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Saturday, May 19, 2007
Vick issues a nightmare for Blank
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
In a recent Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, Arthur Blank ranked 297th with a net worth of $1.3 billion. The assumption here is that even if 297th out of 400 doesn’t get you to the gold card playoffs, $1.3 billion keeps the image fairly well intact.
At the end of the 2004 season, Michael Vick was the centerpiece of this city. He was 23-12-1 as a starter, had just led the Falcons to within a win of the Super Bowl and radiated like a 100-watt bulb. Since then, he is 15-16 as a starter and the bulb has been crushed.
If image if everything, Vick is on the way to bankruptcy.
The herpes case, which led to lampooning (Ron Mexico) and an out-of-court settlement.
The picture of Vick possible holding a “blunt” on his girlfriend’s MySpace page.
Flipping off home fans.
The fake water bottle with alleged marijuana particulates (later cleared) at the Miami airport, a situation Joe Montana and most leaders have managed to avoid in their career.
Subsequent suggestions he might’ve been “framed” by Miami police and claims of his explanation for the water bottle, which were disputed.
Blowing off Congress, then giving an alibi that even his own endorsement partner (AirTran) stomped on.
Now comes possibly the worst of all: Allegations of a connection to dogfighting. It’s not merely a felony, it’s a pastime for the bottom-feeders of society.
If anything that has been alleged in this case is true, there’s one thing I never want to hear about Michael Vick again: “He’s a good kid, he just hangs around bad people.”
That Vick may not be a very good quarterback is suddenly the least of his problems. It’s certainly the least of Arthur Blank’s problems.
The Falcons’ owner longs for the days when his biggest concerns were fitting Vick with the right offense. Now he finds himself trying to pitch a headache to the masses. He is all about team and presenting a unified front. But if you believe that everybody in the Falcons’ organization is universal in their belief in Vick, you’re deluded.
Blank knows all about image. He must know that Vick’s has been damaged beyond repair, regardless of whether the quarterback gets charged or suspended in the dog case. The Humane Society, PETA, a California congressman — who hasn’t weighed in? Blank can read. He can hear. He can sense. The man made his fortune reading the retail tea leaves better than anybody.
There was a time when Vick pulled this city’s fans together. Now, he divides them.
Welcome to Blank’s nightmare. The Falcons are married to a quarterback with a 10-year, $130 million contract. Dumping Vick at some point projects salary cap hell. But the Falcons’ fan base is divided: half angry, half defensive. There’s no middle. Another concern is that much of the split may be along racial lines.
It’s one thing to lose a game. It’s another to have your team’s identity hinged to an image wrecking ball. Repeated incidents diminish Vick’s already in-question ability to lead and Blank’s ability to sell.
“There’s no doubt Vick’s image has taken a huge hit,” said Frank Mahar of Genesco Sports Enterprises, a sports marketing firm in New York. “It’s been one incident on top of another. For some people now, the question isn’t, ‘When is it going to stop?’ but ‘What’s next?’
“When Vick came into the league, he had multiple TV spots — Nike, a video game, Powerade. I would guess we’re not going to see him on much this year.”
The national and local perception of an athlete often differ. Barry Bonds is vilified in every stadium but one — his home park in San Francisco. But Vick is no longer universally embraced here. Boos and no-shows at home games provided sufficient evidence last season. So do sports talk shows today.
“Blank’s in a hard place,” Mahar said. “If the town is really that split, it almost like no matter what he does he’s going to upset somebody. He wants to sell tickets but he doesn’t want to upset people in the process. It almost comes down to, ‘What’s the lesser of two evils?’ “
Nobody could have predicted that a case involving fighting pitbulls may provide that answer.
That alone should tell you that Blank has a problem.
Permalink | | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
May dates hurt tournament
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Say what you will, you can’t beat the weather. Dazzling sunshine, cloudless sky, soothing warmth. No sweat. Hard, firm fairways, and what adorable grass.
Take a couple of years ago. Heavy rains. Severe thunderstorms. Frozen precipitation (translated: snow). Wind chill low 30s. They finally played the third (and last) round on Monday. That delayed Phil Mickelson’s arrival at the Masters by a day, but it didn’t put any dents in his game.
They gave it a new name, taking the vows with AT&T, new dates, sort of between the thunderstorm seasons. Build some good weather and they would come. Great idea, but what has happened is that the New AT&T has been caught in a vacuum. Once, it was the entree to the Masters. Last stop, the launching point, which meant even more back when PGA Tour winners won a pass to Augusta. Now, rejoice, that rule has been restored and Sugarloaf has been squeezed in between The Players and, first, the Colonial, to be followed by Nicklaus’ Memorial, and the road to the Masters now looks like a long, dark tunnel with a flickering light at the end.
It also has served to take the AT&T Classic out of international scrutiny. The press room once was peopled by overseas dialects, English, Irish, French, and a mixture of American. They came because they got three for the price of one expense account. First, The Players Championship. Then on to Gwinnett County for the exciting climax at Sugarloaf, and at the end of the ritual, the Masters.
Sugarloaf was the perfect prelude. Its place in the mix was dramatic, no matter what the weather; the Masters was always the pot at the end of the rainbow.
This tournament lost something. So did The Players, once Tim Finchem finally got it out of the shadow of the Masters. Now, nobody could sneer that the guys came to Sawgrass to freshen their game for Augusta.
So, the double switch was made. The Players moved to May, the AT&T followed, and you could feel the warm, cooing breath of the tournament sponsors in the air. But where were the stars?
Well, there were several in the field. Four U.S. Open champions, Lee Janzen, Raymond Floyd, Larry Nelson and Steve Jones. This was their kind of tournament, they were invited, and they came. Only Janzen made the cut and made like a threat.
Then there was a handful of PGA Championship winners on hand, Steve Elkington, Shaun Micheel, Bob Tway, David Toms, Floyd and Nelson again, and Paul Azinger, doubling as the Ryder Cup captain.
Looking good on paper. Nice for the prestige. Sorry, but they don’t sell tickets. Oh, to have had Mickelson back again, defending his title. This place was his feasting ground. Lefty has played here nine times and won three, the least spectacular of which was the year of his one-hole playoff against Gary Nicklaus.
This may not sit well with the homefolks, but you can’t get away from harsh fact. You have your choice: Lovely weather and a modest field, or chancy weather and setting the stage for the Masters. They went together like Smith and Wesson, Crosby and Hope. Not that the tournament sponsors didn’t have a choice. It may have been May or forget it. On the other hand, as Dave Kaplan said, “We were happy to get any date that could bring us weather like this.”
OK, OK, but looking around the press room, not only is the international corps depleted, even the national press has been watered down to the representation of one: Sports Illustrated.
I will check out with this upbeat note, that there is no more exciting finishing hole on the tour than Sugarloaf’s 18th, a long, sweeping downhill plunge 576 yards to a green guarded by a lake given to gobbling up golf balls.
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