OT: Vick wins "Courage" award...
So, seriously, Michael Vick won the NFL's "Ed Block Courage Award" that is "presented to players who exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. "
Good going Mike, you stayed out of jail, stopped killing dogs and got paid millions of dollars to be a backup - that's totally courageous...
There are plenty of guys in the NFL who are probably backups for their entire careers do everything that can possibly be asked of them, give back to the community as much as possible, hell, some of them probably have relatives with cancer or something awful and they actually have been courageous but they gave it to a guy because he's stayed out of jail, stay classy NFL, stay classy...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/03/09/eagles.vick.ap…
P.S. Although, I'm not even remotely surprised the Eagles nominated him, I mean, it's the Eagles...
BEFORE Michael Vick was released?
March 10th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
Unfortunately...
will go out of its collective mind with this.
Takes a lot of courage to kill dogs. It really does.
Killing a wolverine, now that would take some courage.
This is really a dumb thing for the NFL to do, instead of finding a player that offers up a nice story about how to live your life etc...they trot out this clown, just dumb.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^
"Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean everyone kills dogs, murders pit bulls, steals from you, steals from me, whatever."
As always, thank you Terrelle.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^
Mental note to self: apparently this isn't funny anymore?
He was probably voted in by the same folks who re-elected Kwame after he had that hooker killed. This is what is wrong with democracy.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
March 10th, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
just perfect
Churchill was a breed unto his own.
I'm sensing a little sarcasm here...
I am not the biggest Vick fan, but I think he has done a good job in his reentry to the NFL. He accepted his punishment, and has kept a low profile while playing for the Eagles. Although a looming contract surely is a motivating force, he has shown courage in a situation where many people would have folded under the pressure.
Folded under what pressure? You're really giving him too much credit if you're saying he's shown courage by not screwing up, because that's pretty much all he's done. That and get paid right after getting out of jail. Don't get me wrong, I'm part of the "he paid the price for his crime that the law saw fit" camp, but he really is fortunate to even have a job.
I wouldn't call this courage, I might call it maturity or something else. Yes I am glad that he is trying to focus his life a bit and quit doing very stupid things, but to call it courage is not using the right word.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
"Courage" isn't the right word, I was just using it because of the award. "Maturity" is definitely more applicable.
He's only showing "maturity" because he got caught and wants to save his skin and career. I am not really a Vick hater at all, but the fact that he gets such a high level of sympathy to me is puzzling. OK, he hasn't screwed up again, but you'd have to be an absolute idiot to throw away a second chance that a lot of people don't feel you deserve. What's sad is that he gets the pub and credit for being "courageous" when there are thousands of athletes and people who are put into tempting situations every day and make the right decision in the first place. I wish I could screw up as badly as him and be able to return to the same life I had before.
/ semi-rant, I just think it's weird that people are so sympathetic to Vick of all people
*facepalm*
This doesn't appear to be the NFL's doing at all. It looks like an award that is given to one player from each team, and each team picks its own recipient.
The Eagles (vote of the team) picked Vick.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^
In that case the Eagles owner and fans should be really embarassed by this 'vote'.
I nominate Vick for the Britney Spears "I've been taking my meds for several months in a row" award. Antisocial personality disorder doesn't just go away though. Give him some time, he'll be back in jail for something. I doubt he learned much in his country club prison camp.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^
"Vick was picked as the Philadelphia Eagles' representative by a unanimous vote of his teammates."
Did all the Eagles vote? Is it like "voting" in, say, Cuba or Uzbekistan or North Korea? Where, uh, all votes are unanimous?
Personally, anybody who knows Jason Avant's life story would probably be inclined to give him consideration for any kind of Courage award one might think of. I hope Avant didn't have anything to do with this embarassment.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
I don't know much about Jason Avant, aside from his football career and tumultuous friendship with Tacopants. Care to explain?
March 10th, 2010 at 10:26 AM ^
This is pretty weak. To get the courage award you basically have to do something un-courageous (cowardly, even) before, lower the bar, then act courageously (and it's arguable, in this case) to get the award.
I bet Pat Tillman is turning over in his grave. This is considered courage? Sure Vick paid his dues and is surely repenting, and I imagine day-to-day he still hears about it from everyone, over and over again. But it's not courage if you put yourself in that precarious situation in the first place. I understand enlisting in the armed services is putting yourself in that situation as well, but it's done for the benefit of others, unlike Vick's transgressions.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
Although I think OPs commented bashing the Eagles is stupid, I do think that the Eagles should have awarded it to Jim Johnson posthumously.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^
This is all an attempt by the Eagles to get more "value" out of Vick when they trade him before the season.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:39 AM ^
What a joke. The guy killed dogs. I have no respect for him.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^
No kidding. It's easy to feign remorse after you've been caught. You think he'd give two shits for those dogs if the investigation hadn't occurred? Yeah, some courage.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
The first winner is Tiger Woods, who is courageously not banging Hooters waitresses and porn stars now.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
Wow, im not condeming him for what he did, but courage award is a stretch.