The Brothers Vick

The Tale of Ron Mexico and the Broken American Dream.

I realize that my job here at Sports Journey is to cover college football, but every once and a while there is a story just so juicy that I just cannot take a pass on it. Spawned from acts that are so outrageously stupid and senseless that you don’t know whether to laugh or cringe when you hear them. King Michael and Prince Marcus Vick, who both came out of high school as top national prospects, now have both officially disbanded the only thing an athlete really has to hold onto. His respect. Michael and Marcus officially ruined the American dream in record breaking fashion. The only person I really feel bad for after these countless run-ins with the law is their mother. But let’s get down to it. I will not only show you where they both went wrong, but how if they both could have done only a few simple things differently, they both would still be playing in the NFL.

Where to start in this debacle? Well, we can really start anywhere, because each case just supersedes the next. So let’s start with the Prince, Marcus, whom is the younger of the two by four years. When Marcus enrolled in Virginia Tech, his brother was already a number one draft pick and a multi-million dollar athlete. Let’s skip ahead two years, because 2002-03 was relatively boring for Marcus, other than him being suspended in September of 2003 by Coach Frank Beamer one game for undisclosed reasons.

Fast Forward to 2004. First, in February he was arrested on three counts for allegedly allowing underage girls to drink and one for having sex with a minor. How young was this minor might you ask? 15 years old my friend…15. We won’t even get into the morals of this situation. Why not you might ask? Because we have more arrests to cover obviously! The next went down only five months after the first in July. He was charged with reckless driving and possession of marijuana. Police said the vehicle smelled of marijuana. So let’s get this straight real quick. You are the starting quarterback for Virginia Tech, you’re speeding, and you’re hot boxing your car? Real smart kiddo. So for this he was suspended indefinitely from the team.

It goes on and on for the Prince, but to make a long story short he was reinstated January 2005 after actually being dismissed from the university on a whole. But not before flipping the crowd of Mountaineer Field of 60,000 off at West Virginia. So he comes back, leads the Hokies to an 11-2 season and a trip to the Orange Bowl. That is a good thing right? Wrong. During the game he stomps on the calf of Louisville’s All American Elvis Dumervil. This was Vicks last chance. He was dismissed from the team…again. So what does he do? He declares he will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Two days later he was charged with three more counts of brandishing a firearm in a McDonald’s parking lot. Oh wait, I forgot one. In December he was stopped for speeding and cited for driving with a revoked license from his previous arrest. We all know how this one ends. Short stint with Miami, waved this past May. Two words; wasted talent.

Now to the King himself. Michael Vick aka Ron Mexico aka Ookie was an icon of college and pro football. Arguably the most popular and physically talented player in the whole NFL. So who is Ron Mexico you might ask? He is the alias that Vick used to get treated for genital herpes. But not before getting himself involved in a lawsuit with Sonya Elliott because he knowingly transmitted the disease to her without making her aware of his situation. You might have very well never heard this story. Why you might ask? Reason being is because Sports Illustrated and ESPN buried the story for obvious reasons. Mr. Mexico was the poster boy of the NFL. SI even did a cover story on Vick the next month without any mention of Mexico or the lawsuit. Who picks a pseudonym Ron Mexico anyway? Regardless, this was only the start of trouble for the King, who we all now know is most definitely going to jail.

I’m not going to get into whether or not Michael Vick is a horrible person because of his acts. Or if his posse are bad friends because they basically ran into the police station with their pens in hand ready to sign plea agreements to testify against him. But my real question is, what were you thinking? If these people were your friends, which obviously they aren’t, wouldn’t you have weighed out your options beforehand and at least have everyone on the same page?

I saw an aerial view of Vicks’ home where he bred and murdered dogs. It looked like a normal home set out on a few acres of land, and then you see it. It kind of blends in at first, but then you can decipher what appears to be little houses, or kennels. You also see a few regular size buildings. And a huge gate the length of the property. What was weird about this site was that all of it was painted pitch black. Wait. A pitch black row of kennels, shacks, and dog fighting pits? Let’s be serious. It wouldn’t take a group of preschoolers too long to figure out what was going on here. Forget about the FBI. They’re a tad uptight. So do I think that your boys wanted to rat you out, or they weren’t good friends? I don’t think it matters. Because this ring was so intricate and the King was so intertwined in the web that he weaved that the hammer had to come down. Vick had to be the one to take the fall.

Marcus, this is just for future reference. When you’re older brother is the face of the NFL and a multimillionaire, realize for a second that you actually have the potential to be better than him. Which in turn would mean millions for you. The reason you didn’t get a shot in the NFL is because your image was already tainted, on several occasions. No one wants to take a shot on a person who cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Not when you have been granted a second, and even a third chance. Remember that.

Michael, you were supposed to be the best thing for the NFL football since sliced bread, a new generation of quarterback. Now, you’re going to be just a number, but this one’s going to be a lot longer than the number seven you are used to. Your future is in jeopardy, and you won’t see the lines of a football field until at least 2010. My biggest question for you if we had a heart to heart would be why did you choose to be the head of this operation? Obviously you weren’t thinking, but c’mon. You had the world at your fingertips and you let it slip away. Maybe it’s the fact that you never befriended any of your teammates and you kept the same old posse from your youth. My dad once told me something that today still holds true. He said, “You are who you associate with.” In the end that’s all it really comes down to. You could say you could have went about it differently to keep yourself out of trouble and jail, but in the end the bottom line is what you were doing was unacceptable and disgusting. After all, the King is never confused with the court jester. You don’t have to take it from me. Just look at one of the biggest cheaters in all of American history. Now Barry Bonds, he has some loyal friends…

The Michael Vick Experience

Was it only Monday (seems like ages ago now) that Vick stood up in front of the judge and then the press to take responsibility for the worst of the crimes he was accused of? I guess so. Since it had been all Vick all the time prior to that the silence is good for us and frankly for him. He will never get on with the way he’ll be forced to live his life from now on if he does it under the glare of a camera all the time. He has finally gotten a strong leader in his life with attorney Billy Martin who has advised the family well and kept open the possibility for his client that he won’t do much jail time if any at all. The sentencing hearing is far enough away that Vick can “cooperate” with the feds and if he feeds them enough info that is useful to them in other investigations he might not have to do the same sentence as his co-defendants who sang without much protest. What does that say about Vick himself that he is willing to lose his street cred and sing? I don’t know but I know that it is a huge change in how he thinks of himself, authority figures in general and his ability to be a football star. When is a Falcon really a rat? When he wants to play football bad enough and avoid jail time in the worst way. Contrast this, if you will, to Barry Bonds’ friend and former trainer who has done the better part of 18 months in prison just so he didn’t have to sing about Barry in front of a grand jury. With friends like he used to have, Vick needs no other enemies…but nonetheless will still have some among the public who might never forgive him.

Football is back with a vengeance and the funniest thing I’ve seen in many a year was the countdown of the number of hours and minutes til the LSU game Thursday night. On the screen during all ESPN programming was the “crawl” at the bottom as if it were almost New Year’s Eve. And the game was a blowout and certainly not noteworthy. With some fantasy drafts already having taken place and others (like mine) to come just prior to the NFL kick off game, the lack of Vick-talk was a good respite so that real sports can be discussed.

Speaking of that…how about them pennant and Wild Card races in baseball? Yanks starters out duel the vaunted Sox rotation; the Angels just pound the hell out of Seattle; Cleveland wants the division so bad that they are playing way above their heads and the Mets are coming apart at the seams. You’ve got to give Bud Selig his due: the Wild Card works and keeps most fans interested once the NFL starts to big-foot the market.

Major breaking news: Tiger Woods gave an opinion on a topic other than his putting and driving ability. Tiger, like MJ before him has been mum his entire career on anything that might divide opinion among the general public. The fact that spoke up about Mike Vick and his situation made the news…not the opinion mind you…just that he said it out loud into a microphone. Think he’s still sleep deprived from the baby?

Want more? Read my daily blog called Daily Dose of Duffy at www.incidentalcontact.com.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Darren McFadden, Insert Foot Here

Certain states across the country do not have a professional football team to look upon. Nebraska, Iowa, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas are some solid examples. Where the community high and by bleeds their college colors. Young men are called on to hoist up a whole state onto their back, for better or worse. Peyton Manning is a great example during his tenure at Tennessee. Joe Daily happens to be on the other side of the spectrum for Nebraska, and forever will be a goat in the eyes of the Huskers faithful.

Regardless, this is an era where whole states unite and put their hope and faith in someone who sometimes can’t even go to the bar and order a round. This happens to be the case for Arkansas’s running back and Heisman hopeful Darren McFadden (at least until next Monday when he turns 21). After finishing second in the Heisman voting last year to Ohio State’s Troy Smith, McFadden’s mother came out on record and said that her son will be entering the 2008 NFL draft. Why, you would ask, would she say this? I was asking myself the same thing. She basically said, “Darren honey, why don’t you come here and let me put that big old foot of yours in your mouth for you?” The word on the street is that McFadden’s talons look like they are throwing gang signs according to teammate Robert Johnson. But all jokes aside, you can’t drop the ball on coming out early until after the season is over…and here’s why.

McFadden is an explosive athlete. He can run, jump, or pass his way to the end zone (he played quarterback regularly during the second half of the razorback’s past season). So there is no doubt that I think he is going to have a fantastic season. But what if he doesn’t? What happens when your team, who is one of the frontrunners to win the SEC west, comes in fourth? Then, when you are the leading candidate for the Heisman trophy and you don’t win it, what happens then? I’ll tell you what happens. Mr. McFadden gets drafted in the teens rather then being the number one through five, which he would be expected to go if all goes well. My whole point here is you have nothing to gain by saying you are going to enter the draft, but everything to lose.

Now let’s take a look at some of his stats. Granted, he did have a stellar 2006 season, finishing up with 1,647 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. And he happens to be the only other running back in SEC history other than Georgia’s Herschel Walker to rush for over 1,000 yards in his freshman and sophomore seasons. But let’s take a look at something a little bit different. Against teams which their defense was ranked worse than 50 versus the rush, McFadden had 920 yards and 10 touchdowns, but against teams ranked better than 50 he only had 727 yards and 4 touchdowns. The yards can compare, but the touchdowns cannot. Reason being is that the Razorbacks played seven teams in 2006 which had defenses ranked better than 50 and he only broke 100 yards in three of those games.

So do I think McFadden is going to be a great football player this season? Absolutely. But do I think that the junior made a major mistake by making it seem that he was going to leave? Of course. You now are taking focus away from your team and onto yourself. Which brings some very much unwanted pressure and attention where it is definitely not needed. Especially when you are under a fine tooth comb from a whole state. The razorbacks are coming off a season where they were one win away from being SEC champs. Hopes are high, and the heat is on. This 2007 season will make or break what fate has in store for Darren McFadden.

To make it laughable, Mini Muhammed (McFadden’s mother) came on record and now is saying that she never said her son was going to enter the draft. She doesn’t know a thing about football and how could ESPN’s Pat Forde, the man who broke the story twist her words like that. She said she meant he would be done in December. Right mom. We all know that a mother would do anything for her child, but this is too obvious. This goes on the “whoops” I shouldn’t have said that highlight reel. Well Mini, I guess it really doesn’t matter too much. Because in the end, you will have the last laugh. I am sure next April your son will make enough money so none of your 27 grandchildren will ever have to work a day in their lives…Amen.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

The Clash asked that 25 years ago…but today it’s about Mike Vick

As I write this it is one day and counting from the drop dead date given to Vick by federal prosecutors to plead guilty to the current charges against him or roll the dice, go to trial and be faced as early as next week with new charges added to the indictment.

What would you do? I think the answer for Vick is whatever gets him back to playing football the fastest. In that way he can rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the public and retain some semblance of his personal identity. Think about it; his whole life is about to go up in smoke at the tender age of 29. He has dedicated more than half of it to football on the high school, college and pro level. That is who he is pure and simple: the Michael Vick Experience, as the Nike commercial proclaimed a couple of years ago. Without football he is Michael Vick, the ex con or the guy, although potentially acquitted at trial, who had 7 family members or associates say in sworn testimony had dogs fight and put to death. Try a new career after that one.

The key to getting back to football the fastest is feeling out the NFL on whether or not they will put a lifetime ban on him as Bart Giamatti did on Pete Rose; remember, gambling is included in the indictment although it doesn’t get the big headlines. The league could also suspend Vick even if he takes a plea and have him serve it AFTER he does his jail time. You’ve got to believe that if he goes to trial and loses you’ll never see him in an NFL jersey again. His only prayer is to admit guilt, be contrite, do as little jail time as possible, serve whatever suspension or pay whatever fine the league dictates and then suck up to owners who will take him no matter what he’s done.

But let’s not forget we’re talking about the ruination of a young man’s whole life to this point which would need to be rebuilt, restructured and repurposed after the horror of federal prison. God help him if he makes the wrong decision, but I don’t think he’s got any good choices here; do you?

On a much lighter note: it’s fantasy football time again: ESPN asks who’s next; I ask, do I dare hope I can get Steven Jackson when my turn comes up in the first round of the draft? It’s time for a mock draft to see what the computerized rankings look like and to see if geeks like me are out there doing the same thing a full 3 weeks prior to the beginning of the season. You’ve got to be hard core to do this folks. I guess that’s what I am. How about you?

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show every Saturday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Chicks Love The Long Ball

How can there be any other story this week as big as Barry Bonds breaking the career homerun record? Well I guess a close second is how much the ball will bring on the open market. Then there is the other ball in question: the one from A Rod’s 500^th homerun hit by the youngest player to reach that plateau in baseball history. Both balls have yet to be put up for sale but they both have interesting stories surrounding them.

Matt Murphy, a New York Mets fan of all things, decked out in his Mets jersey, was on a layover from a flight from NY to Australia, had a few hours to kill, copped a ticket outside the ball park and fought off all comers, came up with the ball in center field and promptly got on the plane to get to his vacation spot. The ball is currently valued at half a million bucks. Walter “Sonny” Kowalczyk, a grad student from New Jersey who reportedly lost his home last year due to his inability to keep up the mortgage payments, and yet….spends what he has left for Yankees’ season seats, caught A Rod’s ball. The same weekend A Rod went yard, Mickey Mantle’s 500^th homer ball was auctioned for $140K. So you know that A Rod’s is worth less and it’s been valued at about $100K. The Yanks started negotiating with Sonny the night he caught it and must not have hit the number Sonny wants. But then again who knows what Sonny wants since no one has seen him and his “spokesman” who carries a gun has said that Sonny is fearful about poking his head out of his apartment.

Note to these two guys: A Rod’s ball is losing value as we speak, unless it is still precious to Alex who has said he wants it. We’re not talking about a million bucks here Sonny, pick a price, have your gun toting pal call the Yanks and get the negotiations over. Don’t you want to put a down payment back on another house you can promptly lose when you make another bonehead decision to spend your life savings to see the Yankees? And Mr. Murphy….make sure you are prepared to sell Bonds’ ball quickly too. He has already hit #757 and the most precious of his homerun balls will be the LAST ONE he hits, whenever that is. You guys will both be taxed by the IRS whether or not you sell the balls so even just to pay Uncle Sam in April get it over with will you?

Selig and Aaron came through in the clutch with a video taped message displayed on the scoreboard in San Fran and a telephone call which was devoid of ambivalence and used the word “achievement”. Gotta hand it to the two of them. I’m not surprised that Selig finally made the phone call since he called Rodriguez to congratulate him but not Barry when he hit 756 over the weekend. He was also captured on video basically yawning in San Diego during the tying home run trot. What the heck was he there for? As for Aaron, there are reports he was paid to make the video and I frankly don’t know how I feel about that. He has steadfastly refused to comment on the subject and his friends have been quoted as saying he wanted to distance himself from Barry in the worst way, that he believed the record was still his without taint and that he had no use for Bonds as a ball player. If that is true and money changed his mind then didn’t he basically lie on the video message? If the message was the truth then we the media made up his feelings about Bonds from trying to read the tea leaves of his quotes and those of his friends and former athletes.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton last weekend had one highlight and ONLY one: the scene of Gene Hickerson, former pulling guard for 3 Hall of Fame running backs from the Cleveland Browns, including Jim Brown, was a site to behold. Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell honored the guy who helped get them to Canton by pushing Hickerson in his wheel chair out on the stage for his ovation and the unveiling of his bronze statute. The issues related to the crippled and addled retired players was played out for all to see since Hickerson, in his early seventies, has early onset Alzheimers and had no idea where he was or what was happening to him. It took guts for his family to make that decision and the love he got from his former teammates and the audience should be a cautionary tale to the NFL. Fix the problem or have more guys show up in Canton unable to enjoy it all after they gave their minds and bodies up for the good of the game.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show every Saturday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC