The Mike Vick Split

By Paul Z
Miami Sidenote Blog
September 27, 2007

This Tuesday, ESPN held a community forum/meeting about all things Mike Vick. Cease and I spoke about this last night, and both of us were extremely bothered by the thoughts many of the panelists and members of the crowd brought to the table. I got so fired up when I started watching it, that I started it over (yea DVR) and watched from the beginning, and TOOK NOTES.

My two cents:

-A gentleman from the Humane society stood up to speak, and was booed by the crowd, unreal. This was followed up by a comment from somebody on stage that said, I can't believe that you people would boo a man who can't be making that much money to help poor innocent animals. Not an exact quote, but you get the idea.

-Mike Paul, a reputation doctor, is a smart f'in man. If he has a book, I'll buy it. He spoke about rookies coming into camp, and the first thing they're taught is that things are different now. More in the spotlight, more criticized, etc. That is what you agree to when signing that contract. This was in response to comments such as the first two below.

On a sidenote to that, an emailer sent in this, and I quote "Vick will walk away from this far easier than an average citizen. He is a felon and would never be welcomed back into the workplace if his profession wasn't football."
-Some random guy from Chicago

Comments that bothered me:

Terrance Mathis: Get off his back, this is our guy - yea your guy, who committed a felony, he deserves all the bullshit coming his way.

Again: He's done so much for the BLACK people of Atlanta, don't criticize him so much. Which was followed up with, "he did a lot for the white people of Atlanta too."

Terrell Owens: "It is human nature to kill animals. Men go out and hunt deer all the time." That's a great point T.O., but hunting deer and other wildlife is not a FELONY!

I can't go on any further, I'm am getting all fired up again.

I'll leave you with this quote from Mike Paul when asked about the improvement of Vick's image in the future:

"I'll start with this, image is fake. It's like an image in a pond, you can put your hand right through it. A reputation is built. It's built with truth, accountability, transparency, humility, and consistency. This is paramount to the rehabilitation of his reputation."

Cease, if I missed anything in my rage, leave a note...