60 Minutes in the life of Mike Vick

I sat down last night and watched the extended 60 Minutes interview with Michael Vick. I was curious to see how he would come across. Would he seem sincere? Would it be scripted, image fluffing nonsense writing by the Mike Vick PR department? Does he know the severity of the crimes he committed or is he just sorry he got caught? These are the answers I needed.

My curiosity comes from a very strange and rather selfish place... I want to forgive Michael Vick. I want to believe prison has changed him into a man that I don't necessarily want to route for (although that would be a different story if his green number 7 jersey was being warn in New York and not Philly) but a player I can watch with intrigue and without guilt. As the whole country, football fans and non football fans, choose sides I sit on the fence.

Why you ask?

December 1, 2002. I'm doing the Direct Ticket shuffle as the afternoon games are coming to an end looking for just a few more minutes of football. As I flip pass the Falcons/Vikings game I am pleased to see the fourth quarter ending and the score tied. I steal another beer from my Dad's fridge and settle in for another fifteen minutes of NFL. Or so I thought. Less then three minutes into overtime the Falcons have the ball just across mid-field. Mike Vick takes the snap and as the pocket collapses he rolls out to the left. He takes off down the middle of the field. He doesn't tuck the ball until he crosses the twenty-five, just as two Vikings close in on him. Vick cuts between the two defenders and even though you would not think it possible, speeds up. The two Minnesota players crash into each other like it was a scene out of a bad movie. Vick out ran at least eight players who had a shot at him to end the game on a 46 yard touchdown. It was the greatest play I've ever seen.

Michael Vick is my favorite football player to watch that has never worn a Jets jersey. Every time the man rolls out of the pocket every person watching the game holds their breathe for just a second, wondering if this is gonna be one of those plays you'll be telling your kid's kids about. This is why I want to be okay with Vick being in the NFL. I want to watch every game he plays in this season, I want to see him do something that's never been done before.

Cue the ticking clock...

The 60 Minutes interview is conducted by CBS's NFL Today host James Brown. It starts with Vick talking about a moment of clarity when the cell door slam behind him... about what monumental mistakes he made. I'm unconvinced. What person wouldn't feel that? I need more.

J.B. hits him with some direct questions. Questions about drowning and electrocuting dogs. Vick says he feels disgusted by his actions. Says he should have stop the dog fighting ring when he had the chance, should have not been doing things he knew was illegal, should have been man enough to stand up to those around him. I'm still unconvinced. That's the only thing he could say.

Vick goes on to say he deserved to lose his 130 million dollar contract. Says someone doing the things he was doing deserved to lose it all. He seems sincere. He continues to speak about how he was first around dog fighting when he was an 8-year old kid in Virginia, how cops would stop by and not break up the fights. All the older kids he looked up to were into it so he was into it too. Doesn't really seem like he's using it as a cop-out, seems like that's really just how he got into it. Fair enough. I don't buy the social class thing with dog fighting. It's messed up and cruel and people know right from wrong. That being said, upbringing is used to justify cruel behavior in a number of other ways in our society, so if that's how he got into it then that's how he got into it.

Brown asks him about lying. Lying to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, and the rest of us. Vick says he knew he was guilty. He knew he was caught. He was trying to "salvage everything" and now knows he should have told the truth two years ago.

He's now speaking with kids in neighborhoods like the one he grew up in, telling them his story and along with the Humane Society trying to get the message out there that he himself never heard growing up. I'm sure it's court ordered, but it's a good thing none the less.

Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom for people to look at the life they were living and how wrong it was. I've known a few people myself who have hit rock bottom. Some of those people have changed and are now living good lives. Some of those people have found a way to sink deeper. Better believe I wish they all had found a way to recover, because it was not just their loss, it was mine as well. I think two years in the joint caused Mike Vick to bottom out. I also think no good can come out of further punishing this man. If we shun him and get him out of the public eye it's not gonna help anyone, and no dogs will be saved in the process. Let him stay in the spotlight, live with what he did. Let others learn from his mistakes.

I think I'm okay with him getting a second chance.