of the pooch scandal, has $20.5 million in liabilities and assets of only $16 million.
One of “Mexico’s” bankruptcy attorneys was quoted as saying that “Mr. Vick has every reason to believe that upon his release, he will be reinstated into the NFL, resume his career and be able to earn a substantial living.”
Vick, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and the only quarterback in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards during the regular season, was raised in an utter war zone called Newport News, Virginia.
The first overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft for the Atlanta Falcons told the Sporting News that same year that, “Sports kept me off the streets. It kept me from getting into what was going on, the bad stuff. Lots of guys I knew have had bad problems.”
Andrew Young, a black member of the Falcon’s board of directors and an ordained minister, claims he was long worried about how much time Vick spent with his flunkies from the old neighborhood.
Young told Sports Illustrated that he offered Vick advice and guidance, but “everything (he) tried failed.”
The cleric labeled most of Vick’s friendships and bonds as “ghetto loyalty.”
Falcons owner Arthur Blank told ESPN he would like to see Vick play in the NFL again and that, “Hopefully, after spending a couple of years in jail, he’ll come out a different person.”
Michael Vick was a spectacular athletic talent who committed horrific and sadistic crimes against animals.
In light of his wrongdoings, Michael Vick lost his freedom, his finances and his livelihood.
The fallen hero has paid his debt to society and he deserves a chance to correct his life and career.
If Vick isn’t afforded that opportunity, how can he be expected to become a “different person?”
Lawrence Taylor No Longer Watches Football….But, He Loves To Watch Porn!
Hall of Fame New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor told KLAC radio station in Los Angeles last week that he no longer follows NFL action because he prefers to watch pornography instead.
"I don't really mess with football anymore," said Taylor, 50, a ten-time Pro Bowl selection who was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. "That's an era of my life that has passed. A lot of guys will sit there and live football. Every Sunday they're glued to the television watching football. I don't watch football. I'd rather watch two people fuck."
L.T. was selected by the Giants out of the University of North Carolina with the second overall pick in the 1981 NFL Draft.
From the instant he premiered in the swamps of New Jersey, the native of Williamsburg, Virginia physically overwhelmed the competition and he is widely credited with revolutionizing the linebacker position in the professional ranks.
"Lawrence Taylor, defensively, has had as big an impact as any player I've ever seen," said football icon John Madden. "He changed the way defense is played, the way pass-rushing is played, the way linebackers play and the way offenses block linebackers."
Taylor, a two-time Super Bowl champion and the 1986 AP NFL MVP, is simply one of the greatest players to ever grace the gridiron.
However, L.T.'s lengthy battles with drugs, alcohol and various other personal demons almost derailed one of the most accomplished careers in the history of football.
In 1988, Taylor tested positive for cocaine for the second time and he was suspended from football for 30 days. NFL rules stipulate that if a player were to test positive for blow three times, that individual would be forever barred from competing again.
With that realization in mind, Taylor claims he temporarily resisted using snow and he turned to the bottle as a substitute.
In a November 2003 interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, L.T. was asked what he could do that no other outside linebacker could and he answered, "Drink."
During the same interview segment, the onetime WWF wrestler recounted an episode when he arrived to a team meeting in handcuffs after a wild night spent banging strumpets.
"A couple of ladies that were trying out some new equipment they had. You know," Taylor asked rhetorically. "And I just happened to, and they just didn't happen to have the key."
Taylor admitted in his second autobiography that he was excited to resume snorting candycaine as he neared his retirement from the league.
"I saw coke as the only bright spot in my future," said the aspiring actor.
At the conclusion of his illustrious pigskin career, Taylor followed through and he began to blow coke again as if he were impersonating Tony Montana.
According to the three-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, he only associated with drug users during this period and he lived in a home with white sheets that covered his windows.
"I had gotten really bad," Taylor said. "I mean, my place was almost like a crack house."
The gridiron legend swears that he is entirely clean and sober these days.
Nevertheless, L.T. still readily acknowledges that his vice is smut.
Taylor once was quoted as saying, "For me, crazy as it seems, there is a real relationship between wild, reckless, and abandoned off the field and being that way on the field."
Perhaps Taylor could utilize that same mentality, avoid a relapse, and flourish in the world of porn.
Just think, L.T.'s first adult feature could be titled, "Sack the Muff."
Somewhere, Jackie Treehorn is licking his chops at the potential of it all.
David Cone Should Be In Cooperstown
The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 2-1 Saturday afternoon in the Bronx on the 10th anniversary of David Cone’s perfect game.
Cone, who recorded 2,688 strikeouts and went 194-126 with a 3.46 ERA in his Major League Baseball career, pitched his perfect game in a 6-0 Bombers victory against the Montreal Expos on July 18th, 1999.
"The further I get away from the game, the more I appreciate that it is my signature moment," said Cone, 46, who became only the 16th man in major league history to achieve the feat on that steamy summer afternoon.
Cone, a five-time All-Star selection and the winner of the 1994 AL Cy Young Award, said that he prefers the five championship rings that he acquired over his own personal accolades.
"If you'd ask me, I'd pick the World Series championships,” said the native of Kansas City, who won four crowns as a member of the Yankees and one as the ace of the Toronto Blue Jays staff in 1992. “Those are the best moments for me."
Still, Cone, who compiled an 8-3 postseason record over 21 starts in October, realizes the significance of his performance on the hill that day and he relishes the memories he has from it.
“People remember me for that day and I am grateful for it,” said Cone, who last pitched in 2003 for the New York Mets. “People tell me stories all the time about where they were on that day in the ninth inning.”
14 months after David Wells had thrown a perfecto for the Yankees in 1998, Cone whiffed ten Expos and put the dreadful squad out of their misery with only 88 pitches.
Cone said last week that around the fifth inning he thought to himself, “I am 36 years old. This is probably the last chance I'll ever have to be in this position.”
In 1996, Cone, the Yankees all-time leader in strikeouts per nine innings pitched (8.67), was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his pitching arm and he was placed on the disabled list for the bulk of that season.
Many medical professionals believed that both Cone’s livelihood and existence were in serious jeopardy.
However, Cone battled back from the grave injury and, in his first comeback start that September versus the Oakland Athletics, he unbelievably tossed a no-hitter through seven complete innings before he was removed from the game because of pitch count restrictions.
Considering the draconian ailment that Cone overcame, it is virtually miraculous that he even pitched until he was 36.
David Cone is a winner in every sense of the word and he was one of the most dominating and accomplished pitchers from his era.
If Cooperstown wants to enhance their neighborhood, David Cone should be invited up there for a lifetime stay.
*R-I-P-C-N-G-N-S-P
Keywords: Atlanta Falcons, David Cone, Lawrence Taylor, Michael Vick, New ork Giants, New York Mets, New York Yankees, NFL
