PHILADELPHIA -- Thirty-three months after he last played in a regular season NFL game, Michael Vick returned to the field today on an overcast and intermittently rainy afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.
Inside the 32 NFL locker rooms this time of year, almost every club feels like it's got a chance to be at least decent. That speaks to the competitive balance that is a hallmark of the league. While fans and the media are speculating on the most compelling storylines of 2009 -- Brett Favre's impact in Minnesota, Michael Vick's role in Philadelphia, and Tom Brady's return in New England -- the people who run pro football are already hard at work charting the course of the game well into the future.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from an eventful and jam-packed Thursday night of preseason football ...
The NFL season is almost upon us -- I know this because Ron Jaworski emerged from his NFL Films vault and didn't see his shadow ---and I am reminded that it is not so much a league of gentlemen as it is a league of quarterbacks. Here are the ones I'll be following most closely in 2009:
Michael Vick made his Eagles debut at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night during the Eagles' 33-32 win. While he only participated in six plays, all in the first half, we did get a glimpse of what he might become this season. Here are 10 key things we learned.
With Brett Favre once again striding the gridiron and Michael Vick safely in the Philadelphia fold, we couldn't help but notice that Eagles QB Donovan McNabb made a bit of a pitch for securing the services of troubled wideout Plaxico "Big Bang" Burress.
I don't believe Michael Vick. In fact, while watching his 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, I pretty much thought he was full of it. But I also have no problem with his being allowed to return to the NFL, where he will no doubt juke plenty of tacklers and throw just as many inaccurate passes at the feet of his receivers. That may seem contradictory -- not buying his mea culpas and yet not objecting to his reinstatement -- but that's because the real issue is not what Vick gave us on Sunday night, it's what we expected from him.
When pro quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to bankrolling a dogfighting operation in 2007, there was a spike in reports of dogfighting in the United States.
James Brown says he spelled out the rules with Michael Vick last May when the two spoke for 45 minutes at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. Why was the CBS Sports anchor visiting Vick at a federal prison? He was looking for The Big Get, an interview with Vick following his 18 months in prison on charges related to his illegal dogfighting operation.
The City of Brotherly Love isn't exactly embracing the news that one-time quarterback phenom and convicted dogfighter Michael Vick is joining their Philadelphia Eagles.
PHILADELPHIA -- Thirty-three months after he last played in a regular season NFL game, Michael Vick returned to the field today on an overcast and intermittently rainy afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.
Inside the 32 NFL locker rooms this time of year, almost every club feels like it's got a chance to be at least decent. That speaks to the competitive balance that is a hallmark of the league. While fans and the media are speculating on the most compelling storylines of 2009 -- Brett Favre's impact in Minnesota, Michael Vick's role in Philadelphia, and Tom Brady's return in New England -- the people who run pro football are already hard at work charting the course of the game well into the future.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from an eventful and jam-packed Thursday night of preseason football ...
The NFL season is almost upon us -- I know this because Ron Jaworski emerged from his NFL Films vault and didn't see his shadow ---and I am reminded that it is not so much a league of gentlemen as it is a league of quarterbacks. Here are the ones I'll be following most closely in 2009:
Michael Vick made his Eagles debut at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night during the Eagles' 33-32 win. While he only participated in six plays, all in the first half, we did get a glimpse of what he might become this season. Here are 10 key things we learned.
With Brett Favre once again striding the gridiron and Michael Vick safely in the Philadelphia fold, we couldn't help but notice that Eagles QB Donovan McNabb made a bit of a pitch for securing the services of troubled wideout Plaxico "Big Bang" Burress.
I don't believe Michael Vick. In fact, while watching his 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, I pretty much thought he was full of it. But I also have no problem with his being allowed to return to the NFL, where he will no doubt juke plenty of tacklers and throw just as many inaccurate passes at the feet of his receivers. That may seem contradictory -- not buying his mea culpas and yet not objecting to his reinstatement -- but that's because the real issue is not what Vick gave us on Sunday night, it's what we expected from him.
When pro quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to bankrolling a dogfighting operation in 2007, there was a spike in reports of dogfighting in the United States.
James Brown says he spelled out the rules with Michael Vick last May when the two spoke for 45 minutes at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. Why was the CBS Sports anchor visiting Vick at a federal prison? He was looking for The Big Get, an interview with Vick following his 18 months in prison on charges related to his illegal dogfighting operation.
The City of Brotherly Love isn't exactly embracing the news that one-time quarterback phenom and convicted dogfighter Michael Vick is joining their Philadelphia Eagles.
The Philadelphia Eagles welcomed Michael Vick back into the National Football League on Friday after the quarterback spent almost two years in federal prison on a felony dogfighting conviction.
PHILADELPHIA -- Marisa Scully's family has had Eagles season tickets since they played at Franklin Field in the 1960s. She's gone to every home game since she moved back to Philadelphia from college six years ago. She also trains pit bulls for a living and owns two. Her lifelong devotion to the Eagles is no match for her disgust at the team signing Michael Vick.
When Michael Vick would see visitors during his two-year exile from football -- either in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., or, more recently, while in home confinement in Virginia -- one refrain was clear:
Is it possible that the best case scenario for the Eagles with their signing of Michael Vick is also the worst case scenario?
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we digest the newsiest Thursday night of NFL preseason football in memory....
Michael Vick, recently reinstated to the NFL after being freed from federal prison after a dogfighting-related conviction, has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, according to his agent, Joel Segal.
Some will be quick to label it a clear-cut case of double jeopardy, a draconian measure or liken it to "kicking a dead horse,'' but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday afternoon certainly did what he has long intimated he would -- in effect adding the potential of five more games to Michael Vick's two-year suspension.
Nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bankrolling a dogfighting operation at a home he owned in Virginia, Michael Vick was reinstated to the National Football League on a conditional basis, according to an NFL statement Monday.
One of the truest things about Roger Goodell the commissioner -- something Terrell Owens and Deion Sanders and, as it turns out this afternoon, Tennessee running back Chris Johnson don't understand -- is that even though he can be a tough enforcer if the situation warrants, Goodell always leaves a cooperating player who's gone astray a path back into the NFL. That's exactly what he's done in his decision to conditionally reinstate Michael Vick.
So here we go. The 28-week marathon to the Super Bowl is on. I leave for 21 days of camps tomorrow morning, and I'll try to set the table here with a few appetizers to get you ready for the 2009 season. Love this time of year.
Amid all the speculation regarding who might be interested in signing the newly released Michael Vick, and when he might be re-instated to the league -- conditionally or otherwise -- it strikes me as necessary to point out the seemingly forgotten fact that he wasn't exactly setting the NFL world on fire as a quarterback when we last saw him play in December 2006.
Suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick completed the electronic monitoring device portion of his federal sentence Monday and will remain on probation the next three years.
JIM TROTTER'S OPPOSING VIEW ON VICK
GEORGE DOHRMANN'S OPPOSING VIEW ON VICK
The Atlanta Falcons have "relinquished their contractual rights" to Michael Vick, one of the highest-paid players in professional sports before his conviction on dogfighting charges, the Falcons manager said Friday.
Brett Favre and Michael Vick are spiritual cell mates of sorts -- both iconic quarterbacks are out of the NFL and both want back in. While in prison, Vick became pen pals with Favre and they have continued to correspond. Here now are excerpts of the most recent Favre-Vick letters:
That name. Sonia Sotomayor. President Obama's choice for Supreme Court justice rings a bell in the sports world, especially in Big Ten country. Remember?
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick arrived at his home in Hampton, Virginia, on Thursday morning.
There will come a moment during the 2009 NFL season when Michael Vick does something athletically extraordinary or competitively remarkable and, reflexively, I will marvel aloud at it.
Michael Vick is headed home, but he won't be able to leave it. At least not yet.
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick left a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, early Wednesday, according to his publicist and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Michael Vick's reception when he first walks back into an NFL locker room should be the least of a team's worries if they are looking to sign him. That's because football players are a very forgiving bunch. For the most part, they are apathetic to a teammate's off-field transgressions because so much of being a professional athlete is taking care of your own personal business, both on and off the field. The priority is on taking care of one's career so one can provide for one's family. The problems of another player are simply not a concern.
When Michael Vick completes home confinement in July, he will have served the 23-month prison sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges.
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, serving a prison sentence on charges related to dogfighting, will work with the Humane Society of the United States on anti-dogfighting campaigns after his release, Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said Tuesday.
A federal bankruptcy judge has denied the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan presented by suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick.
Suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick will go to work for a construction company in Newport News, Virginia, after he leaves federal prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation, his lawyer said Thursday.
Neither the on-the-field fame nor the off-the-field notoriety of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was enough to spark a bidding war for his suburban Atlanta mansion Tuesday.
Since being rescued 20 months ago from the dogfighting ring financed by Michael Vick, all but a few of the abused pit bulls have been recovering in sanctuary, foster care and adoptive homes. Now even the most traumatized of them can have a happy new year.
Lawyers for Michael Vick asked a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday to appoint a mediator to help settle his debts to creditors, saying a third party might expedite a resolution in the case
Michael Vick turned himself in to authorities on Monday to get a head start on serving his sentence for running a dogfighting ring, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
As a sports culture we like to throw our arms around the pursuit of history. Record chases bind us to an athletic heritage that lives on in yellowed paper volumes (along with Google searches and, blessedly, the occasional YouTube video) and connects to greatness in a language that we can understand and speak at picnics. How about those Celtics? And such. Whatever the milestone, we usually want to see it, touch it, remember it, celebrate it.
Disgraced former NFL star Michael Vick declared that "I am not the bad person or the beast I've been made out to be" in a letter to a judge asking for leniency.
Think back to August, to the day Michael Vick went before the cameras after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors on charges that he financed and participated in a dogfighting operation. He expressed remorse for what he had done and the many fans he had disappointed. Afterward, pundits remarked how Vick had been "forthcoming" and "honest" and "contrite." His supporters said he was accepting responsibility for his mistakes, the first step in rebuilding his image and life.
As we have been virtually from Day 1 of the long Michael Vick saga, we're once again in uncharted territory. The length of Vick's prison sentence has finally been determined, but it's still hard to know how much time, if any, will be left in his NFL playing career when he's done paying for his involvement in that sordid dog-fighting ring.
On Monday, Judge Henry E. Hudson sentenced Michael Vick to 23 months in prison -- exceeding the 12-18 months that prosecutors recommended. SI.com caught up with legal expert Michael McCann to answer some important questions about the ruling.
Michael Vick, once one of the highest paid players in the National Football League, was sentenced to 23 months in prison for financing a dogfighting ring and helping to kill pit bulls that did not fight aggressively.
Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy that involved gambling and killing pit bulls
Michael Vick and his legal team received potentially discouraging news this morning, when U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson sentenced two of Vick's co-defendants, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips, to longer prison sentences than federal prosecutors had recommended. Peace will serve 18 months, while Phillips will serve 21 months. In exchange for the defendants' cooperation, prosecutors had recommended that each receive a sentence consistent with the lower end of the federal sentencing guidelines (12 to 18 months for Peace; 16 to 24 months for Phillips). Just as he has with Vick, however, Judge Hudson had the discretion to issue sentences in excess of the guidelines and to discount -- or altogether ignore -- the prosecutors' recommendation.
The judge who will decide how long Michael Vick stays in prison sentenced two of the fallen NFL star's dogfighting partners to prison on Friday.
The government asked a federal court Tuesday to order former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to keep on hand assets valued at more than $900,000 -- the amount earmarked for the care of 54 pit bulls.
Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick has agreed to pay nearly $1 million for the care of about 54 pit bulls found on his property during a dogfighting raid.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 3. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. For more essays, click here.
Want to know how un-obsessed Atlantans are with the Michael Vick story now? Witness the local ESPN radio affiliate in the hours leading up to Monday night's game between the Falcons and the Giants. The hosts spent a 10-minute segment making fun of the male producer, who had spent part of his weekend getting a manicure, pedicure and his eyebrows waxed. "Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself," the producer argued. "It's time we put the 'man' back in manicure."
All but one of the dogs seized in the Michael Vick dog fighting case will be placed with families or put in a "sanctuary," where they will interact with people to overcome their fear and lack of socialization, according to court order filed Monday.
How does the failed drug test affect Vick's case?
Suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick must adhere to tightened restrictions after he tested positive for marijuana use, a federal judge said Wednesday.
A Virginia grand jury has indicted suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three co-defendants on state charges of running a dogfighting ring at Vick's Virginia home, prosecutors said Tuesday.
When federal prosecutors in Virginia released details of the dogfighting charges against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, all hell broke loose.
When young Tyler Reab got his autographed Michael Vick football for Christmas in 2005, he was shaking with excitement. Who knew it would end like this: his pet dog, Otis, munching on the once-cherished ball until it popped, its slobbery remnants hawked on eBay.
The woman who paid $7,400 on eBay for 22 Michael Vick football cards, chewed up and slobbered on by two Missouri dogs, acknowledges she hadn't heard of the star football player before he was indicted for dogfighting.
Suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick will find out in December what prison sentence -- if any -- he will face after a judge accepted his plea agreement Monday to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.
Like most decent Americans, I have been sickened by the Michael Vick dogfighting debacle. There can be no excuse for torturing and abusing man's best friend -- forcing dogs to fight to the death, under penalty of death. That a high-profile athlete like Vick carried this out in the name of "sport" makes it all the more disgusting.
Michael Vick backed out of a scheduled appearance on a nationally syndicated radio show Tuesday morning, a day after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.
A judge accepted Michael Vick's guilty plea Monday to a federal dogfighting charge and scheduled a Dec. 10 sentencing date that could send the fallen NFL superstar to prison
By pleading guilty, Michael Vick admits to committing the criminal charges alleged by the government, that he raises no defenses, and that he is prepared for his punishment.
Here I am with one of the richest men I've ever met, and I almost feel sorry for Arthur Blank. Almost. Not quite, but almost.
Michael Vick filed a plea agreement in federal court Friday admitting to a dogfighting charge and agreed the enterprise included killing fighting dogs and gambling
Earlier today, Michael Vick's attorneys filed a plea agreement confirming that their client will plead guilty to one count of "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture." Less technically, Vick has admitted to conducting business outside the state of Virginia, namely in the form of buying dogs from out-of-state owners, for the purpose of sponsoring dog fights in Virginia.
Read enough legal documents -- indictments, subpoenas, lawsuits -- and you begin to think of some lawyers as artists. They can write a sentence that appears simple, its point obvious, but if you read it again and again the meaning changes. It becomes more like poetry than legalese, everything subject to your own interpretation.
The head of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP said Wednesday that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has made mistakes but that they should not cost him his football career with the NFL.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is waiting to hear if he'll ever play professional football again after agreeing to plead guilty and face prison in his federal dogfighting case.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is expected to plead guilty to federal conspiracy charges involving an illegal dogfighting operation, according to one of his attorneys.
St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little killed a woman whose car he hit while driving drunk in 1998, and then six years later -- showing how he'd learned his lesson -- Little was stopped for drunk driving again.
I woke up this morning, having had my fill yesterday of seven hours of the Michael Vick coverage, and I thought: How strange is this fall going to be without Vick?
Sports Illustrated investigative reporter George Dohrmann has been following the Michael Vick case for several months. His first story on the investigation appeared in the June 4 issue. SI.com caught up with Dohrmann after Vick agreed to plead guilty to federal dogfighting charges.
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