Perhaps two broken ribs had something to do with it.

Vick broke his two lower ribs on the second play of the Eagles’ 21-17 loss to Arizona on Sunday. He didn’t tell anyone that he was hurt and played through the pain.

“He didn’t say anything, not a word. He’s a tough nut,” coach Andy Reid said Monday. “He said he really just blanked it out and played is kind of what he said, and really didn’t think twice about it.”

Vick’s status for the next game at the New York Giants (6-3) is uncertain. He missed three games last year with a rib cartilage injury.

The defending NFC East champion Eagles (3-6) are going nowhere in a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations. They have now lost five games in which they led in the fourth quarter.

Vick was injured after taking a hard hit from linebacker Daryl Washington on a 13-yard completion to Brent Celek on Philadelphia’s opening drive. He was slow to get up, but stayed in. He later sat out one play after taking another hard shot on a scramble in the fourth quarter.

Vick was 16 of 34 for 128 yards and two interceptions. He threw two other interceptions that didn’t count. One was negated by a penalty and another overturned on replay. Vick also misfired on several attempts, including overthrowing a wide-open Celek on what could’ve been a 66-yard TD catch.

“I’d probably say that (the injury) had something to do with it,” Reid said.

Vick has hardly resembled the guy who was an MVP candidate and Pro Bowl starter last season. He’s already thrown 11 interceptions in nine games. He had six picks all of last season.

“I was inaccurate and never really got comfortable,” Vick said after the game. “I’m very hard on myself and that just can’t happen. You have to find ways to get it done. I didn’t do it and I just have to figure out a way to get it done next time we’re in the situation.”

Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (shoulder), cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle) and offensive lineman King Dunlap (concussion) also were injured in the loss to the Cardinals. Reid said Rodgers-Cromartie will “struggle” to return this week.

With Vick off target and the Eagles still nursing a lead, the offense inexplicably continued to throw instead of turning to LeSean McCoy, the NFC’s leading rusher. McCoy got the ball just twice after a 29-yard run in the third quarter. He finished with 81 yards on just 14 carries.

“In this case, in this game here, we felt like we could throw the ball against their defense because obviously we wanted to put up points,” Reid said. “In hindsight, maybe we could have given him the ball more.”

Reid also defended defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, who has come under heavy criticism in his first year at a new position after coaching the offensive line for several years. Asked if Castillo will continue to make the defensive calls, Reid said: “Yes.”

But many people know about Michael Vick the quarterback and the statistics that come along with it. But what about the person? (Source: Michael Vick Wiki)

1. Major League Baseball Draftee

Michael Vick was selected in the 30th round of the 2000 baseball draft by the Colorado Rockies, even though he hadn’t picked up a baseball or swung a bat since the ninth grade.

2. Kids Do The Darndest Things

Everyone does something silly as a kid right? Well Michael actually glued his eyelids shut at the age of three. Can it get any sillier than that?

3. Breaking Records

In a game against the Washington Redskins that showed the whole world that he’s returned to top form as a NFL player, Vick became the first player in NFL history to accumulate 300 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in the same game.

4. The Longest Yard

Did you know Vick, while imprisoned at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., had a “Longest Yard” experience, quarterbacking one team of cons to a 42-14 win over another? The inmates kept badgering him to play, but he went more than a year without touching a football — until September 2008, with eight months left on his sentence he joined forces with fellow inmates to play some touch football.

5. Solitary Confinement

Part of his prison sentence included a four-night, top-secret stay in solitary confinement in Atlanta about a month before his May 2009 release. In a weird crisscrossing of America, Vick had to be transported from Leavenworth to Richmond, Va., to bankruptcy court for a hearing. He was driven from prison in Kansas to the Oklahoma City airport; and then flown to an airport in Virginia. In two different prisons in Virginia, Vick spent a total of 11 days in solitary confinement, away from the general population.

6. Reel ‘Em In

Michael loves to fish. He first got into the sport when he was 10, casting his line into the waters of the James River.

7. Funny Childhood Nicknames

As a child, Michael’s nickname was Ookie.

8. Homesickness

Vick faced a challenge in his first year of college: homesickness. He spent many nights on the phone with his mother, begging her to bring him home. After the Hokies football season ended, she did just that. He stayed home for a couple of days and then returned to spring practice.

9. Favorite Rapper?

Michael likes music, and his all time favorite artist to listen to is rapper Scarface.

10. Favorite TV Show?

His favorite TV show is Martin, and favorite movie is Life.

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ESPN’s Toure Asks What If Michael Vick Was White

Nike Re-Signs Michael Vick To An Endorsement Deal

As Vick walked to the locker room for medical attention after the hit, NBC showed that he was spitting blood. Sideline reporter Michele Tafoya reported that he was bleeding due to biting his tongue.

Vick was not hospitalized and was cleared to travel with the team back to Philadelphia, but will have to undergo concussion-specific testing before he can be cleared to return to practice or play in a game.

As Vick was being wrapped up by a defender, his body twisted and his helmet collided with teammate Todd Herremans’ head. Vick got up slowly and gradually made his way to the sideline with help from his team’s training staff.

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

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Mayweather Moves To 42-0 With Controversial Knockout

A few years ago, Michael Vick was one of the most hated athletes in the world after losing a potential laden football career after being charged with running a dogfighting ring. He lost his position as the franchise quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, his $100 million plus contract, and many of his fans.

Two years later, Michael Vick has gone from a backup on the Philadelphia Eagles to the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl favorite team. Oh, and don’t forget that he just signed a contract for six years and $100 million, with $40 million of it guaranteed.

Can you say redemption?

VIck’s lucrative new pact comes on the heels of a stellar 2010 season that earned him Comeback Player of the Year honors. That resurgent ’10 season began just over a year after Vick was released from prison after 19 months spent behind bars for his dogfighting conviction. Before his role in a dogfighting ring was exposed, Vick had been one of the most electric players in the NFL during his six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.

Read more at Huffington Post

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ESPN Asks: “What if Michael Vick was white?”

Vick takes anti-dogfighting message to Congress

Toure claims that he asked that ESPN not to title it “What If Michael Vick Were White” and he argues against the “switch-race” premise.

Toure Via ESPN:

The problem with the “switch the subject’s race to determine if it’s racism” test runs much deeper than that. It fails to take into account that switching someone’s race changes his entire existence. In making Vick white, you have him born to different parents. That alone sets his life trajectory in an entirely different direction. Thus when this hypothetical white Michael Vick … wait, I can’t even continue that sentence in good faith. I mean, who would this white Vick be? That person is unknowable. When you alter his race, it’s like those Back to the Future movies where someone goes back in time, inadvertently changes one small thing about his parents’ dating history and then the person starts to disappear. If Vick had been born to white parents, you wouldn’t even be reading this right now. That Vick would have had radically different options in life compared with the Vick who grew up in the projects of Newport News, Va., where many young black men see sports as the only way out.

Here’s another question: If Vick grew up with the paternal support that white kids are more likely to have (72 percent percent of black children are born to unwed mothers compared with 29 percent of white children), would he have been involved in dogfighting? I ask this not to look for an excuse but to explore the roots of his behavior. Vick’s stunningly stupid moral breakdown with respect to dogs is certainly related to the culture of the world he grew up in, which he says fully embraced dogfighting. But it’s also related to the household he grew up in.

Read More At ESPN

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Vick Takes Anti-Dogfighting Message To Congress

Nike Re-Signs Michael Vick To Endorsement Deal

Vick told a news conference Tuesday that he supports a House bill that would prohibit attendance at organized animal fights. The bill also would impose additional penalties for anyone causing a minor to attend.

Vick said he wants to teach kids not to get mixed up in animal fights and to take away profits from sponsors of these events.

The football star appeared with officials of the Humane Society of the United States and two sponsors of the legislation, Virginia Democrat Jim Moran and Ohio Democrat Betty Sutton. Pennsylvania Republican Tom Marino of Pennsylvania is the bill’s third co-sponsor.

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Nike Re-Signs Michael Vick To Endorsement Deal

Michael Vick Surprises Philly Students With $5,000 Scholarships

Nike originally signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, and later terminated his contract in August 2007 after pleading guilty to dog fighting.

The Grio Reports:

“Michael is committed to working with Nike and wants to utilize his platform as a professional athlete to have a positive impact on our youth,” said Andrew Stroth, the Chicago-based attorney who negotiated the deal for Vick.

Nike and Vick initially renewed their relationship in 2009, when the company announced it had “agreed to supply product” to the quarterback, who was not under contract. Nike has similar agreements with several athletes with whom they don’t have endorsement deals.

Read More At TheGrio.com

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Vick Signs First Endorsement Deal Since Arrest

PHILADELPHIA – In the minutes before giving his first commencement speech, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick professed to be more nervous than before a football game.

He had nothing to worry about. A lovingly raucous crowd of several hundred cheered Vick throughout his remarks Friday to graduates of the alternative Camelot high schools at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

The fact that he surprised a pair of students with $5,000 college scholarships didn’t hurt either. The theme of redemption proved to be the heart of the connection between the ex-con NFL superstar and the 450 graduates. Camelot’s six campuses in Philadelphia serve about 1,800 students with emotional, disciplinary or academic problems.

In speeches during Friday’s ceremony and in a private meeting with Vick before the big event, several graduates spoke of rebounding from previous troubles or poor choices to earn a diploma with the second chance they were given at Camelot.

Radames Quinones, 17, who met with Vick, said he ran with a gang, ditched class, assaulted someone and got kicked out of several schools before finding a home at Camelot’s Shallcross Academy in northeast Philadelphia. He hopes to attend culinary school in the fall.

“It was like a family I never had,” Quinones said of the Shallcross staff. “They treat you like their own kids.”

Vick, of course, is the poster child for second chances. The former Atlanta Falcon has rebuilt his career with the Eagles after serving 18 months in prison on dogfighting charges. And the Hampton, Va., native is rebuilding his image by speaking regularly against animal cruelty to schools and community groups.

“I had all the fame and fortune; I thought I was unstoppable,” Vick told the students. But after his conviction, he said, “I lost my freedom, I lost my money, I lost my family.”

He challenged the students to make thoughtful decisions, pursue their goals and make the most of their second chances.

“I stand before you today a changed man,” Vick said. “Use me as an example at how to become an instrument of change … you can do it as well.”

Vick then announced that grads Monique Joseph and Rickey Savage would each be receiving a scholarship. Joseph plans to attend Penn State in the fall while Savage will go to Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va.

Neither the students nor their families — not even school staff — knew they would be receiving the funds, said Camelot CEO Todd Bock.

“I heard a little bit about it yesterday, but I had no idea how generous he was going to be to our students,” Bock said after the ceremony. “I think our kids, our schools and our story really resonated with him.”

Savage, 19, said he is grateful to Vick for the financial aid, which will help him study business technology, and for the motivational speech.

Savage said his own second chance came five years ago after being arrested for robbery and assault. A stern talking-to from a judge made him realize he was on a dead-end path, he said.

“Michael Vick, really, he put everything in perspective,” Savage said. “He said it’s not your journey, it’s your destination.”

Vick spokesman Andrew Stroth said the scholarship recipients were chosen based on academic achievement, attendance and participation in student government. He said Vick plans to give out the $5,000 awards annually.

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Vick To Burress: “Think Family First, Football Second”

Vick has made a remarkable comeback to the league after spending 18 months in federal prison for dogfighting charges. He led the Eagles to the NFC East title last season and was voted The Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year.

Vick hasn’t communicated with Burress, but shared his thoughts on what he would say to him.

“Just take your time coming back and getting acclimated. Think family first and football second and it’ll all work out,” Vick said Wednesday. “It’s great that he’ll get a second chance. We’ll pray for him, we’re going to support him 100 percent and we’re in his corner and we just want him to excel.”

Vick was reviled when he came back, and there was an outcry from animal rights groups when the Eagles signed him in August 2009. But Vick won over fans in Philadelphia and outside the city, too, with his sensational performance on the field and his service in the community.

Burress doesn’t have to overcome similar animosity, though he still faces some challenges.

“Hopefully he’ll use my situation as an example and go out and try and emulate what I’ve done in his own way,” Vick said. “That’s what it’s about. It’s about growth and it’s about learning. Things in life happen in stages and those are some things you have to go through as an individual.”

The Eagles are rumored to be a potential home for Burress, and were even listed on one betting website as the favorites to land him at 3-2 odds. But a person familiar with the team’s thinking told The Associated Press that Burress isn’t in their plans.

That makes sense, considering the Eagles already have two standout receivers: DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. Jackson has been to the Pro Bowl twice and Maclin has star potential. Jason Avant and Riley Cooper give the team depth at the position.

Burress would fit in perfectly as a situational receiver inside the red zone because of his size. But it’s likely he’d prefer a team that would offer him a chance to be the No. 1 or No. 2 target.

“He definitely brings a lot to the game, his passion, enthusiasm and the way he plays,” Vick said. Vick and several other Eagles have said they’d welcome Burress to Philadelphia.

It’s not their decision, though.

“We haven’t even gone there,” Philadelphia coach Andy Reid said during the team’s annual playground building event. “There is nothing you can do there.”

Vick was 29 when he returned. Burress turns 34 in August. While age is a factor, Vick said Burress’ position helps him.

“It’s actually easier being a receiver and coming back and playing the game,” Vick said. “You have to get your legs back up under you. I was a guy that had to live that. It’s tough. You think you can do it, but you have to take that time out and make sure you’re ready to go.”

It isn’t until we notice that the sentencing for Ryan LeVin, a 36 year-old Porsche driver, was just two years of house arrest after killing two people in a hit-and-run accident.

When you contrast that to Plaxico Burress and Michael Vick, you understand the racial inequity that exists in America’s justice system.

As we all know, and won’t defend, Plaxico Burress went to jail for shooting himself in the leg in a nightclub. Michael Vick went to jail for running a dog fighting operation.

In theory, we all understand that jail is for those that break the law, but in practice, we know that jail is supposed to be for dangerous people. Jail is supposed to be for people that we may need to have locked away from the rest of us for our own safety.

Then we see a man that actually did harm people—not only harmed them, killed them—sentenced to house arrest, while a guy whose only crime was against dogs and another man that shot his own fool self in the leg do hard time.

The logical justification for this stems from the very American ideology that this country had done so much for the Negro.

Now, I’ve always regretted the fact that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and for two reasons:

1) I believe that if things had played out along the course they were going, what with the proliferation of riots and slave revolts, Black people would have liberated themselves eventually.

2) Being granted your freedom makes you eternally indebted to your grantor for your freedom.

The second of those two things is what causes some Americans to say things that are so run-naked crazy.

You hear them use the word “we” in funny ways; like “we” fought the Civil War to free you people; and “we” fought against discriminatory practices such as Jim Crow and back-of-the bussing.

Sometimes, when the gin hits your spirit you’re almost tempted to ask them exactly who they were fighting against!

But at the root, that “we” is the reason that America loves putting Black men in jail.

America can’t see beyond all the wonderful things it has done for Black people.

Yet we still have the nerve to occasionally commit crimes?

Such ingratitude!

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Christians should love Michael Vick

Vick makes the Eagles Black America’s team

Michael Vick will find out today whether he will be the player chosen to adorn the cover of the 2012 Madden NFL video games, which would make him the first two-time cover athlete in 22 years of the Madden series.

Bloomberg.com reports:

Vick has sought to restore his public image since the dog fighting case that led to a federal prison term, forced him to miss two National Football League seasons and cost him sponsorships with companies including Nike Inc., the world’s largest athletic shoemaker. Vick was voted the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year with the Eagles in 2010.

After a series of  bracket-style elimination bouts controlled by fans for the first time, Vick faces off against Peyton Hillis of the Cleveland Browns in the final round of voting.

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Vick Denounces Dog Fighting Game “Dog Wars”

The cellphone app is called “Dog Wars” and lets players feed, water, train and fight their virtual dogs against others.

“I’ve come to learn the hard way that dogfighting is a dead-end street,” Vick said in a statement posted on the Humane Society’s website. “Now, I am on the right side of this issue, and I think it’s important to send the smart message to kids, and not glorify this form of animal cruelty, even in an Android app.”

The app is by Kage Games, whose website features an illustration of a pit bull with a bloody muzzle next to the ‘Dog Wars’ logo.

A website where the app can be downloaded stresses that it is only a video game. “Perhaps one day we will make gerbil wars or beta fish wars for people who can’t understand fantasy role play games,” it says.

Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said, however, the game could be used as virtual training ground for would-be dogfighters.

“Android should drop ‘Dog Wars’ from its online market and join the national movement to save dogs from this violent practice,” Pacelle said in a statement.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups also called for the app to be pulled.

Vick was once the NFL’s highest-paid player but was arrested in 2007 and convicted on dogfighting charges, for which he served 18 months in federal prison. He returned to the league in 2009 and is now a star quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Michael Vick Cancels Appearance On Oprah

Vick Signs First Endorsement Deal Since Arrest

CHICAGO – Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick will not be appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” after all.

Related: 25 reasons we love Michael Jordan

A show spokesman said Wednesday representatives of the NFL star called late Tuesday to cancel his appearance for personal reasons. The daytime talk show host’s interview with Vick was set to air Thursday, Feb. 24.

The interview was to cover Vick’s time in prison, his work with the Humane Society and his return to the NFL.

Vick missed two seasons and served 18 months in federal prison for a dogfighting operation based on his property in Surry County, Va.

He was reinstated to the NFL for the 2009 season and has been doing public service work, including with the Humane Society.

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Oprah Will Have Michael Vick On Show After Dropping Bet

Vick Signs First Endorsement Deal Since Arrest

Winfrey had wagered $320 with Morgan over who would get Michael Vick on their show. Vick’s handlers made Winfrey drop the Wager, claiming that they didn’t want him involved in gambling. Vick had appeared on 60 Minutes in 2009 but has not had a TV interview since he has returned to the NFL.

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Vick Signs First Endorsement Deal Since Arrest

Tucker Carlson Should Be Fired For “Execute” Vick Comments

Vick has signed his first endorsement contract since his release from prison. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Pro Bowl quarterback inked a two-year contract with Unequal Technologies, a provider of the football pads Vick wore most of last season.

The deal will be announced on Thursday.

“We’re real excited about it,” chief executive officer Rob Vito said Tuesday. “Michael is good people. He paid his dues. President Obama reached out to him. He deserves an opportunity. This is what makes America so great. He’s moved forward. He’s a whole other person.”

Vito said Vick is the company’s first corporate spokesman. Terms of his deal weren’t disclosed. But Vito said it’s a “sizable” contract.

“We believe it was worth it,” he said, “because of Michael Vick and how he can shed light on the technology of our products.”

Unequal Technologies makes several shock-blocking sports pads. When Vick returned after missing three games with a rib injury, he wore a vest designed by Unequal. He later wore shoulder pads and thigh pads made by the company.

“The Unequal technology is a part of my game now and I won’t play without my Unequal,” Vick said in a statement acquired by the Associated Press. “Unequal’s protective power gives me a whole new level of confidence in my game. It makes me feel invincible.”

Vick was once the NFL’s highest-paid player and he endorsed many products during his six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. But Vick lost everything following his 2007 arrest on dogfighting charges, for which he served 18 months in federal prison.

He returned to the NFL in 2009 with the Eagles and worked his way from a seldom-used third-string quarterback to the key cog on a division-winning team. He will start for the NFC in the Pro Bowl this weekend.

Vick appeared in a television commercial for a car dealership last month. However, he didn’t get paid for it. He was compensated by having use of a Nissan sport-utility vehicle.

Atlanta — On Thursday’s edition of “Inside The NBA” on TNT, NBA analyst Charles Barkley ripped Tucker Carlson for saying Michael Vick should have been executed. Carlson made the statement while filling in for Sean Hannity on Fox News on Dec. 28.

“There’s some idiot on another station named Tucker Carlson, who called out Michael Vick,” Barkley said at the beginning of his rant. He started to praise Vick and wished him luck in the playoffs, then continued to fire at Carlson.

“Tucker Carlson, who’s a nobody. He used to work for us over here. We fired him because he sucked,” the NBA Hall of Famer said. “He said Michael Vick should be executed, which is total BS.”

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

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Fox News Pundit Says Michael Vick ‘Should Have Been Executed’

“This is what happens when you get too emotional,” Carlson said. “I’m a dog lover…I love them and I know a lot about what Michael Vick did…I overspoke. I’m uncomfortable with the death penalty in any circumstance. Of course I don’t think he should be executed, but I do think that what he did is truly appalling.”

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

If Michael Vick should be executed and given the same treatment that he gave the dogs, shouldn’t Peyton Manning and his brother Eli be shot like the deers they shoot when they go deer hunting? What about Dick Cheney? Should he be executed by firing squads like the poor birds he was shooting at when he shot his friend in the face?

What about Tucker Carlson’s fellow Fox News host Mike Huckabee? His son was charged with torturing and murdering a stray dog. Should young Huckabee be tortured and murdered too? What does Tucker Carlson have to say about that.

What about his other fellow Fox News host, Karl Rove who hunts doves, the international symbol of peace for fun during his off time. Should he be shot for killing harmless animals?

I’m not going to defend Michael Vick’s dogfighting, but he did his time and has repented. In many urban areas, pitbulls are used as a form of protection against burglars and robbers. They are trained and bred to be fierce and at times deadly. Many people who train and fight pits have a close relationships with those animals not unlike trainers who train boxers or jockeys or animal trainers.

It is true that some dogs who were injured in battle were electrocuted but how is that different than horse trainers who kill horses after the horses are injured in races According to PETA thousands of Greyhound dogs are killed as puppies in the name of “selective breeding” but the Greyhound industry hasn’t faced close to the criticism that Vick has.

The fact that PETA and others choose to go after Michael Vick is another way Black people are used as scapegoats for national problems. America is built on the killing of animals, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat. Hunting is still legal in several states, not so people can feed their families, but so a small group of people can amuse themselves by killing animals. The beef, chicken, pork, leather and dairy industries are all based on the killing and abuse of animals.

How is taking animals bred to fight and fighting them worse than shooting innocent animals for fun? How come PETA never criticizes squeaky clean All-American Quarterback Peyton Manning for his execution of deers but vilifies Michael Vick at every opportunity, despite everything he has done to repent? If Tucker Carlson is going to call for Vick’s execution shouldn’t he call for the execution of the Manning Brothers, and Fox News favorites Cheney and Rove?

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Michael Vick Will Start In The Pro Bowl

Yes, I know that it’s a stretch to consider this behavior “sanctioned”, but since it hardly goes punished, it’d be tough to argue that it’s frowned upon.

First, of course, we got Ben Roethlisberger, two time NFL Champion quarterback of your Pittsburgh Steelers who’s also been twice accuse of forcible rape—the most traumatizing of which I’m guessing was the poor hotel employee who Ben allegedly tossed down, raped, then threw out of his room with the parting words “If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!”

Next, of course, we’ve got Brett Favre, himself a Super Bowl champion, now known more famously for stunting the career growth of the two Black quarterbacks that sit on the bench while he ruins the Minnesota Vikings by insisting on continuing to play poorly, and of course, known most famously (now) four texting out pictures of his “Kanye West” to unsuspecting Jenn Sterger, then an employee of the New York Jets.

At the time, the very married Mr. Favre was playing for the Jets, making this incident no less than a case of spectacular sexual harassment.

Last and closest to home for me, a Jet fan, is our own head coach, Rex Ryan, a man who up until this week had never met a headline that he didn’t want his name in, has now been found to be a participant in some sort of degenerate foot fetish video starting his wife that also has undertones of swinging, wife swapping, and general overall creepiness.

In Mr. Ryan’s case, the perversion, though embarrassing, is only personal.

In the cases of Mr. Roethlisberger and Mr. Favre, it’s potential criminal.

Still, if you watch as much of ESPN’s Sports Center as I do (while doing what at my place, passes for “exercise”) you’ve no doubt noticed that with the exception of the Roethlisberger incident, during which the tone was one of almost pity for Mr. Roethlisberger because he had indeed been suspended for the first four games of the season, the tone of the coverage of the Favre and Ryan incidents has been almost jovial.

I watched my own fellow alum Stan Verrett make several foot gags this very morning in reference to the Ryan incident.

Meanwhile, if you want to see a conversation about a NFL personality turn serious even hostile, you’d have to wait until the talk turned to the exploits of one Michael Vick.

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Is Peyton Manning trying to get Jim Caldwell fired?

Vick made three Pro Bowls with Atlanta before he was suspended by the league and served jail time for running a dogfighting ring. This season, he has gone from a seldom-used backup to the N.F.C.’s leading passer, the catalyst for Philadelphia’s dynamic offense. Besides Vick, the Eagles had four other players selected.

Atlanta, which leads the N.F.C. with a 12-3 record, had the most Pro Bowlers with seven, including quarterback Matt Ryan, receiver Roddy White and defensive end John Abraham.

New England (13-2), the A.F.C. leader, had six Pro Bowlers, led by Tom Brady, the league’s top passer. Brady will make his sixth trip to the game — providing the Patriots do not reach the Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl will be played the Sunday before the league’s championship game at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Baltimore, Green Bay and Dallas also had five players voted in by players, coaches and fans. The results were announced Tuesday.

Four rookies were chosen, with defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh of Detroit elected as a starter for the N.F.C. Cornerback Devin McCourty of New England, kick returner Marc Mariani of Tennessee and center Maurkice Pouncey of Pittsburgh made the A.F.C. team.

The only teams not represented were Buffalo, Cincinnati, Seattle and Tampa Bay.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning made his 11th Pro Bowl as a backup to Brady. He joined Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks selected to at least 11 games.

Three Jets — center Nick Mangold, tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and cornerback Darrelle Revis — were named to the A.F.C. team, with both Mangold and Revis voted in as starters.

The Giants put four players on the N.F.C. team. Guard Chris Snee, who will start, will be joined in Honolulu by center Shaun O’Hara, defensive end Justin Tuck and safety Antrel Rolle.

Legal Bills Leave Vick Literally Playing For His Livelihood

Michael Vick Leads NFL In Pro Bowl Voting

Carlson led a panel discussion pegged to President Obama’s recent phone call with the Eagles owner, in which he applauded the Eagles for giving Vick a second chance following his time in jail over his dogfighting scandal.

But Carlson is not as forgiving as Obama or the Eagles.

“I’m a Christian, I’ve made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances,” Carlson said. “But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should’ve been executed for that. He wasn’t, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale.”

VIDEO:

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

PHILADELPHIA — Convicted dogfighting-ring operator Michael Vick hopes to own a dog again someday.

The Eagles quarterback told TheGrio.com in a video interview posted this week that he genuinely cares for animals and one day hopes to have a dog as a household pet, saying it would be just another “big step” in his rehabilitation process.

“I would love to get another dog in the future,” Vick told TheGrio, a website that’s affiliated with NBC and focuses on African-American issues. “I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love, and my passion for animals.”

Vick served 18 months in prison after being convicted in 2007 in the Virginia-based ring. The federal judge overseeing the case also prohibited him from ever owning another dog.

“Vick should be banned from owning dogs for life,” Jane Dollinger, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said in a news release this week. “Just as convicted pedophiles aren’t allowed free access to children, anyone who is responsible for hanging, electrocuting, or shooting dogs and who causes them to suffer in other unimaginable ways should never again be allowed access to dogs.”

Since his release from prison, Vick has become an advocate for the Humane Society of the United States and makes school appearances to talk to students about his past. Vick said he’s doing that work because he wants to.

“Well first off, the court doesn’t make it an obligation for me to go out and speak,” Vick said. “It doesn’t make it an obligation for me to work with the Humane Society. I’m putting in the hard work to do it so it’s not for any personal benefit, it’s to help others.”

Vick’s on-the-field success this season has made his story more compelling – from star quarterback to reviled dogfighter to comeback kid. And now he’s adding mentor to his resume.

“I think if I can help five or six kids daily, then I’m playing my position as a positive role model in our society,” Vick told TheGrio. “I tell a lot of people that it’s easy to do the wrong thing. It’s hard to do the right thing.”

Vick said he allowed outside influences to affect his behavior, but said prison helped him see the changes he needed to make.

“I hate to use our culture as an excuse, but it is what it is and that’s what happened and that’s the way I thought about it growing up,” Vick told TheGrio about dogfighting. “This is just the way we were brought up.”

The quarterback said he hopes his success with the Eagles will continue breaking the stereotype that black athletes can’t or shouldn’t play the position.

“I think if you’re good and good enough to play the position, I think you’ll get the opportunity,” he said.

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Virginia — It  turns out that Judge Henry E. Hudson, the George W. Bush appointed Republican judge who declared Barack Obama’s healthcare program unconstitutional, is the same judge who sentenced Michael Vick for dogfighting in 2007. Thanks to Jack and Jill Politics for the tip.

Hudson is also a major investor in a Republican campaign firm that has ties to the attorney who brought that anti-health care case before him.

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Garrett wouldn’t say what he thought of the incident and repeatedly described Choice as a hardworking, passionate player. However, Garrett still plans to discuss it all with Choice.

“I certainly defend him,” Garrett said. “I know how hard guys compete in this league and how they battle against each other. I also know about the healthy respect that guys have for each other.”

As Vick was walking off the field, Choice approached with a white glove and a black marker. Choice can be seen explaining his request, handing over the marker and Vick happily providing his signature. Vick even rubbed the top of Choice’s head as they said goodbye, the two having known each other for several years.

NBC cameras were rolling and showed the whole thing to a national audience. Announcers chuckled as it happened, but didn’t comment. By Monday, it became a topic of debate coast-to-coast and all over the Internet.

As public opinion turned against him, Choice tweeted the following: “If its anybody that cares about winning and the d cowboys its me. I apologize to the people it was just an innocent jesture for my nephew.”

Choice was among the majority of players already gone when reporters were allowed in the locker room Monday. Those still around didn’t seem to care about it.

“I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal,” tight end Jason Witten said. “I don’t think any of us thought much about it.”

“That’s Tashard’s prerogative,” linebacker Keith Brooking said. “That did not affect the outcome of our game. I’m worried about things that are going to affect the outcome of our game and helping us win. Tashard getting an autograph from a player after a game doesn’t affect us losing.”

Vick and Choice knew each other from their days in Atlanta. Vick played for the Falcons while Choice played for Georgia Tech. Vick called the running back “a great guy.” He also said he’d never been asked to sign anything for another player on a field right after a game.

Cowboys defensive end Stephen Bowen said Choice’s mistake may have been doing it “in the public eye like that.”

“But just getting an autograph for a little guy? I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Bowen said. “The game was over. It wasn’t in the middle of the game. It’s blown out of proportion. I don’t see it as a big deal. I don’t know why you would be upset. What is there to be upset about?”

Choice is the Cowboys’ third-string running back and had only 14 carries through 11 games. He ran for 100 yards and a touchdown in a victory over Indianapolis – endearing himself to fans – but ran seven times for only 16 yards against Philadelphia. Dallas lost 30-27.

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Dallas – In a move more befitting a player than a fan, Dallas Cowboys running back, Tashard Choice asked Michael Vick for an autograph after Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Cowboys last night. Choice has said the autograph was for his nephew and not himself.

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Philadelphia — I can’t wait for Michael Vick to once again stand before the judge and jury. Can’t wait for him to get just what he has coming to him for all of the heinous and egregious acts he’s committed this Fall.

But this is not what you think, not by a long shot.

Released from prison 19 months ago after serving 18 months for his for his role in a dog fighting ring, Vick will soon have another life-altering verdict rendered that will, once again, transform his life most excellently.

At some point this off-season, if labor strife can be avoided by the NFL and its Players Association, some billionaire team owner is going to do what would have been seen as unthinkable some four years after Vick was led — manacled and shackled like an animal — into the foreboding walls of Leavenworth maximum security prison.

Read more at TheGrio

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Philadelphia — Michael Vick leads Pro Bowl voting 1½ years after he was released from prison.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback had 729,838 fan votes, nearly 39,000 more than second-place Peyton Manning, the NFL said Wednesday. Manning topped the balloting two weeks ago before being surpassed by Vick.

It’s the latest evidence many fans seem willing to forgive Vick for the vicious dogfighting operation that sent him to prison for 18 months — and embrace his stunning return to NFL stardom. A backup to start the season, Vick has led the Eagles to first place in the NFC East, accounting for 21 touchdowns and throwing just two interceptions.

Manning had 691,146 votes, which led the AFC, followed by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (623,074), Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (591,598) and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (547,340).

Online Pro Bowl voting ends Dec. 20. The teams are picked by a combination of fans’, players’ and coaches’ votes.

Vick, a three-time Pro Bowler with the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges in August 2007. He was released from federal custody and conditionally reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in July 2009. But it wasn’t clear how much interest teams would have in the quarterback who once wowed fans with his unique skills, yet frustrated them with his inconsistency when he last played in the league in 2006.

The Eagles signed him before last season, when he was the third-string quarterback and had limited playing time as a change of pace. Even after Philadelphia traded away Donovan McNabb, Vick was expected to back up Kevin Kolb. But when Kolb was hurt in the opener, Vick took over and showed a newfound maturity as a passer. Added to his running skills, he’s made the Eagles a contender at 8-4.

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World Series hero and former New York Yankee Jim Leyritz was just acquitted of DUI manslaughter after being the driver in an accident which caused a fatality.

Leyritz had a blood-alcohol level of .14, which is .02 away from being twice the legal limit.

Leyritz has already served 18 days in jail, which the misdemeanor DUI charge that he was convicted of should cover.

The woman that died was 30 year-old mother of two, Freida Ann Veitch.

Quite frankly, I don’t think I’m allowed to feel too much about this.

I mean, Freida Ann Veitch appeared, from the one picture of her that you can find on the net, to have been a woman of color, but until I can be sure of this, I’m sure that racists from both sides would prefer for me to mind my own race’s business.

If I could however, I’d feel sad.

Those kids shouldn’t have to grow up without their mother. Leyritz was going the wrong way. He was drunk. He killed their mom.

In a sane world, he would be punished. Or at least, the kids would be rewarded.

Meanwhile, of course, I’m still reading articles about pissed off dog owners and Michael Vick.

The dog owners, apparently, are missing the irony.

They own dogs.

If Vick had thrown a brick through his television, would TV lovers protest him?

But a bunch of this bent that hates Vick is from the Christian Right.

How can I tell? I know those people when I see them.

And a Christian should be the first to defend Michael Vick because they know that in Genesis 1:28, God told man to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Weed smokers know, of course, that in the very next verse, God promised, “…I have given you every herb bearing seed…” but that’s beside the point.

The heart of the Christian doctrine is forgiveness.

And it should be especially easy to forgive a man that has not wronged you or, as far as we know, any other human being.

And let’s not forget, Matthew 7:1.

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Maryland (AP)– Given all of Vick’s brilliance throughout the Philadelphia Eagles’ 59-28 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday night — four TD passes, two TD runs, plenty in between — it seemed reasonable to ask him whether he’s ever played a better game.

Vick paused, then delivered an honest answer.

“I’ve had some great games in my day,” the quarterback said. “But I don’t think I’ve had one quite like this one.”

Nope, Mike, you haven’t. Indeed, no player in the history of the NFL ever has done quite what you did, accumulating at least 300 yards passing, 50 yards rushing, four passing TDs and two rushing TDs in one game.

Philadelphia led 35-0 after the first play of the second quarter, broke franchise records for points in a half (45) and total yards in a game (592), and finished with its second-most points in a regular-season game.

Vick and his teammates also ruined any good feelings the Redskins hoped to generate with their pregame announcement of a five-year contract extension worth up to $78 million for their quarterback, former Philadelphia star Donovan McNabb.

“Big credit to Michael Vick. He made some plays today that I haven’t seen a lot of quarterbacks make for a long time,” said Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, who never before had an opponent score 59 points. “When something wasn’t there in the passing game, he made plays with his legs. Really a big-time game.”

Vick completed his first 10 passes en route to going 20 for 28 for 333 yards, and ran for 80 yards on eight carries, passing Steve Young for the second-most career yards rushing by an NFL quarterback, behind only ex-Eagles QB Randall Cunningham.

“Vick — he keeps impressing me every week. He’s so calm and collected,” said DeSean Jackson, who beat safety LaRon Landry on that opening score that felt like an opening statement.

Next came Vick’s first rushing TD, a 7-yarder. After that, he had his right ankle taped on the sideline, but he didn’t miss a beat — or any plays. Washington’s second possession ended with McNabb being picked off by rookie seventh-round draft pick Kurt Coleman.

The Eagles promptly made it 21-0 on Vick’s 11-yard scoring pass to LeSean McCoy, before Jerome Harrison’s 50-yard touchdown run padded the lead. On the first play of the second quarter, Vick connected with Jeremy Maclin on a 48-yard score.

“It all seems like a blur,” Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. “I don’t think you can prepare for Michael Vick.”

Vick hasn’t thrown an interception or lost a fumble this season, and the Eagles are 4-0 when he starts a game and plays the whole way. They’re 6-3 overall, tied with the New York Giants atop the NFC East, two games ahead of the Redskins (4-5).

When the Redskins beat the Eagles 17-12 in Week 4, Vick got knocked out in the first quarter with injured rib cartilage, and he missed a month. After that game, McNabb took a verbal jab at the Eagles, referring to the offseason trade that sent him to Washington by saying: “Everybody makes mistakes in their lifetime, and they made one last year.”

Eagles center Mike McGlynn said McNabb’s words from that day “fired us up” Monday, noting: “I think we’re happy with where we are right now.”

McGlynn also pointed to Monday’s pregame skirmish, which forced officials to step in and separate players from both teams. McGlynn said Landry started the brouhaha by saying something to Jackson.

“He said some things to our star player he shouldn’t have said, and he got his,” McGlynn said. “You can see on that first play. He got his.”

McGlynn also said Landry spit at him twice during the game.

“It’s good to come out and score 60 points, almost. … I think we just looked at it as hey, let’s keep pouring it on,” McGlynn said.

Discussing how the pregame theatrics pumped up his team, Jackson made what would appear to be an unintentionally insensitive remark, given Vick’s federal prison term for a dogfighting conviction.

“We were like pit bulls,” Jackson said, “ready to get out of the cage.”

Landry denied spitting at McGlynn, but did acknowledge the Eagles were well-prepared.

“We couldn’t make stops,” Landry said. “Great game plan on their part.”

McNabb, meanwhile, was 17 for 31 for 295 yards, with two touchdown passes and three interceptions, including one returned 40 yards for a score by Dimitri Patterson.

Bengals receiver Terrell Owens weighed in from afar, tweeting: “How do u justify a 78 million dollar contract w/this type of performance?”

A few Redskins players — and Shanahan himself — said they were outcoached and outplayed, particularly by Vick, of course.

“It was embarrassing. I couldn’t wait for the game to be over. It was ridiculous,” Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth said. “The Eagles should be ranked No. 1 in the BCS, because it was crazy. They probably had 600 yards on us. I don’t think I’ve ever been beat that bad, not even in Little League.”

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By Michael Tapia

(NewsOne) -  Once upon a time David proved something very important by defeating Goliath. Michael Vick did the same by beating Peyton Manning during week 9; it is called making a statement. It is no secret that Manning is the best quarterback in the league and that many doubted Vick after being absent from the game for two seasons.

After a well-publicized animal abuse scandal that cost Vick the 2007 and 2008 seasons, many questioned his ability to be successful upon his return to the league in 2009. On the other hand, Manning was on his way to claiming the best quarterback in the league title after Tom Brady suffered a season ending knee injury in the first week of the 2008 season. With Tom Brady winning three Super Bowls but with Manning winning the 2007 Super Bowl a lot of speculation was emerging on who was the better of the two. Meanwhile the comparison between Brady and Manning was at its peak some were discarding any possibility of seeing Vick in the NFL again. Many barely gave Vick a remote chance of returning to the league as a back up and that based on political correctness.

During week 9 Vick’s Eagles hosted Manning’s Colts, coming into the game Philadelphia had a 4-3 record while Indianapolis stood at 5-2. The odds favored Manning’s team over Vick’s by a three-point difference and reasonably so with the type of arm that Manning features and the offensive cast that supports him.

What makes Manning so tamed around the league as the best pocket quarterback is the accuracy and power with which he completes his passes, which is undeniably above the competition. Sure, there are more accurate passers in the league and more powerful arms but none possess that combination to the degree that Manning does. To make things more difficult for the competition he uses every option that the game gives him, exposing his tactical skills and vision of the field when executing audibles. Many experts would describe Manning as a football architect.

Conversely, Vick stood out for a very peculiar style of play called the “wildcat formation”. Vick is regarded as the best rush quarterback in the league due to his speed and scrambling skills. The wildcat formation has given Vick the ability to create plays for himself when his teammates are not a viable option and thus the respect of many supporters of non-traditional styles of play. Before Vick came into the league, the game had not seen a quarterback as eloquent as him in the open field, but there are advocates of the traditional pocket quarterback style that are reluctant to credit his accomplishments.

After Manning’s and Vick’s week 9 meeting concluded, Vick came out on top. Once again Michael Vick proved why he belonged in the sport, despite his problems off the field, and his alternative style of play. Vick had defeated the best quarterback in the league and defied the odds by putting his team on top with a 26-24 score. Not only did Vick proved himself to those who doubt him but he expose the beauty that sports and this country stand for – because you never know what can happen everyone deserves a second chance.

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I’m in firm agreement with the old Jay-Z edict that you Can’t Knock the Hustle and it’s for that reason, that I won’t be mentioning any particular Black sports commentators by name.

Also, I’m one of those people that realizes that when your salary is high, your obligations probably are too and who knows how many college tuitions these dudes are paying, or how many relatives they take care of, or how much in child support or alimony or any other fees that a man incurs during the course of a life comes out of their pockets.

All that said, instead I’m gonna try to commend these dudes for being overt Michael Vick cheerleaders whenever Vick’s name is mentioned.

You can see ‘em.

They edge up in their chairs, they assume simultaneously attacking and defensive positions, and they speak with their hands. They know what they’re supposed to do they just can’t bring themselves to do it completely.

Meanwhile, whenever Ben Roethlisberger’s mentioned, these Black commentators—by choice or coercion—fall in line and recite the standard noncommittal position on the accusations leveled against the big quarterback, instead they focus on Roethlisberger’s punishment (a 4 game suspension) and whether it was or wasn’t fair, whether it will or won’t doom the Steelers’ hopes this season.

Michael Vick, in case ya’ll forgot, served time in jail for dog fighting. He’s also Black.

Ben Roethlisberger, in case you don’t know, has been accused by two different women on two separate occasions, of forcible rape. He’s also white.

Yesterday was Mike Vick’s first NFL start since December 31^st, 2006.

He was splendid.

Vick completed 21/34 passes for 284 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran 7 times for 37 years as his Eagles defeated the Detroit Lions 35-32.

Now, while being vocally supporting Mike Vick is seemingly career suicide for a Black sports commentator, being vocally critical of Ben Roethlisberger is just as lethal.

Animal rights groups got at Vick last season.

Ben Roethlisberger, a rapist, is on the loose.

Where my ladies at?

Click here to view more photos:

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The city’s lead prosecutor said Wednesday night that Michael Vick was involved in a confrontation before a shooting following his birthday bash.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey L. Bryant told The Associated Press Wednesday night in a telephone interview that Vick was not involved in the shooting and that he left the nightclub “in the 3 to 5 minute range” before it occurred.

Bryant would not go into detail about the confrontation, but said there was no evidence the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was involved in “anything that would amount to aggressive or assaultive conduct.”

“He’s an athlete and an entertainer, but he’s also a human being, and things that would tick you and I off would tick him off,” Bryant said. “But he extricated himself from those things and left with the help and encouragement of some of his friends and supporters.”

Police have said Vick was not the shooter. Bryant said the investigation also shows that Vick “was not aware of whether or not anyone was going to be shot, was threatened to be shot or anything to do with any of that business.”

Neither Vick’s attorney, Larry Woodward, or his agent, Joel Segal, returned phone messages Wednesday night.

Bryant, who has declined to press charges at this time against anyone in the shooting, said the victim and witnesses have not cooperated. He would not confirm a police statement made Tuesday that they know who the shooter is, but did say that the case remains open.

The victim has not be identified by police, but Woodward, said it was Quanis Phillips — a co-defendant in the federal dogfighting case that landed Vick in federal prison. Phillips, who Woodward said was not invited to the party and did not interact with Vick while there, was treated at a hospital and released the following day.

The shooting occurred a block away from the nightclub where Vick was celebrating his 30th birthday.

Vick was interviewed by detectives in the case a few days later.

“He has sat down with Virginia Beach detectives and answered all their questions and, in our view, has been cooperative … and I should say cooperative and truthful,” Bryant said.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Police said Tuesday they know who was responsible for shooting another man following Michael Vick’s birthday celebration, but the shooter will not be charged “at this time” because the victim has not cooperated with investigators.

Vick was not the shooter and there are no suspects other than the shooter, police spokesman Adam Bernstein said. The decision not to press charges was made by the prosecutor’s office, but could be reversed if the victim decides to cooperate.

In a statement released Tuesday, police said witnesses have also been reluctant to help in the investigation of the shooting outside a nightclub just after 2 a.m. on June 25. The statement said because the shooter will not be charged, his identity will not be released.

The shooting took place about a block away from the club where a 30th birthday party for the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback was ending. According to a spokesman for the nightclub, video surveillance cameras positioned in front of the club showed Vick climbing into a car and leaving about 4 minutes before the shooting.

The victim has not be identified by the police, but Vick’s attorney, Larry Woodward, said it was Quanis Phillips – a co-defendant in the federal dogfighting case that landed Vick in federal prison. Phillips, who Woodward said was not invited to the party and did not interact with Vick while there, was treated at a hospital and released the following day.

Woodward did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Vick has said he was not involved. In a statement to the AP on Thursday, Vick also said he notified the NFL and the Eagles once he was aware of what had taken place.

The team and league have said they are looking into the situation.

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RICHMOND, Va. — Police say Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick has not been ruled out as suspect or person of interest in a shooting investigation in Virginia Beach.

Police spokesman Adam Bernstein said Thursday police did not look at Vick, or anyone else, as a possible suspect immediately after the shooting early Friday because detectives had not begun their investigation. The shooting came shortly after Vick’s birthday party at a club ended.

Bernstein said police will not discuss specifics of the investigation and that no one has been named as a suspect or arrested. He declined to characterize Vick’s status in the case.

“I don’t want to say either way as to what his involvement is,” Bernstein told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Everyone wants me to give him a label because of who he is.”

Vick’s attorney, Larry Woodward, did not immediately return phone messages left Thursday.

Police have not identified the shooting victim, but Woodward said it was Quanis Phillips, a co-defendant in the dogfighting case that sent Vick to federal prison.

One condition of Vick’s probation is that he is not allowed to be in the company of other felons. Woodward said Phillips was not invited to the party and that he and Vick had no interaction.

Woodward also said his client, a former star with the Atlanta Falcons, left the party at least 10 minutes, and perhaps as many as 20, before the shooting took place.

However, Allen Fabijan, spokesman for Guadalajara Mexican restaurant and nightclub, said Wednesday that Vick left the club just minutes before the shooting.

Fabijan said that that time-stamped footage from a surveillance camera outside the entrance of the club shows a car with Vick inside leaving at 2:07 a.m. – about 4 minutes before the shooting a block away. He said that Vick was traveling in the direction of where the shooting took place.

Police said their first 911 call reporting the shooting came in at 2:11.

Fabijan said police have asked the club not to release the video to media but allowed the AP to view the grainy footage. Vick’s face is not discernible.

Phillips was released from a Virginia Beach hospital on Saturday. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison in the dogfighting case after detailing for authorities his and Vick’s role in the operation.

Vick, accompanied by Woodward, was interviewed by detectives in the case on Monday.

The NFL and the Eagles have said they are looking into the matter.

NFL commissioner Goodell told Vick when he reinstated him that his margin for error was “extremely limited.”

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Michael Vick was not involved or present when a shooting took place outside a nightclub where he had celebrated his birthday, his lawyer said Friday.

Larry Woodward, one of the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback’s attorneys in his federal dogfighting case, said Vick wasn’t at the club when the shooting took place just after 2 a.m. Friday outside the club Guadalajara at Town Center shopping center.

At a football camp he is holding at Hampton University, Vick was asked by a reporter Friday afternoon whether he had any comment on the incident.

“Watch what you do. Pick and choose your friends carefully. You just can’t put yourself in vulnerable situations,” Vick said.

The shooting victim was taken to a hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Virginia Beach Police spokesman Adam Bernstein said. However, several news outlets identified him as Quanis Phillips, one of the co-defendants in the federal dogfighting case that landed Vick an 18-month federal prison sentence.

Phillips, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in the dogfighting operation, was admitted to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital overnight, health system spokesman Dale Gauding said. He was discharged early Friday afternoon. Gauding said he was not able to discuss the nature of Phillips’ injuries because of privacy laws.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is looking into the shooting.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Vick after being suspended for two years last July, and said at the time that Vick’s margin for error would be “extremely limited.”

A statement from the Eagles said the team was still gathering facts about the incident and would not comment further.

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PHILADELPHIA — Michael Vick’s peers appreciate his tough journey back to the NFL.

Vick won the Ed Block Courage Award, voted on by his teammates on the Philadelphia Eagles, after the once-disgraced star quarterback returned to the league after spending 18 months in a federal prison for his role in a dogfighting ring.

“It means a great deal to me,” Vick said Wednesday. “I was voted unanimously by my teammates. They know what I’ve been through. I’ve been through a lot. It’s been great to come back and have an opportunity to play and be with a great group of guys. I’m just ecstatic about that and I enjoy every day.”

A three-time Pro Bowl pick in six seasons with Atlanta, Vick has played sparingly with the Eagles. He has two touchdowns rushing and one passing in 12 games.

The Ed Block Award honors players who exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Each of the 32 NFL teams selects a recipient.

“I’ve overcome a lot, more than probably one single individual can handle or bear,” Vick said. “You ask certain people to walk through my shoes, they probably couldn’t do. Probably 95 percent of the people in this world because nobody had to endure what I’ve been through, situations I’ve been put in, situations I put myself in and decisions I have made, whether they have been good or bad.

“There’s always consequences behind certain things and repercussions behind them, too. And then you have to wake up every day and face the world, whether they perceive you in the right perspective, it’s a totally different outlook on you. You have to be strong, believe in yourself, be optimistic. That’s what I’ve been able to do. That’s what I display.”

The Eagles were criticized by animal rights activists for signing Vick less than a month after he was released from prison. Dozens of protesters voiced their outrage outside the team’s practice facility the day after Vick was signed, and many fans threatened to give up their tickets.

But Vick got a warm reception in his first game with the Eagles and by most accounts has been a model citizen off the field.

The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, issued a statement reprimanding the Eagles for giving Vick the award.
“The Philadelphia Eagles fumbled when they gave Michael Vick the Ed Block Courage Award, which was named after a man who advocated in behalf of abused children,” the PETA statement read. “Michael Vick should not be the person anyone points to as a model of sportsmanship, even though he has now exchanged dogs for touchdowns after serving time for extreme cruelty to animals. We wish him well in educating others, but this is not appropriate and does not mark a joyous moment in NFL history.”

Vick has spent time working with the Humane Society of the United States, speaking to school and community groups about the mistakes he made in getting involved in dogfighting.

“It was a big obstacle proving I’m worthy of a second chance,” Vick said. “It doesn’t stop here. I have to continue to prove that. I think it’s not going to be a day-to-day process, it’s going to be a year-in, year-out process. It’s a challenge to myself. The thing I told (NFL commissioner) Roger (Goodell) is that four or five years from now, I’m going to come to him and say, ‘Everything I told you I was going to do, I’m still doing it.’ And that’s what I pride myself on and that’s my focus and that’s my goal.”

Quarterback Donovan McNabb called the award “well-deserved.”

“Congratulations to him for straightening his life around and bettering himself as a human being,” coach Andy Reid said. “He’s obviously very well-respected by his teammates.”

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UPDATE
Nike says it does not have a “contractual relationship” with Michael Vick, a day after the quarterback’s agent announced a deal with the manufacturer.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Nike says it has “agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.”

On Wednesday, Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick, announced the Philadelphia Eagles player had a new deal with Nike during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium.

Vick’s agent, Joel Segal, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after he filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

On Wednesday, Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick, announced the Philadelphia Eagles player had a new deal with Nike during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium.

Vick’s agent, Joel Segal, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after he filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

Here Is A Video Of Vick Talking About Dog Fighting

Michael Vick is back with Nike two years after the company severed ties over the quarterback’s involvement in a dogfighting ring.

“Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship,” his agent, Joel Segal, said Wednesday.

Segal would not reveal terms of the agreement. Nike declined a request for comment.

The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick.

The endorsement is the latest step forward for Vick as he seeks to rehabilitate his career and his image after serving 18 months in federal prison. On Sunday, Vick played his first regular-season game since December 2006.

“It is quite evident that athletes that run afoul of the law are by no means relegated to obscurity when it comes to pitching products,” said David Carter, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Southern California.

Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 13. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave him his full reinstatement Sept. 3, saying he could return to the field in Week 3.

Vick participated in 11 plays, accounting for 30 total yards, in the Eagles’ 34-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, as Philadelphia tries to use him in a variety of ways as a backup.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after the Atlanta Falcons star filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in the dogfighting ring. At the time, Nike called cruelty to animals “inhumane, abhorrent and unacceptable” and halted release of his fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V.

Back when Vick first signed with the Eagles, Carter had said he was “too toxic for most companies to even consider taking a chance on him.” What’s changed? As Carter noted Wednesday, there has been little backlash to the quarterback’s return to the NFL.

Protests have been limited, and the Eagles’ sponsors have stood by them. That experience could make companies less wary about adding Vick as an endorser, though the biggest determinant might be no different from any other athlete: how well he performs on the field.

Retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods said earlier this month that it wasn’t carrying Vick’s Eagles jersey in any of its 300 stores as a business decision.

But Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at University of Oregon, isn’t surprised that Nike re-established its relationship with Vick.

“Nike has a history of supporting athletes. I think they are supporting an athlete who still garners attention,” Swangard said. “This is about Michael Vick as the athlete not Michael Vick the prisoner. … When he is inside the lines of the field he is an exciting football player and that’s what a brand like Nike can tap into.”

Vick signed a $1.6 million deal with the Eagles, with a team option for the second year at $5.2 million. He was once a corporate star — holding multimillion dollar deals to market everything from sneakers to sports drinks. But those millions are long gone.

In July, Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving his sentence, saying he owed between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

To Carter, Nike likely made a calculated business decision that the benefit of sales tied to Vick outweighed any potential public outrage.

Vick must still have some selling power if the company is getting behind him, he said. “Nobody understands their consumer and has their finger on the pulse of their consumer like Nike does.”

The main misperception about the controversially popular “Stop Snitching” ideology that is now considered a staple of the Black community is that it’s ubiquitous. Black people are, in no way and under no circumstances, ever supposed to volunteer, aid, assist or even acknowledge law enforcement efforts in our communities.

Of course, the origin of the “Stop Snitching” ethos made a lot more sense. The term was originally coined to govern the conduct of coexisting criminals, sort of a Black take on the Mafia’s omertá-or code of silence.

In other words, if you and I were together in a criminal enterprise and I got busted, I was not supposed to snitch on you. I was supposed to do my time like a man or a “standup guy” and trust that you’d be on the outside handling my affairs in return for my silence.

Michael Vick could have used such friends. So could TI.

Eventually however, both the expression “Stop Snitching” and the mentality behind it extended to the point where it more or less suggested that if something, even something criminal, didn’t have a directly adverse affect on you then you should mind your business and stay out of it.

Now “Stop Snitching” has ballooned to the point where we’ve had to cringingly watch our dear friend, rapper Cam’ron, explain to Anderson Cooper on 60 minutes that even if he lived next door to a serial killer, he’d move away before he’d tell the police.

Needless to say, “Stop Snitching” has gone way too far.

We no longer live in Africa, folks, where our elders police our communities. If a gang of us were to get together now to beat up or kill some pedophile or serial killer, we’d all go to jail!

Now I’m not suggesting that you should be on the phone with the law if you spot a guy on the corner selling nickel-bags of weed and wearing flip-flops, but if you’re aware that a person has become an actual, physical danger to our community, then that person’s gotta go.

That wouldn’t even be considered “snitching”. That would be responsible citizenship.

Michael Vick, speaking to a group of Philadelphia high school students Tuesday, warned against the dangers of peer pressure and offered himself as a cautionary tale of what can happen when someone is a follower instead of a leader.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, who served prison time for running a dogfighting ring, addressed a rapt audience of 200 freshmen on their first day at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a North Philadelphia charter school. He urged the students to make the right choices and to resist the temptation to follow the crowd.

“I didn’t choose to go the right way, which led to 18 months in prison, which was the toughest time of my life,” he said. “Being away from my family, being away from my kids who I adore dearly, and being away from the game of football, doing something so foolish, and I wish I could take it all back.

“I was influenced by so many people when I should have been a leader, not a follower.”

The 10-minute talk marked Vick’s first anti-dogfighting public appearance in Philadelphia since he signed a one-year, $1.6 million deal with the Eagles on Aug. 13. At the time, he expressed a desire “to be part of the solution and not the problem” by speaking to children around the country about dogfighting.

Speaking without notes, Vick told the hushed assembly Tuesday that his poor decisions imperiled the goals he had set for himself.

“Growing up, I had dreams and I always wanted to have this great, lavish life and make it to the NFL, go and accomplish great things and leave a great legacy. That was my goal from a young kid,” Vick said. “My future was promising … at some point, I got sidetracked. I started listening to my friends and doing some things that were not ethical and not right.”

He said he tried to do the right things at school and at home, “but I had another side to me, and it was a dark side.”

Vick visited the school with Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. Pacelle has said he met with Vick in prison at the quarterback’s request and that Vick sought to work with the group after his release.

Vick and the organization are working on “a national campaign to try to reach especially young people so we can all be voices against organized animal fighting,” specifically dogfighting and cockfighting, Pacelle said.

“It’s really a test of our character as individuals about being good to those who are less powerful,” he said.

Once the highest paid player in the NFL, Vick was suspended from the league following his conviction in August 2007 on charges of conspiracy and organizing the dogfighting ring. He was released from federal custody on July 20.

Several animal rights groups criticized the team’s decision to sign the quarterback, saying he is a poor example for young people.
Eagles spokeswoman Pamela Browner-Crawley has said the team has an obligation to the community, and to children particularly, to discourage them from engaging in dogfighting or any animal abuse.

Vick is suspended for the first two games of the regular season and is eligible to play beginning Sept. 27. In two preseason games, Vick completed 11 of 15 passes for 45 yards with one interception and rushed for 36 yards on eight carries with one touchdown.

Michael Vick made his debut as an Eagle, playing several roles in the first half of Philadelphia’s National Football League pre-season win over Jacksonville.

Vick, playing his first game since serving 18 months in prison for his role in a brutal dogfighting ring, played quarterback, ran the wildcat formation and lined up at wide-receiver.

He received applause from Eagles fans when he entered the game on the first series. On his first play he lined up at quarterback and completed a four-yard shovel pass to LeSean McCoy.

The former Falcons superstar completed all four of his pass attempts for 19 yards. He recorded one rushing attempt in the Wildcat formation, gaining one yard.

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Philadelphia emerged with a 33-32 victory over the Jaguars, but Vick was the center of attention.

The Eagles’ decision to sign Vick sparked controversy in Philadelphia, but demonstrations were subdued.

A pro-Vick march outside the stadium failed to materialize, although supporters set up a table and banners backing him.

A sprinkling of anti-Vick demonstrators were also on hand, along with animal rights advocates who said they just hoped Vick made good on his promise to lend support to the fight against animal abuse.

Hours before the game, Vick was in bankruptcy court in Newport News, Virginia.

While in prison, Vick filed for bankruptcy protection, but owes some 20 million dollars to varius creditors.

The judge approved his latest plan to repay his creditors, and Vick arrived at Lincoln Financial Field in time for pre-game warmups.

Vick’s last appearance in an NFL game was on December 31, 2006, leading the Atlanta Falcons in Philadelphia.

After pleading guilty to funding the dogfighting ring, Vick was dropped by Atlanta, a team where he was once adored as a quarterback whose run and pass skills made him a unique threat and among the richest players in the NFL.

Vick was released July 20 and his hopes of an NFL return came true when the Eagles signed him earlier this month.

Vick is eligible to play for the Eagles in their two final pre-season exhibition games but cannot yet play for the club in the regular season.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he would consider a full reinstatement for Vick by no later than the sixth week of the season, in mid-October, which could put him back in the lineup for a Monday night clash against division rival Washington.

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