the vick equation

so, michael vick is officially a philly eagle.

at first, i was in total shock...but after giving it some thought, it's not that bad.

but first let's continue in the debate that every sports station is having.

1) why philly?
2) he really deserving of a second chance so soon?

i'll answer the second question first. yes he is deserving of a second chance this soon. no matter how you may feel, it's just true. the problem with society is that once someone is released from prison (for whatever the crime) is that we quickly ostracize that person because they did something bad. when in reality it's just the fact that the person got caught.

we've all done something bad or even illegal, we may not have gotten caught though.

if i was a construction worker, meaning that construction was all that i knew, and i was convicted of a crime and went to jail for a couple of years...then released, the only thing that's going to make me feel like a normal human being is construction work. granted, i would be watched very closely by my parole officer and boss, but there is a certain relief with doing something normal.

michael vick is a football player. no matter what would have happened (whether he signed with the eagles or another nfl team...or even the ufl) people would have felt the same way, simply because he's a convicted felon.

some people say that they haven't seen vick show any sense of remorse. what i see is a man who is desperate to get his life back to some sense of normalcy (which explains the speed of this and his new mentor, and his partnership with the humane society). the one thing that i hope is that the posse that was with him before, isn't with him now. tony dungy is a great influence/mentor and i will say that if vick loses tony dungy's trust, his football career (whether as a player for the nfl or any other league) will be over. and that should be something that we can all agree upon.

now, why philly? philly has a quarterback in donovan mcnabb. but vick is a weapon. the first thing that i think about is brian westbrook and his durability. if brian westbrook is weapon x, then vick is weapon x2. westbrook has been the go to guy and his versatility is practically of legend in philly, but he's typically injured because of his versatility as a playmaker. i like mccoy, but if the eagles really want to play with a defense's head, line up vick with westbrook/mccoy while mcnabb is under center. have vick and/or westbrook/mccoy go in motion. but this is all short term stuff.

long term i don't see vick as a threat to mcnabb's position simply because vick has never been as accurate. granted mcnabb in his early day was (still is in some respect) a great mobile quarterback. at best, vick may be a faster (if his legs don't break down after turning 30), left-handed version of mcnabb. andy reid may want to try to groom vick as the next quarterback of that team, but it's going to take longer than his 1 year + option (maybe as long as 3 years).

let's not get this part twisted, vick only signed the contract. he's on a relatively on a short leash (he's on a conditional reinstatement), so he has to prove himself (a lot of players get cut during preseason). he has good people in his corner; people like dungy, the front office, mcnabb, and probably mama mcnabb (will she be brewing some chunky soup for him?). on top of that, i think that not seeing his 3 kids grow over the past near two years (the youngest is 1) sobered him up.

either way, this is going to make out to be an interesting year. i wonder if the philly fans are ready. they have a history of wearing their heart on their sleeve. i mean, they pelted santa claus with snowballs, booed donovan mcnabb on draft night...i'm pretty sure that they can't wait to show their (dis)approval of vick in the coming season.

here's the vick equation
vick=the unknown and the problem (possibly even the solution for the eagles) is that people fear the unknown.