Imagine Your a little kid, and your principal tells you that an NFL Quarterback and superstar is going to visit and talk to your school.  Your principal tells you that said superstar did some very bad things to dogs, so bad that he went to prison for what he did after he confessed to being guilty.

The big day comes, and you file into the gymnasium filing into the wood bleachers.  Everyone is excited.  Its not very often that you get to see a person that plays in the NFL, in fact this might be the ONLY day you ever meet someone that has played in the NFL in your entire life.  It is something to remember.

Your belly rumbles a bit because you didn’t have any breakfast that morning.  Lunch starts after you get to see Michael Vick the player that is coming to talk.  You are anxious to see him, but lunch is one of the few meals you get every day.  There’s rarely enough food at home except some chips and things, unless your grandparents or aunt happened to stop by and bring some groceries.  Those are bad days however as it just pisses off your parents and that is never a good thing.

Finally, the adults straighten up a little, your principal announces Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles.  A tall man wearing an expensive suit walks up to the half court circle.  He starts talking about how de did all these bad things to dogs, how he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do, he wasn’t taking care of his family or kids, how he’s going to do better now. 

All of that sounds familiar, its the same thing you’ve heard adults say over and over when ever they are trying to get out of trouble.  They make promises and say nice crap like that to get the preacher, the parole officer, the counselor out of the house and moving on down the block.  As soon as the door slams behind them, they start acting the fool.

All the time this guy is talking you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Hell even if you get rich and famous you still might end up in prison. But look at those rocks that guy has in his ear.  Those diamonds have to be as big as his eyes almost.  Shit, each of those diamonds must cost more than my parents car when it was new.”

…….

I watched the first episode of the Michael Vick project the other night. 

The word "project" in the title indicates that we are meant to take this seriously (its meaningless use in "The Rachel Zoe Project" notwithstanding). It suggests hard work and the possibility of transformation. That the subject of the series is also one of its producers is worth noting but also par for the course in the new reality we call "reality." ~LA Times

I have had to do some pretty nasty jobs over the years, and this was no where near as bad in comparison, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  The whole time I was watching I kept seeing these talking head clips of Michael Vick and Marcus Vick.

Both brothers played in the NFL.  By the accounts of the Michael Vick project, Marcus helped to be the father figure for Michael’s kids while Michael was locked up in prison.

Both brothers wear huge diamond earrings in the ears.  I mean large, Ivana Trump would be envious. 

Now, I could care less about Michael Vick’s money.  I do not care that he was successful, that he made a lot of money, etc.  My point here is not about the money he made nor in this article about how he spent it, even though bankrolling a dog fighting ring comprised of criminals and drug dealers is pretty low.

But I’m watching this show and thinking about what the kids that listen to him speak are going to think when they are watching him, listening to him, weighing in the balance the things that he has done and the rewards he has received.

There’s a reason why drug dealers spend money on clothes, on bling, on cars, etc.  Its marketing.  They are marketing themselves to kids saying, drugs make me money, money gives me power, money gives me things that my parents couldn’t or wouldn’t.  Money makes me cool.  Drugs make me cool.  That is the marketing message that drug dealers convey, re-enforce, and build upon.

So when Michael Vick, ex-con, walks into a school sporting expensive clothes and wearing massive diamond earrings in his ears, he’s marketing himself as successful. 

They say you have to dress for success.  Michael Vick is general is attempting to regain his past glory, glory that was earned at the same time he was committing despicable crimes against nature and dragging his friends and relatives down with him at the same time.  I can understand the dressing up, but sporting the bling at an event where he is essentially trying to teach kids a lesson, teach them not to make the mistakes he made when he is WEARING the SPOILS of his past illicit accomplishments seems like a mistake.  It seems like something that is going to SPOIL THE MESSAGE.

I recognize that Michael Vick probably thought this was a good style.  Hell, it may not be a bad looking style at all.  And after watching him dress slightly on the thuggy side for years before his crimes were revealed, I understand that this may just be an expression of the mental image that he has of himself.

Ergo, He has not changed his own mental image of who he is.  Ergo at least on the superficial level, he has not changed, entirely.  (I do think he has changed somewhat, but I’m not going to go overboard with how much he has changed).

Help the Kids

I do not want to see Michael Vick in the NFL anymore, because I do not want to see him do additional damage.  That said, I hope that I can appeal to his own greed at a minimum.  If you want to be successful again, if you want to make the big bucks again, if you want to earn enough so you can feel like this is behind you at least . . . .

TAKE THE ROCKS OUT OF YOUR EARS, SELL THEM AND DONATE THE PROCEEDS TO HUNGRY CHILDREN

Don’t wear them to events where you are talking about discipline and making mistakes.  Kids are not going to see the mistakes when you are wearing the rewards.

Vick wearing the massive diamond earrings on the ride home from prison.  He must have either worn the diamonds to prison and put them in when he checked out, or his wife brought them to him and he put them in for the ride home, even before he saw his own kids.

Crowd listening to Michael Vick at the Boys & Girls Club of Virginia where he had his first job after prison.

Even at the Boys & Girls Club where he’s been going since he was a little kid himself, he’s wearing the diamond earrings that could probably put one of those boys through college for a year, if not 4.

Appeal to Michael Vick’s handlers, if you want to help Michael Vick, even if you don’t give a damn about kids, dogs, the NFL or Michael Vick, at least fix the image so that the message Michael Vick conveys when he is acting on stage in front of kids is not completely negated.  Go back and talk to Michael Vick’s former handlers during the trial.  He did not sport the diamonds when he went in for sentencing, now is not the time to do it either.

If Michael Vick runs into a burning barn and rescues a few hundred dogs harbored in a dog fighting ring single handedly, things might be different, but so far all Michael Vick has done is throw a few passes and run a few yards.  All of the public speeches he has given so far have been 100% compromised.  He needs to start over again and do it right.  Do right by those kids, don’t reinforce all the things that led Michael Vick himself astray in the first place.

Appeal to Michael Vick’s family, the same sycophants and enablers that surrounded Michael Vick in the past are still present, just not as close.  Don’t be fooled by the mock awards from the Eagles or polls from BET.

That Vick’s Philadelphia teammates recently voted him the Ed Block Courage Award, for players who "exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage," seems to indicate that it is, as does a BET online poll in which 85% of those responding agreed that the quarterback had already done enough to "repair his image." It also indicates that the likely audience for this show is already on the star’s side. ~ LA Times

True enough, I’d prefer that Michael Vick would just go live a hermits life somewhere where he can’t do more damage.  Short of that, I’d prefer he work as a monk traveling the earth doing good deeds, but that’s not going to happen, is it?  So please help him see a new image of himself, or at least convince him that he needs to portray a different image publicly.  Just because Michael Vick has influence over kids, it doesn’t mean that he should USE that influence.  If Vick can’t do right by kids, at least help him to fake it.  Doing no harm, should be the first goal.  So far he is doing it wrong.