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Friday, January 13, 2006
Younger Vick hasn’t learned from example in the family
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Marcus Vick hasn’t lacked a role model. He grew up three years behind one. But Marcus Vick has failed in all the places his older brother has succeeded, which stands as further evidence that DNA isn’t necessarily destiny. There’s always free will involved.
Marcus Vick got the second chance Michael Vick never needed. Marcus got an extended preview of the wealth and fame that Michael had to assimilate on the fly. Marcus was told and told what he needed to do to become successful, but he hasn’t been able to handle it.
Michael Vick has handled it. No matter what you think of the season he just had or his feel for the West Coast offense, there’s no denying that Vick has made himself indispensable to his employer and has endeared himself to a vast fan base. Not every No. 1 draft pick is a keeper, and not every failure occurs simply because a guy can’t play. Some gifted athletes are busts because they’re low-quality people. Michael Vick is high-quality.
On the day — Dec. 23, 2004 — he signed his new contract involving the record $130 million, Vick was asked what the Falcons’ massive commitment said to him: “That I’ve done my job. I’ve tried to walk a straight line.” And he has, the “Ron Mexico” tempest to the contrary, walked the walk. He’s a credit to his team and to his community and, above all, to himself.
Marcus Vick is something less. Marcus has taken a rare opportunity — another shot at playing big-time college football — and thrown it in the trash. Knowing the world was watching for his next misstep, he stomped on a fallen Louisville player in the Gator Bowl and got himself kicked out of Virginia Tech and, then, just to put the cherry atop this rancid sundae, was arrested for brandishing a gun in the parking lot of a McDonald’s. He will make himself available for the NFL draft, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be picked at all. He comes with so much baggage.
And it isn’t as if Marcus Vick didn’t know better. He watched his brother rise from the same difficult circumstances in Newport News, Va., to become a star at the same high school and then the same college. When he was suspended from Virginia Tech in 2004 — multiple arrests were the provocation — he spent part of the fall living at Michael’s house in Duluth. There, he informed Sports Illustrated, he was given sage counsel: “[Michael] told me I don’t have to be out in public all the time. It’s OK to stay home and chill out.”
Two brothers: One tries hard to do the right thing, while the other seems to glory in doing just the opposite. It’s a tale as old as time itself, and it becomes no less saddening with this latest bit of updating. Marcus Vick didn’t have to blaze a trail; Michael had done that already. Marcus had only to trace his sibling’s steps and surely similar acclaim and riches would have followed. But he hasn’t. Apparently he just can’t. Given a choice, he seems to choose poorly every single time.
Michael Vick has been his brother’s host and has tried to be his mentor, but he isn’t his brother’s keeper. Marcus Vick is his own man — he’s 21 — and has made his own destructive decisions. Michael hasn’t yet commented on Marcus’ latest round of misdeeds, but what is there to say? That he’s sad for his brother and mad at his brother and sorry to see the family name sullied in this way?
Beyond the spectacle of watching a talented athlete sabotage his young life, there’s a greater truth herein: No two people are alike, and doing right (as opposed to wrong) isn’t merely a matter of following a text. It’s a series of daily decisions, and many of those choices are hard ones. As we choose, so we become. It’s called free will, but sometimes it bears a heavy cost.
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