AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > January > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USYounger 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.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Mark Bradley
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By DavidU
January 13, 2006 06:52 PM | Link to this
Great Post, It’s a bad situation that the Vick family find themselves in, but one that’s played out in many houses across the world every day. Its hard to follow sometimes.
By Andy
January 13, 2006 07:57 PM | Link to this
I feel bad for the Vick family, especially Vick. How embrassing to have your kid brother kicked off the team you put on the map. I don’t get the guy. He might have played his way in a high draft pick…now, he may be a 7th round pick whose sent to NFL Europe.
I hope he turns his life around. If not, he will be the next Ryan Leaf.
By greg
January 13, 2006 08:26 PM | Link to this
ron,
if vick and the family knew of you then they probably would care about you as a human being..this marcus vick deal is about a person not drinks and chips..
By Adel Purvis
January 13, 2006 08:36 PM | Link to this
[Michael Vick should be traded to the Texans so that he and his punk brother can play for the same team. Then with the #1 pick we should take Reggie Bush!]
By Debbie
January 13, 2006 08:40 PM | Link to this
Great commentary, Mr. Bradley, great, concise commentary. I have followed both Vick’s careers and you are so correct in saying free will plays a large part in the shaping of a person.
By Dan
January 13, 2006 08:54 PM | Link to this
Very well written. More people should read this article and appreciate its meaning. We dictate our own lives and the decisions we make, period.
By greg weaver
January 13, 2006 08:59 PM | Link to this
adel,
if you and the Texans are a “we”.. then why would you want Vick and his punk brother??
By Ken
January 13, 2006 09:00 PM | Link to this
Michael Vick is the most over-rated and over paid athlete in America. Marcus is going to be a close second. As for their raising being an excuse for Marcus’ bad behavior: I had 5 brothers and sisters and no father in my home. We were so poor there were times the grocery store down the street hid food out back so we could eat. Our house had cracks in the walls so big that snow came inside. None of us have ever spent a second in jail or been on trial for anything. That is a lame excuse.
By QUINT HAWK
January 13, 2006 09:08 PM | Link to this
WHAT TRUE SPORTS FAN DOESN’T LIVE AND DIE WITH THERE TEAM. WHEN THE TEAM WINS WE WIN, WHEN THE TEAM LOSES, WE LOSE. IMAGINE THE PLAYERS EMOTION. IT’S GOT TO BE DIFFICULT TO TURN THAT INTENSITY AND EMOTION THAT MAKES YOU THE COMPETITOR ON AND OFF LIKE A LIGHT SWITCH. I’M NOT SAYING ANYTHING HE HAS DONE WAS RIGHT BUT LETS NOT BE SO QUICK TO JUDGE. A FEW BAD CHOICES DOES NOT MAKE A YOUNG MAN A THUG. LIKE ANY OTHER MAN, MARCUS WILL HOPEFULLY LEARN FROM HIS MISTAKES AND BE AN ASSET TO OUR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE, NOT JUST SOMEONE’S FOOTBALL TEAM.
By IM SuperStud
January 13, 2006 09:17 PM | Link to this
Mike Vick seems to be a decent citizen & an incredible athlete, but he’s grossly overrated & overhyped at quarterback. Truthfully, the Falcons need to trade him before he falls off any further. Maybe grab a All-Pro DB, OT or LB. Mike’s doesn’t have the field-savvy enough to play QB in the NFL. His brother is a hoodlum, and I don’t see how an NFL GM can justify wasting a draft pick on him. What a waste of athletic talent and potential!
By Frank Hamer
January 13, 2006 09:29 PM | Link to this
Saying that, outside of that ‘Ron Mexico” business, Vick is a paragon of virtue is like saying that outside of that little nick by an iceberg, the Titanic’s maiden voyage was a roaring success.
By QUINT
January 13, 2006 09:52 PM | Link to this
Ron, Texas has enough problems. You are worried about thuggish football players, yet you helped mold George W.
Pancho, role models give us what we need to be better men and women. That is despite of there errors and short comings.
Thank God our dirty laundry won’t be aired all over the AJC.
By joe
January 13, 2006 10:04 PM | Link to this
pancho, you are so right! the hype from the falcons management and the pitiful ajc sports department would have you believe that mike vick is a great role model is an absolute joke.
mike vick has been suited by several female friends alleging that he has inflicted them with a sexual transmitted disease.
By brewerfaninATL
January 13, 2006 10:05 PM | Link to this
Mark my words: some team will draft him! Sounds like a perfect Raiders’ player!
By Kat
January 13, 2006 10:08 PM | Link to this
Nice article and guess what folks - is your backyard bright and shiny? If not, lay off Mike Vick. He’s a young man who is trying to make a better life for himself and his family and as for dropping off - lets see you throw a bullet or run the 40. He is not to blame for his little brothers problems - although maybe following in his footsteps is the problem. Why do we take so much pride into tearing down someone that has done well for themselves? Low self esteem issues? I hope Marcus turns around and I hope Mike goes on to fool all of you and I’m a Patriots fan - not a Falcons!
By Wendy
January 13, 2006 10:47 PM | Link to this
This is the moderator here. Usually we try to keep commenting periods on columns open for 24 hours.
Some of the comments here have prompted me to shut this entry down after only 3-1/2 hours.
Why? The gutter nature of some of the responses. Of the 22 responses received thus far, 7 — nearly a third — have been deleted. Ron, Pancho, Bob and Ray — you’re the culprits here.
Readers here have been warned before on Vick-related topics, and it’s unfortunate some refuse to abide by generally accepted boundaries regarding personal remarks, racial and ethnic slurs, libel and good taste.
Clean it up, folks, or take it out of here.