Michael Vick: Another Perspective
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by InterMat
It's rare that I venture outside the wrestling realm here on ArmchairGM, but I'm growing tired of the media frenzy surrounding Michael Vick. Why? We as a society are so hell-bent on seeing people fail, we're just waiting for the proverbial "other shoe to drop."
In the case of the Vick family, the first shoe was the improprieties of younger brother Marcus, both at Virginia Tech and after he left the Blacksburg campus.
I have to dig deep into the annals of my brain to remember how the Vick's became the enemy of big time sports media. It's nothing that hasn't happened to athletes before. The media loved and hated former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon. The media loved to hate Michael Irvin, and of course, everyone can probably agree to dislike Terrell Owens for one reason or another.
But with the Vicks, I watch with regularity because it's not the same Michael I knew as a middle-schooler.
I played rec basketball with Vick. I grew up in Newport News and moved shortly after the season to a neighboring town, where wrestling ruled the roost. With 15 short, slow white boys dribbling the ball -- we weren't going to win anything there.
But the Michael I remember was pretty down to earth. Newport News isn't as "bad" as the moniker "Bad Newz" makes it out to be. There's some shady areas, much like any metropolitan area, but pointing at Vick's surroundings as a reason for his recent problems are far from true.
He went to another middle school than I, but we crossed paths, even some years later when Ron Mexico made a few appearances at social gatherings and watering holes. No biggie. The Hampton Roads area is a breeding ground for professional athletes. Vick follows a line of very prominent athletes from the area, including Allen Iverson, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor, Dre Bly, Pernell "Sweatpea" Whitaker, Alonzo Morning and Joe Smith (well, he was prominent).
It's nothing new to see them out and about. But there's another connection to the point-guard in rec ball that was a bit goofy, liked to talk, but was generally enjoyable to shoot the roundball with. I wasn't around him enough to gauge "disciplinary" problems, but at Huntington Middle School, a dear family friend has the opportunity to teach both Michael and Marcus when they were in the eighth grade.
We talk frequently about Michael and Marcus when I head back to Virginia. There's an autographed picture on the desk that's signed to "Mr. Van" -- said teacher's nickname. Marcus was the better student in said class, but by then Michael had started making headlines at Warwick High School and then onto Virginia Tech. Both were articulate to the media, both were elated to pick up a big win -- that's especially true because Warwick wasn't what we'd call a powerhouse in the Peninsula District. The Hampton schools dominated -- Hampton, Phoebus, Kecoughtan and Bethel -- in various stages, joined by Newport News' Heritage High -- coached by my former sixth-grade P.E. Teacher John Quillen.
While working for a daily in the area, I covered Marcus on several occasions. One such non-district game against Oscar Smith, he did it all. Ran, Passed, Returned ... even kicked.
I constantly dispelled talk that "Marcus is better than Michael at this point in his career." He wasn't, but that didn't stop people from talking, and I'm sure that might have had more of a detrimental impact on Marcus than people might understand.
I never agreed with that. Ronald Curry was the best high school football player I ever had the joy to cover. He was simply, the man. Hell, Bryan Randall was from Bruton High School, just 15 minutes up the road in Williamsburg. Had he been at a "big school" (Bruton was AA, compared to Warwick and Hampton -- AAA), it could have been Randall that got all of the hype Marcus received in high school.
But back to the Vicks ...
Perhaps it was the fame that did them in. Iverson spent his senior year in jail, then went on to Georgetown and has since become a better rounded individual. I never liked "The Answer" ... until he became a father. He's distanced himself from the enablers and those wishing to ride the coattails, and what has probably ended up being the best move for Iverson -- is now playing in Denver, a place that doesn't get the media hype and coverage that one would get playing in Philadelphia, D.C., or New York.
Iverson moved away from his thuggish antics, the Vicks just seem to be coming into their own.
For two men that came from a modest upbrigning, that were praised by some teachers, loathed by others -- they found an outlet. And now, they're lumped in with every other thug ...
My late stepmother always said, "Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are."
I never believed it ... until, well, you know ...
