If you have questions about Michael Vick’s future, his involvement in a recent night club shooting or the argument before the shooting, questions maybe about what in the world the Eagles leadership is thinking or anything else, you can check in online and ask questions of Eagles beat writer Bob Grotz at noon eastern time tomorrow.

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This Q & A session will likely be more focused on football and the Eagles and not the legal quagmires like Vick’s gifts of millions of dollars to relatives and friends just before filing bankruptcy that is now the target of his bankruptcy trustee.

Virginia police have not ruled anyone in nor out as suspects, but the nightclub owner that hosted Michael Vick’s 30th birthday party, provided video footage to the Police and the Associated Press that seems to put Michael Vick driving in a car almost at the scene of the crime 4 minutes before the 911 call was made to police.

Allen Fabijan, spokesman for Guadalajara Mexican restaurant and nightclub, said Wednesday that Vick left the club just minutes before the shooting.

Fabijan said that that time-stamped footage from a surveillance camera outside the entrance of the club shows a car with Vick inside leaving at 2:07 a.m. — about 4 minutes before the shooting a block away. He said that Vick was traveling in the direction of where the shooting took place.

Police said their first 911 call reporting the shooting came in at 2:11.  AP

Philadelphia Daily News reporter Michael Hayes also reports that Michael Vick’s probation officer is investigating the situation with Michael Vick and Quanis Phillips as well.  A separate report seems to possibly clear Michael’s brother Marcus who was settling up and paying the bill when the shooting took place.  See the DailyPress for the most detailed account of the video logs.

Accidentally being present in the same nightclub or restaurant with fellow former felon Quanis Phillips might not violate Michael Vick’s parole, but drinking, talking, arguing, squabbling, fighting, or worse with Phillips could definitely be considered ‘associating’ and that might very well violate Vick’s parole.

All Vick’s supporters like to preach about how Michael Vick should be allowed to go forward in life and make a living, some even say that he should get a second chance and that second chances are some hitherto unknown, unwritten right that the founders of the United States accidentally left out of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

The reality of the situation is that Michael Vick is STILL paying his debt to society.  He is on parole.  Getting out of prison did not absolve his debt to society, it was just the first phase, a penalty phase, an assessment phase, a rehabilitation phase.  When he left prison he did not stop repaying his debt society, he just moved into a new phase, that of parolee.  A person that must still follow rules set out by the courts.

Michael Vick is responsible for following those rules, even if it means assessing the risk of possibly running into past friends and business partners that committed crimes with Vick’s money.  It means that maybe, heaven forbid, Michael Vick might have to do the unthinkable.  He might have to live a quiet life, stay in instead of throwing big parties in South Florida or Virginia Beach. 

As part of his parole he has to learn how to manage his life where he doesn’t put himself into a situation where these things will happen. 

Note I want to emphasize the fact that VICK NEEDS TO LEARN.  Mike Fiorino at ProFootballTalk.nbcsports.com tracked down an interesting connection or two that indicates Michael Vick might have relied to heavily on his BET producer Ahmadu Gabra to manage his entourage which on the night of his birthday may have grown to include Phillips even.

At item 10 in the list of conditions of the supervision, the order states that Vick "shall not associate with any persons engaged in criminal activity and shall not associate with any person convicted of a felony, unless granted permission by the probation officer to do so."
Thus, unless his probation officer gave Vick blanket permission to associate with his former partners in Bad Newz Kennels, all of whom are convicted felons, any such association violates the terms of his probation.
And since Gabra apparently has been serving as an informal fixer/consigliere for Vick’s entourage, Vick possibly relied at some point after the six-month anniversary of his release on Gabra’s apparently mistaken views regarding the terms of the probation. src

Michael Vick has long exhibited the inability to do the smart thing, the practical thing, the humble thing, the thing that would be good for himself, his family, his team, and the people he works for.  A year plus in prison might give him time to think about things, but it probably didn’t give him much time to practice being a better person.  He was simply locked up and his life was not in his own control.

Now it is partially through the parole system.  Unfortunately, he has shown any evidence that he gets it.  He’s basically trying to go right back where he came from before prison, and obviously that didn’t work too well last time around. 

The reality is Michael Vick is likely doomed to repeat his mistakes and probably escalate things.  He doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes.  He never came clean when he pled guilty, never gave up names of accomplices or past events.  That means someone probably knows where the skeletons are buried still, and as Michael Vick goes into his second year contract with the Eagles scheduled to pay him $5.8 million it wouldn’t be surprising if those criminals that know about the skeletons showed up to shake him down for some (possibly more) hush money.

The NFL also is investigating the incident, and Commissioner Roger Goodell could suspend Vick if he determines Vick violated his probation or the league’s personal conduct policy.  src

If Michael Vick had made a clean break and shared all the information he had on his criminal partners things might be different.  Those criminals might not have anything on him now that could be used to blackmail him or at least embarrass him.  Instead he kept quiet.  We often speculated here that some of those criminals may have threatened Vick or his partners.  We are talking about gangsters, drug dealers and worse that Vick used to hang with, threats of physical violence from criminals wouldn’t be too crazy a speculation.

Maybe Vick should have sought witness protection for himself and his family instead of hoping to keep things under control and regain the spot light all over again.  But as mentioned above, Vick rarely did anything that was good for others. 

If you think we are tough on Vick, just take a quick glance at what the Philly Press have to say.

Press and police are rapidly learning more details about a shooting at Michael Vick’s ‘All White’ themed birthday party in Virginia Beach.  The celebrity affair was intended to lavishly celebrate Michael Vick’s 30th birthday, but trouble is no stranger to Michael Vick.

What Happened at Michael Vick’s 30th Birthday Party?

Update

Sporting News is now reporting that Darnell Phillips either threatened or succeeded in throwing birthday cake in Michael Vick’s face.

Around 2:10 am a fight that began inside the restaurant moved outside and ended when one of the fighters shot the other in the leg.  The shooter disappeared and the victim attempted to elude police and head for the hospital.  It was only later learned that the man that was shot may have been none other than Michael Vick’s dog fighting codefendant Quanis Phillips.

Police have not identified the shooting victim, but a spokesman for Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital confirmed that Quanis Phillips – one of the co-defendants in Vick’s 2007 federal dogfighting trial – was admitted early this morning and was listed in good condition. The spokesman would not discuss the nature of Phillips’ injuries, and he said Phillips has declined to speak with media. source . . . .

Phillips, who was a high school football teammate of Vick’s, was also sentenced to 21 months after pleading guilty.

Tip to Michael Vick’s PR agent! Next time you attempt to throw a bash for Michael Vick and his felon friends, make sure there are metal detectors and security present to shake everyone down.  Don’t you think there is enough blood on Michael Vick’s reputation already?  (sarcastically disgusted)

Breaking Parole – Vick Not Supposed to Associate with former Dog Fighting Partners

According to Daily Press reporter David Squires, Phillips showed up to the party even though Vick is not supposed to be associating with any of his dogfighting co-defendants.
Squires writes that there was a confrontation between Phillips and Vick inside the party, that the confrontation then moved outside, and that’s when Phillips was shot.
Vick’s lawyer, Larry Woodward, says Vick was not involved and was not present when the shooting occurred. source . . .

History of Crime between Vick and Phillips

In 2004, Vick was present when Phillips allegedly stole a Rolex watch from an airport X-ray belt. source .. .

Most Disliked Man in Sports (Not the Most Hated)

Separately, Michael Vick also achieved the dubious honor of being the most disliked or disapproved man in sports.  Forbes incorrectly used the headline of ‘most hated’ but that was likely just a ploy to sensationalize a headline as the survey in question did not ask respondents if they hated Michael Vick or any of the other professional sports players or coaches.  This is the second year in a row that Vick has won this dubious distinction, guess that BET thing really paid off for him.