Michael Vick signs with Eagles
Noted dog fighter and former Atlanta Falcons and Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick has just inked a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. The report was confirmed by Vick’s agent, Joel Segal.
This should be interesting. Eagles fans are among the worst in the National Football League. They even threw snow balls at Santa Claus. This is just before the interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” in which the quarterback was interviewed by James Brown as a part of his attempt to rehabilitate his image after a jail term for the dog fighting charge.
JAMES BROWN: And the operation, Michael, that you pleaded guilty to bankrolling, to being a part of, engaged in barbarous treatment of the animals– beating them, shooting them, electrocuting them, drowning them — horrific things, Michael — what about the dogs? What about the dogs?
MICHAEL VICK: It’s wrong, man…I feel, you know, some tremendous hurt behind what happened. And, you know, I should have took the initiative to stop it all…I didn’t– I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.
JAMES BROWN: So for the cynics who will say, “You know what? I don’t know. Michael Vick might be more concerned about the fact that his career was hurt than dogs were hurt.”
MICHAEL VICK: I mean, football don’t even matter.
Philadelphia native Dawn Staley, the coach of the Carolina women’s basketball team, is sticking up for her hometown squad by tweeting, “We landed Michael Vick! Go eagles! Andy Reid has a tremendous heart. And eagle fans pls leave the man alone!”
With all due respect to the coach, we’re not all that thrilled with Vick being back in the NFL. While people should be given a second chance, it’s simply hard to extend that to somebody who oversaw an operation of such mind-boggling cruelty.
One of the common defenses of the quarterback’s actions is that dog fighting some sort of part of Southern culture. We’ve lived in six Southern states comprising the entirety of our life, and never were around two people who thought dog fighting was OK, much less engaged in the practice.
Regardless, here we go. Vick’s the Eagles’ problem now. It will be quite a show to see how the franchise handles this issue.
