Nike was quick to refute a report from the camp of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. After Michael Principe from Vick’s agency, “BEST,” announced that Vick “actually just became a Nike client” and that he had “a new deal with Nike that we’re all very pleased about,” the Oregon-based shoe and apparel company responded.
A statement e-mailed to SportsBusiness Journal [yesterday] morning was short and to the point: “Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick. We have agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.” via.
While Principe’s statement wasn’t necessarily false, it was certainly misleading enough to warrant a response from Nike to distance itself from Principe’s client. And while many feel that Vick deserves a chance to rebuild his life through reviving his football career, his consideration as a product pitchman left a bitter taste in the mouths of some. Although I would love to see Nike make a dogfighting commercial, if only to send John Lennon spinning in his grave.
Last chance to sign up for With Leather’s NFL suicide pool. Click here. Password is “stokke”.
The latest Vick protest comes from a camel in a New Jersey zoo. Now I know what you’re thinking, and I’m with you. These immigrant animals have congested our zoos for TOO LONG! But this is America, so camels have rights too, apparently. Even camels that pick the winners of NFL games.
Princess, the star of Popcorn Park Zoo, won’t predict the results of any Eagles games this season to protest the signing of quarterback Michael Vick. Vick spent 18 months in prison for organizing a dogfighting ring.
The 2,600-pound camel went 17-4 last year and correctly picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.
The camel has a very scientific methodology for picking teams, as all mammals of the Artiodactyla order do:
The zoo’s manager places a graham cracker in each hand, and writes the name of a competing team on each hand. Whichever hand Princess eats from is her “pick.” via.
It’s worth pointing out that this camel is for entertainment purposes only. Which is fine, because an animal that can’t pick games against the spread is worthless. Kinda like all other animals, actually.
I’m often loathe to give any sort of merit to fantasy football here, even though I’m in an embarrassingly high number of leagues this year. But even though I will listen to you break down your fantasy rosters and keeper systems for hours on end, I realize that everyone else’s tolerance for such chicanery is much much smaller. So here goes:
Do not, under any circumstances, draft Michael Vick.
For the fantasy masses, the persistent Vick coverage [in the media] is the reason why he’s owned in a ridiculous 30 percent of Y! Plus formats. Nostalgic owners drafting the artist formerly known as Ron Mexico are hoping he can recapture the statistical prowess that propelled him to three top-10 QB seasons in 2002, 2005 and 2006.[...]
When Vick officially reaches full reinstatement after Week 6, his value will largely be undeterminable due to the gadget manner in which Marty Mornhinweg plans to utilize his services. –Brad Evans
To recap, almost a third of people paying to play fantasy football on Yahoo! DRAFTED A BACKUP QUARTERBACK. That’s unreal, and that’s all Vick is at this point, regardless of what he’s getting paid or how the team intends to use him. He’s like a non-denominational Sage Rosenfels. And yeah, he was drafted in one of my leagues last night. I won’t say who it was, but frankly I expected better.
Someone was gracious enough to take a picture of this delicious “mural” of Michael Vick strangling a dog wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey. It goes to illustrate the point that people either are willing to live with Vick’s past life as dogfighting’s Don King, or they just accept that practice as a whole, and don’t really care.
But there’s no real need to defend this mural that appears to be on the side of a Tire Shop on Allegheny Avenue in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Who ever uploaded the photo to flickr titled it “die puppies die,” a horrific play on the Eagles fight song “Fly Eagles Fly.” Thanks,
Enrico.
Of course, this is an opportune time to generalize all Philly fans as being crude, tasteless, obnoxious and excellent spraypainters. I mean, that’s some great work. They really know how to deface private property in the city of Brotherly, but not Doggily, Love.
…and as Tunison would say, the ironing is delicious. It’s a white dude with his kid driving around on a giant motorized puppy. If we had the unedited clip, we could see dad driving that dog into a lake for being so damn slow. And I gotta be honest, it would be a lot more entertaining if those dogs just started fighting each other. Hell, I’d even settle for Bumper Dogs. Is Bumper Dogs asking for so much? Thanks, KOGOD.
New Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, renown for his improvisational abilities on the field, showed a disciplined adherence to his message off it yesterday, when “60 Minutes” aired its interview with him last night. And that message seems to be, “I will say anything to get my old job back.” We’ve been there a couple of times. Yes, I know I got in trouble. Yes, I knew it was wrong. No, it won’t happen again. Can I go now?
James Brown: When did you get that feeling of disgust [from your actions in running a dogfighting ring]? When did the light go on?
Vick: When I was in prison…I was disgusted…because of what I let happen to those animals.[...]
ASYLUM POLL: Do you think Michael Vick truly regrets it?
You can watch the video in two parts after the jump. And I suspect you will see a guy–who apparently was flanked by Tony Dungy and some white dude from the humane society for the entire interview–who has learned absolutely nothing. And that’s fine. He’s gone to jail. He’s endured the public wrath, and he’s going to go back to work. But it’s really stunning that a guy could spend two years in jail and not have a single varnished thought that he could share with the outside world. What a contrast from the player that dazzled us week after week. And what about Uncle Tom Dungy, who seems to think that giving a second chance to an almost-but-not-quite washout is of greater worth to his time than the anonymous men still in jail that never had a chance at all. Read the rest of this entry »
