Whatever questions the world still may hold about Michael Vick, there never has been, nor will there ever be, a doubt about one thing: His power to polarize Atlanta like no other athlete.
That unique gift was on display for a national TV audience Sunday night when Vick returned with the Philadelphia Eagles to start his first game in the Georgia Dome since 2006.
So much has happened since. For six seasons the beating heart of the Falcons, Vick was convicted on federal dogfighting charges and sent away to federal prison for 19 months. Cast off by the Falcons, he survived bankruptcy and a mountain of doubt about recapturing his full assortment of skills. He returned Sunday night as a quarterback in full, complete with a new $100 million contract and a team around him favored to contend for a Super Bowl.
For one night, Atlanta was Vick’s burg again. Thanks to his provocative presence, the Falcons could have changed one letter in their popular slogan to read “Rile Up!”
Vick first trotted onto the Georgia Dome floor at 6:34 p.m. in shorts and T-shirt, but was far from incognito. The few in their seats at that hour managed a sizable noise upon spotting him.
At 6:40, Arthur Blank approached Vick as he was taking some early snaps, and even feigned taking a handoff from his former quarterback. In a Kumbaya moment captured by a trailing herd of cameramen, the two hugged.
The reaction grew with the crowd, swinging more toward catcalls and boos when Vick reemerged in uniform at 7:37. Conveniently, the Eagles got the ball first Sunday, so the NBC microphones could capture the great rumble cause by Vick right at the top of the telecast.
The Eagles in turn quickly announced that the most mobile quarterback in the game was all theirs with the game’s second play – a reverse to Vick (who was set out wide) that gained six yards.
The most colorful expressions from both sides of the great Vick Divide were reserved for outside the Dome. Both his fans and his detractors showed up early, bearing the ubiquitous prop of a No. 7 Falcons jersey.
A group of fans from Douglasville used one for a welcome mat in front of their tailgate spot, inviting all visitors to wipe their feet on it. Randomly, they’d flip peanut shells and dribble sauerkraut on it. Just in case they hadn’t made their point clearly enough, a couple hours before kickoff they set it ablaze. (Their leader bought four of them last week, so as to have fuel in reserve for any future Vick visits).
“We didn’t approve of Mike Vick even before the dogfighting incident,” said Mark Cothern, a six-year, season-ticket holder. “When he flipped off the fans [after a 2006 loss to New Orleans at home], it was downhill from there.”
“If you wear one [of the Vick Atlanta jerseys] you’re not a true Falcons fan,” his buddy Jeff Starnes said. “He’s admitted he didn’t give it everything when he was here. I sure don’t want him to succeed somewhere else. I hope he gets his life back together. And I hope he never wins a playoff game.”
Many who chose to wear their clothing rather than barbecue it were faced with the conundrum of weighing their fondness for Vick with their allegiance to the Falcons. It was a matter of open disagreement around at least one tailgate.
“I’m cheering for Michael Vick. This is still Vick’s house,” Atlanta’s Terrance Sampson said.
“Nah,” said his friend, Felix Knox, in his matching Vick jersey, “you gotta go with the Falcons. Just hope that Michael has a good game.”
The fashion statement of wearing the No. 7 can be a confusing one.
Rex’s Kimberly Clark got her Vick jersey seven years ago as a wedding gift, and wasn’t about to miss this opportunity to wear it.
“It’s a moral thing with Vick,” she said, echoing the sentiment among his supporters here that his punishment was more severe than his crime. “And it’s a traditional thing with the Falcons. We still want the Falcons to win.”
Here, closing in on five years since Vick played his last game for the Falcons, can’t we all just get along?
There was proof Sunday that this debate doesn’t have to be a contentious one.
Larry Smith had lost a bet with a co-worker at the Federal Aviation Administration, when he laid $10 on his belief that after prison Vick would never again play in the NFL. Having long ago paid off, Smith hosted the winner, Cornell Bailey, and his wife Nicole at his pregame feast. Both Baileys were dressed in Philadelphia Vick jerseys.
“Yeah, but I’m winning him over slowly but surely,” Smith said with a smile. “You see they’re eating off Falcons plates and using the Falcons beer koozies I gave them.”
For those who didn’t come prepared Sunday night, there were vendors around the periphery of the Dome selling all kinds of Vick-related merchandise.
Sales were slow early, one said, but picking up a little as game time drew nearer. Did he care, the merchant was asked, whether people bought his wares to wear them or incinerate them? “Nope, so long as they buy ‘em,” he said. Here was the rarest find of all around the Dome Sunday night -- a neutral party.
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