I’m sure you’ve heard more than enough legal analysis about Michael Vick’s guilty plea yesterday than you need to – - unless you are in law school and are writing a law review article on this whole matter. I can’t provide any more depth of understanding in that realm, but I do want to comment on the statement/apology that Michael Vick executed about an hour after his hearing in the courtroom.
Once again, I need to establish the fact that I do not read minds and cannot be sure what was going on in his head before, during or after that statement of apology. But this is what I took from that event:
1. It was not a prepared statement from a publicist or from his lawyers. I’m confident his lawyers made clear to him that there were certain topics he ought not to mention, but I don’t think they wrote his statement for him to deliver.
2. Apologizing was obviously a difficult thing for him to have to do. As a gifted athlete, he has lived a life of privilege when it comes to excusing his errant behaviors; apologies are not things with which he has a wealth of experience. This comes as an add-on to the natural discomfort that you or I might feel if we had to make an apology to friends or family members for some anti-social act that was merely silly/stupid and not criminal in nature. He was clearly uncomfortable and that made sense to me.
3. He apologized for what he did. That does not excuse what he did in any way; but, at least, he did not “apologize” to anyone who might have taken offense at his actions. That kind of “non-apology apology” is all the rage these days; Michael Vick avoided that and said he was sorry.
4. Was he sorry for what he did or was he sorry that he lied about what he did or was he sorry that he got caught doing what he did and lying about it? Sorry, that takes a mind reader and I’m not qualified there…
In terms of what the apology might or might not buy him, I suspect that it will not sway the judgment of the Federal judge in this case even a whit. I do think that the apology is part of a grander strategy on the part of Michael Vick’s “handlers” regarding some possible future return to the NFL. The apology alone won’t get him back in the league as soon as his sentence is served, but without an apology that seemed contrite, he isn’t ever going to get back in the league. I suspect that we will see more of these contrition/humanizing appearances from Michael Vick in the next several months and as his sentence is about to end. His handlers will surely want to position him in the best possible light when Commissioner Goodell needs to make a reinstatement decision.
With regard to his regaining any kind of stature as a product endorser/spokesman, I think any apology would have been insufficient. It may be wrong in some kind of cosmic or philosophical sense that he will never gain redemption for his actions in the world of endorsements, but I doubt he will. Recall that a jury found OJ Simpson innocent of any criminal act; and just how many companies pay him a retainer to endorse their products these days?
When teams report to training camp in July, there are always stories about how Joe Flabeetz lost 20 lbs in the off-season in order to “get quicker” or how Sam Glotz gained 30 lbs to add strength and stamina to his game. Those stories are usually nothing but fluff. However, I wonder what the motivation was for Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, to lose 60 lbs in the off-season? He showed up this year at a svelte 290 lbs instead of the 350 he was hefting around last year. Was he the back up nose tackle too last year?
Raiders’ QB, Duante Culpepper, has obviously progressed in his attempt to become the starter in Oakland. Coaches say he is now moving fluidly and his appearances in the exhibition games have been impressive compared to the other QBs in camp. The final hurdle for Culpepper to cross in order to show the coaches that he is indeed recovered from his horrible injury two years ago and that he’s ready to put in a 16 game season will be when he outruns Al Davis in a 40-yard dash. Don’t count Davis out if someone tells him before the race that there’s an offer from Beaglebreath Montana waiting for him at the end offering him a brand new stadium with loads of luxury suites and a rental cost of $1 a year for the next 25 years…
Since I mentioned exhibition games, let me remind you once again that you should take everything you see there with a grain of salt – or maybe a half-pound of salt. The game plan for every coaching staff for every NFL team in the exhibition season is the same and it is very simple: Keep players from getting injured. And most teams will not show most of the intracasies of their offenses or defenses in August so that their opening day opponents can study them in detail for a month.
Last year, the Raiders were 4-1 in the exhibition season. Extrapolated to the regular season, fans might have expected a 12-4 season or a 13-3 season from the team. The Raiders emerged from the exhibition games with whatever momentum means in that context and proceeded to lose their first five games on the way to a league-worst 2-14 season. Exhibition games don’t mean a thing.
The Vikings are another team looking for a signal as to who should be the starting QB for the team. Tarvaris Jackson is the anointed “quarterback of the future” but one has to wonder if “the future is now” in Minnesota. Coach Childress said that one of the key elements of a successful NFL QB in the modern game is the ability of that QB to create plays when nothing is available. Assuming that is correct, I wonder how comfortable he can be with Jackson when what Jackson seems to create most often is “fourth and long…”
Romeo Crennel said that Brady Quinn’s late arrival in training camp has put him in a position where he has to come from behind to become the starting QB. Maybe that’s a good thing for Quinn. After all, the Browns are usually behind in their games and he’ll need to have some expertise in coming from behind if he has a prayer of being successful there.
Finally, a note from Jay Leno:
“I finally saw Sicko. But enough about Michael Vick.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…